My Favourite Grapes - Riesling

Its almost something of a cliche, ask any sommelier what their favourite grape is and I can almost guarantee the answer will be either Riesling or Gruner Veltliner for the white. Its kind of a badge of honour, to distinguish the real sommeliers from the wannabe's. And if you press them as to why they named that grape, the answer will include such treasures as versability, diversity, compatability.

So I guess im going to stick to the cliche, because Riesling is one of my favourite white grapes. Im a sucker for the aromatic whites, and for me a good riesling fills all the criteria I look for. I do tend to prefer the drier styles typical of the new world, but I love the rich aromas it develops with maturity in the germanic style. I have a very dear friend who also loves riesling, and Im hoping to get her to bring me some Long Island Rieslings from New York when she comes home in december.

Two reasons I love riesling:
1) Dry River Craighall Riesling, Martinborough, New Zealand - Dr Neil McCallums Dry River winery has been making world class Riesling for a number of years. His wines are produced in tiny quantities, 2-3000 cases a year, and they frequently sell out their tiny allocations. The Craighall Riesling is a late harvest riesling that shows intense citrus/lime aromas on the nose in its youth, but with carefull cellaring develops the wonderfull secondary aromas of kerosene, candied peel and spicy notes. Its style could best be described as off dry, in its youth, the acidity keeps the sweetness at bay, but as it matures it gains an added richness and robust flavour. Truly a marvelous example of the potential of Riesling.

2) Max Ferdinand Richter "Brauneberger Juffer" Riesling Kabinnet, Mosel, Germany - with a 300 year history of winemaking, the Richter family can be sure that they know what they are doing. I think that this wine is a prime example of a good quality Mosel Kabinett riesling, juicy fruit sweetness upfront, well balanced acidity following leaving a crisp dry finish to the wine. Reasonably priced and with the potential to age well over a decade or so, these are an ideal addition to any wine cellar.

Nektar des Gotten - Schloss Johannisberger Grunlack Riesling Spatlese 1975er

Wow that title really trips off the tongue doesnt it! We dont really sell a great deal of German wine. It has a bad image. Generally people only drink it when they want something a bit sweeter. But they are ignoring a world of wonderfully dry rieslings, like the Georg Breuer Riesling Sauvage we used to have by the glass. Admittedly that sold quite well, but unfortunately Heinrich Breuer felt the UK market didnt appreciate the wines enough, and moved all his stock to the American market which seems to be lapping it up at the moment. Anyways Im getting sidetracked, because this wine is far from dry. Spatlese is the second level on the Qualitatswein mit Pradikat quality ladder, which in Germany is dictated by the sugar levels of the musts. Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, (Eiswein), Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA for short) - dry to toothshockingly sweet. Now TBA's are generally later harvested, so the grapes are almost like shrivelled raisins when they are harvested. The resulting juice is low in water and exceptionally high in sugars. The fermentation is really slow, as long as a year in some cases, and the yields are so miniscule that the prices for these rare treasures is truly eyewatering so they usually come in half bottles. Damn, getting sidetracked again.

The colour is a rich golden amber, hardly surprising as its 31 years old. On the nose it is rich, honeyed with tropical fruit like aromas - papaya, mango and the ubiquitous melon. One the palate it is quite sweet, very unctuous, there is a slight hint of acidity still holding the wine together, but the overwhelming experience for me was the sweetness (think three spoons of sugar in your tea sweet {I take one!}). The tropical fruit flavours still come through quite well, but there is a hint of something slightly floral too, perhaps a honeysuckle, with a touch of ginger - in some ways it reminded me of a herbal tea loaded with sugar. The customers loved it, but unfortunately that was the last bottle.

Update - managed to find their website and was quite amazed to discover the winery can trace its history back to 768AD. Now thats really old world!!
(http://www.schloss-johannisberg.com)