Every couple of years or so I get the urge to sound off once again about the marvels of Riesling. This time, it’s a proclamation from an organization called the Finger Lakes Wine Country announcing that May is Riesling Month that prompts me to extoll in advance the many
marvels of Riesling. And so, with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I ask: How do I love thee, Riesling? Let me count the ways…
1. Gorgeous Fragrance. Jancis Robinson has described Riesling’s distinctive perfume perfectly. “Riesling wine, wherever produced” she wrote, “is notable for its powerful, rapier -like aroma variously described as flowery, steely, honeyed, and whichever blend of mineral elements is conveyed by the vineyard site.”
2. Stylistic Versatility. What other white wine can be perfectly bone dry, medium dry, or sweet, sweeter and sweetest?
3. Modest Alcohol Levels. While many late harvest and other Rieslings sumptuously endowed with residual sugar may contain serious amounts of alcohol, you will more commonly find Rieslings with easy-to-imbibe alcohol levels ranging from 8 to 13%.
4. Extraordinary Complexity. High-sugar Riesling dessert wines are among the most complex (and expensive) wines in the world. The sweetness results from concentration of the sugars due to evaporation caused by botrytis cinerea (or “noble rot”) or from freeze concentration in ice wines (eiswein in German). Massively rich and sweet but freshened by energetic acidity, these are among the world’s most striking and memorable wines.
5. Geographic Adaptability. From Germany (where it is thought to have originated) to Austria and France’s Alsace; from Australia and New Zealand, California and Canada, China and Ukraine; and from South Africa to New York’s Finger Lakes–Riesling is thriving across the globe. As it is a particularly terroir-driven grape, the best made Rieslings emerging from these disparate places tend to be individually characterful yet true to their origins.
6. Hardiness. Riesling thrives in cool climates where other vinifera vines don’t stand a chance of survival (in warmer zones Riesling grapes can get fat and flabby, and lose the acidic zip we love so much). Riesling vines also flourish in poor soils, especially in rocky terrain that forces the roots to reach far down through the slate, granite, volcanic basalt or limestone in search of water. Many people believe that this is what produces the unique mineral flavors found in fine Riesling.
7. Gastronomic versatility. Thanks in part to that low alcohol content Riesling is a favorite aperitif wine. Many gourmands also consider it the best wine to drink with spicy foods. It is definitely the wine of choice to have with Choucroute or most other dishes featuring sauerkraut. “Riesling is hands-down the best food wine in the world,” according to a recent Sunset post on the Magazine’s web site citing the wine’s “balance of intense acidity, minerality and fruit” which makes it a uniquely fine match for all manner of dishes, from sushi to onion rings to veal.
8. Ageability. Riesling, wrote Jancis Robinson, “could claim to be the finest white grape 
variety in the world on the basis of the longevity of its wines.” Excellent ten, twenty or even fifty-year old Rieslings are not even considered newsworthy. We Americans seem to have little patience (or proper storage space) for letting wines age, but among many connoisseurs the world over Riesling is renowned for its capacity to age beautifully for decades. “In Germany we have a long tradition of drinking aged Riesling,” says Ernst Loosen, owner and winemaker at Dr. Loosen Estate. That reminds me–I’ve got a bottle of 2009 Dr. Loosen lying quietly on its side on a wine rack in my basement. I’d been planning to leave it there to age for at least another two or three years, but after all this ruminating on the subject I’ve developed a fierce thirst for Riesling. Perhaps I’ll let the wine mature a bit longer–say another couple of hours–then I’ll put it in the fridge to be savored with tonight’s dinner….
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