10 Essential Facts on Riesling

What is the world’s greatest white grape? That question is, of course, impossible to answer – but several wine professionals and enthusiasts alike would make the case for Riesling . Whether you prefer your wine sweet, dry or somewhere in between, few grapes of any color can trigger the sort of geekdom that Riesling can. Its abilities to evoke a sense of place with searing precision are matched only by a handful of other varieties. From Alsace to the Wachau, here is everything you need to know about Riesling in ten essential facts. 1. According to the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, Riesling is the 18th most planted wine grape on earth and the 7th among white varieties. Riesling can be spotted all over the globe, but its vines thrive best in colder climates. It’s a popular choice for vineyards in the most marginal conditions, grown as far north as Germany’s Mosel or British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley , and as far south as New Zealand’s Central Otago or Argentina’s newly minted Chubut appellation in Patagonia . 2. Riesling counts among the most ancient grape varieties, and it shares a parent-offspring relationship with Gouais Blanc, one of wine’s most prolific progenitors. Gouais Blanc is also a parent to Chardonnay , making Riesling most likely a half-sibling to its greatest competition for the title of the world’s most noble white grape. 3. Riesling was most likely born in the Rheingau , and Germany remains the grape’s spiritual home. More Riesling is grown in Germany than anywhere else on earth, from the Rheinhessen to the Pfaltz to the Nahe . Perhaps Riesling’s most famous vineyards, those in the Mosel, are also Germany’s most dramatic - their slate slopes descending so steeply toward the river, harvest workers are sometimes roped into harnesses to collect the grapes. 4. Ürziger Würzgarten? Wehlener Sonnenuhr? Scharzhofberger Pergentsknopp? The words that grace German Riesling labels may seem impossible to pronounce. Several of them are names of places. Riesling often garners comparison to Pinot Noir for its remarkable transparency to the land in which it was grown. As with Burgundy , the top German wines will bear the name of both a village and a vineyard (in addition to the variety) , with Riesling the vessel to communicate these brilliant terroirs . 5. Next door to Germany, Austria also cultivates some of Riesling’s most classic expressions. In Austria, Riesling often sits in the shadows behind the limelight of Grüner Veltliner , but the variety remains one of the country’s most important. It’s grown in almost every notable appellation, including the Wachau , Kamptal , Kremstal , and Neusiedlersee – often yielding wines of greater breadth and richness than their German counterparts. 6. Riesling’s other Old World home is Alsace , the region in France’s northeast corner whose ownership has teetered with Germany several times over the centuries. Sandwiched between the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains, Riesling can achieve explosive, full-bodied wines in Alsace, where it is deemed one of the region’s four Grand Cru grape varieties. 7. One of the most common misconceptions regarding Riesling is that it always tastes sweet. In truth, like every grape, Riesling can be vinified into both bone dry and lusciously sweet renditions – and exceptional examples can be found everywhere on that spectrum. Still, not knowing exactly how sugary your Riesling will be is a veritable frustration. In 2002, the VDP (or Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter), Germany’s foremost vintners association, established the Grosses Gewächs category to signify dry wines from the country’s top vineyard sites. The International Riesling Foundation has also created a four-tiered sweetness scale you might encounter on certain back labels. 8. Riesling is, nonetheless, responsible for some of the world’s most transcendent dessert wines. Germany’s Trockenbeerenauslese Rieslings are the finest among these, crafted by individually picked berries affected by noble rot . In fact, according to Cult Wines, the UK wine investment firm, Egon Müller’s Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is the second most expensive wine in the world, trailing only Domaine de la Romanée Conti’s Romanée-Conti Grand Cru. Its 2003 vintage reportedly sells for £13,110 per bottle. 9. Riesling’s most idiosyncratic dessert wine, though, is Eiswein . In Austria and Germany, vintners await the first deep frost of November or December to harvest their grapes in freezing conditions before dawn breaks. Pliny the Elder alluded to the practice in the first century, but the Eiswein category didn’t gain footing in Austria and Germany until the 1960s. Today, Riesling is largely considered the best variety for Eiswein, and Canada now takes the lead as the world’s largest producer of icewine , as it is labeled there, where laws necessitate a maximum -8°C temperature to harvest the grapes. 10. Why does your Riesling smell like…petrol? You can thank TDN (short for 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene) for this common, and not necessarily unwelcome, aroma descriptor. Riesling is riddled with TDN, and the compound becomes increasingly perceptible as a wine ages. Rieslings from sunnier or warmer climates may also exhibit this kerosene-like character from a younger state, but corks can help absorb some of this flavor. — Bryce Wiatrak If you're interested in or have a passion for Riesling, tickets to Rieslingfeier in NYC on Saturday, January 19th are now available for purchase. This annual event brings together winemakers from many of the greatest estates in Germany and Austria, featuring a spectacular gala dinner that is without a doubt the greatest Riesling "BYOB" in the world, as well as The Gränd Tasting where you'll be able to taste 2017 Rieslings.