I recently attended a wine event (which shall remain nameless) where a significantly spicy dish was served early in the evening as the first seated course. The dish was drawing on South Korean culinary traditions and was quite lovely, until I was faced with the wine. For the pairing the event organizers had chosen a Brut Nature traditional method sparkling wine. That wine would have been perfectly delicious if it had been served as a welcome glass, but was an absolute disaster for the dish. Zero dosage (no added sugar at disgorgement) meant that the laser-beam acidity of the wine made the spice of the dish far more intense to the point of intense discomfort. Then to make matters worse, copious carbonation further intensified the spicy sensations.
I relate all of this not to complain, but to illuminate you, my dear readers, in the cleansing light of the easiest home-run wine pairing known to Sommkind: Riesling. And yes, in this case, the correct Riesling pairing would have contained some residual sugar, a bad word among many traditional collectors (though those same collectors quaff 12g/L-dosage Grandes Marques Champagne with reckless abandon). But Riesling’s pairing supremacy doesn’t stop at spicy dishes. Raw fish for your passed hors d’oeuvres? Dry Riesling. Go ahead, make it Grosses Gewächs Keller just for fun. Lemon curd and fruit compote dessert? Beerenauslese Riesling. Maybe Karthauserhof. Go ahead, twist my arm. A blisteringly hot summer day in the direct sunlight? Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Spätlese, of course!
The bottom line is this: if you are a lover of wine and you don’t have at least a few examples of dry, off-dry, and sweet Riesling in your cellar for when the occasion strikes (a rare and perhaps legendary time that I call “Tuesday”), you are not only making things unnecessarily hard on yourself, but also leaving a lot of life’s joy on the table.
Dry
Dry Riesling has thrived in European markets for centuries, but the modern era has seen an explosion of demand for the style across the world. Quality has never been higher, and prices have only significantly risen among a few producers.
France:
Trimbach Clos Ste Hune – France’s grandest Riesling. Always dry, and phenomenally age-worthy. Vintages to look out for: 1989, 1990, 2001, 2012, 2016
Germany:
Weingut Keller GG Bottlings – Germany’s most sought-after dry Rieslings by a significant margin. G-Max is the trophy, but the other GG vineyards provide far more value – Abst Erde, Morstein, and Kirchspiel are the most typical, all just north of Westhofen.
Donnhoff GG Bottlings –A downright upstart by German standards (established in 1971), Donnhoff is the definitive producer of Riesling in the Nahe. Hermannshöhle GG may be the best known, but Dellchen and Felsenberg “Felsentürmchen” are both wines to seek out.
Emrich-Schönleber GG Bottlings – Another Nahe producer that is an insider favorite, the Frühlingsplätzchen GG is a particular favorite.
Peter Jakob Kühn GG Bottlings – A rare user of new oak in Riesling production, PJK’s GGs need a bit more time in the cellar, but repay the patient collector in turn. Doosberg is the site to look for, an exposed hilltop streaked with grey quartzite deposits.
Austria:
Weingut Knoll – Kuh-nōle’, not nōle, this Wachau producer is, along with the great F.X. Pichler, the standard bearer of Riesling in Austria. Ried Schutt, Ried Kellerberg, and Ried Loibenberg make up the holy trinity of Knoll Rieslings.
F.X. Pichler – While Franz Xaver’s Smaragd wines (including the rare “Unendlich”) got rather rich and alcoholic during the middle of the 2010s, his son Lucas has taken over and dropped the Vinea Wachau labeling terms in 2020. The new versions of the classic Kellerberg and Loibenberg Rieslings (2021 and onward) are some of the best examples of the grape being made anywhere in the world.
Off-Dry
Far more than just Kabinett, the off-dry Riesling is surely the embattled grape’s most misunderstood style. With the right dish or in the right setting, these wines can come off as nearly dry on the palate, giving them a wide range of applications on the table (or the boat, as the case may be). Here are a few producers to look out for:
Peter Lauer (Germany) – Due to bracing acidity and a fine attention to detail, this Saar producer’s “Terroir Wines” focus on making the best possible wine from a site, eschewing the traditional Prädikat system. They tend to taste nearly dry, despite having a fair amount of residual sugar (their bracing acidity is to thank for this phenomenon). Lauer also makes the traditional Prädikat wines when the vintage allows, and a smattering of truly dry GGs. These are wines that pair with nearly everything in the world, and are still relative steals in the market. Fass (barrel) numbers are used to further designate many of the wines.
Egon Müller (Germany) – The king of the Saar, Egon Müller’s legendary Rieslings from the Scharzhofberg vineyard are perhaps the greatest in the world. The lighter Kabinett wines made from the site are perhaps a bit too sweet on release to be considered off-dry, but they are made for long-term aging, and older vintages where the sweetness has faded into the background definitely qualify. Seek out this producer whenever you can, and at nearly any price.
Karthäuserhof (Germany) – This Mosel producer could be put just as deservedly in the off-dry or sweet category. Though 70% of the production is dry, it is the Prädikat wines from the Karthäuserhofberg vineyard that are its greatest achievements. Among off-dry Rieslings, the Kabinett is perhaps the greatest value in the world, while the numbered Auslese bottlings are worthy entrants to the “Sweet” category.
Sweet
The sticky stuff! These are some of the treasures of the dessert wine world, and we have already met many of their makers. Trimbach’s Sélection de Grains Nobles from Clos Ste Hune (especially the impossibly rare hors choix), Müller’s Trockenbeerenauslese from Scharzhofberg (perhaps even rarer), and Knoll’s Loibner Trockenbeerenauslese are all high-water marks for any Riesling lover. These are wines that are best enjoyed on their own and after many years of cellar age, not to mention with friends (if you’re looking for someone to invite, just drop us a line – we wouldn’t miss it!).