Riesling - All About the Riesling White Wine Grape You Need to Know

Riesling vines are cool with cold weather, which is a good thing. Clearly. It's an aromatic grape varietal, which means the aromas tend to leap out of the glass, especially floral aromas like white flower, lily, and jasmine. Riesling is also similar to Pinot Noir in the sense that it really takes on the ground that it comes from and often has clean, crisp, slate, or mineral qualities. Depending on the ripeness of the grapes and the amount of residual sugar in the wine, the other flavors range from tart citrus and green apple to stone fruits and pears to tropical fruits like mango and pineapple. But those are all fairly common white wine flavors. Let's talk about what makes Riesling really fun, shall we? I've been saving the Riesling talk with you until you're old enough. And I think you're finally ready. You see, Riesling is one of every sommelier's favorite grapes for three reasons. Versatility, pairability, and ageability. Those are all words, right? Let's start with versatility. If your first thought is that Riesling is a sweet, sticky wine, we're going to turn that notion on its head. Yes, Riesling can be sweet. But it also can be done completely bone dry. Or off dry, which means a little sweet. Or sparkling. Or super sweet dessert style. You see, sweetness is a winemaker choice. It has nothing to do with the grape. More importantly, if a wine has enough acid, like good Rieslings do, the acid balances out the sugar and keeps the wine fresh instead of cloying and syrupy. This means there's a style of Riesling for everybody. Okay, number two, pairability. Because Riesling has a crisp, super high acidity, it can pair with salty foods, fatty foods, and acidic foods. When a Riesling has sugar in it, add spicy foods and sweet foods to that list. That's almost all the foods! And number three, ageability. Wines need two out of three elements to age. Acid, sugar, or tannin. Because of the sugar and acid content in Riesling, it's one of the few white wines that can age really, really well. Top wines can age 30 plus years. And with age comes tasting notes of beeswax, honey, ginger, dried fruits, hazelnut, and most importantly, gasoline. You heard me right. Diesel. Petrol. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, once you try it, you're going to be looking for it in all your Rieslings.