My friend and colleague here at WRO, Michael Franz, has it right about Riesling. But he’s myopic. Franz’s accolade, “Riesling can excel as a bone dry wine, an unctuous dessert wine, and at every level of sweetness in between.” is precisely why consumers fail to embrace this superb wine.
Consumers, even knowledgeable ones — even winemakers — don’t know what they are getting when they order Riesling. Plenty of “normal” wine drinkers love Riesling when I order it, but they would never order it themselves.
Why, I ask? “I don’t know how sweet it will be,” is the inevitable reply. And they’re right. I’ve had winemakers tell me they won’t order a Riesling from a winery they don’t know for the same reason — they won’t know how sweet it will be.
Franz and I are in agreement that Riesling is one of the world’s great wines — although whenever possible, I challenge his assertion that it outclasses white Burgundy. Until Riesling producers figure out how to tell the consumer where their wine is on Franz’s spectrum from “bone dry” to an “unctuous dessert wine and at every level of sweetness in between” consumers will continue to shun it.
What’s worse than ordering what you think will be a racy bone-dry wine only to take a sip of shockingly sweet one, no matter how superb?
Sure, Chardonnay comes in a wide range of styles from supposedly “unoaked” (I’ve had more than one winemaker tell me their “unoaked” Chardonnay had spent a few months in one- or two-year old barrels, but that’s another subject) to rich and buttery. And some of those surprises can also put you off. But producers give you hints on the label, such as “barrel fermented.” A glance at the stated alcohol is also a tip. A chardonnay weighing in at 15-plus percent is probably not “light and lively.”
Riesling producers desperately need to find a way to alert the consumer to the style of their wines. Stating residual sugar levels won’t help because the perceived sweetness is a balance of sugar, acid and alcohol, among other components in the wine.
Dan Berger, the noted California wine writer, and the International Riesling Foundation, have started a Riesling Taste Profile, a graphic for the back label that would alert consumers as to the level of sweetness. Let’s hope it works and wineries embrace it.
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