Rethinking Riesling - the grape I was wrong about.

About 8 years ago I went to my first formal wine tasting. I was given a voucher for Birmingham Wine School for a birthday present. I did a one day WSET Level 1 wine course. That’s what really sparked my serious interest in wine. Learning a few very basic things around climate, grape variety and styles started to formalise 20 odd years of unofficial learning.

I knew what I liked and I thought I knew what I didn’t like. But I didn’t really know why. I liked Chianti because it was juicy and sharp and went well with pizzas and pasta. I liked Sancerre because it was acidic, pure and reminded me of early morning tastings with my dad as he stopped off to buy a few cases on a family holiday. I knew I’d always love Champagne…just because.

I knew I didn’t like really oaky Chardonnay because it reminded me of mine-sweeping bottles at weddings to save spending money at the bar. I knew I didn’t like Riesling but I didn’t really know why.

I went to a wine tasting shortly after my first WSET course where a German Riesling being served. I already knew I’d have to swallow it and wait for the Pinot Grigio coming next. But what was served instantly changed my mind. It wasn’t off dry and full warm. It was sharp, lime scented and refreshing. This was much more like an Austrian wine I’d had on family holidays (my dad always asked for Gruner Veltliner or Welschriesling when we ate out during summer holidays with family). Why was this wine so different from the Rieslings I’d tasted (and subsequently avoided) before?

Throughout my wine education, I’ve found a tiny bit of learning can go a long way. Knowing that I was looking for a dry (Trocken) Riesling rather than an off-dry or sweet Riesling was a start. Understanding that the longer you leave grapes on a vine, the more they can ripen and the more sugar they can produce was another step. Knowing that if you leave grapes on the vine to start rotting or even until the water in the grape freezes you can get unreal concentrated sweetness that transports you to the pudding wines of Sauternes or Monbazillac that I’d tasted as a child. Those tiny bits of knowledge finally convinced me what an amazing grape Riesling is and why I should run towards it rather than shy away. And so my fascination began.

Several months later I was lucky enough to try a 10 year old Australian Riesling from Clare Valley. And this introduced me to the wonderful things that can happen to these wines when they age. They can develop a slight oiliness with more body with a waxy and honeyed flavour. There was even a hint of petrol in the one I tried, which sounds odd but is, in fact, incredible.

This little bit of knowledge and curiosity has played a big part in some of the tastings I’ve held over recent years. I want to let people know that Rieslings can be amazing. And my tip, if slightly misleading, is to know what you’re after. If you want a dry Riesling – look for ‘Trocken’ on the label of German or Austrian wines. Look for higher alcohol and avoid long words on the labels like Auslese (left out on the vine) or Trockenbeerenauslese (dried berries left out on the vine). These sweeter wines can be incredible and are usually identifiable by lower alcohol volumes. Remember Riesling can make wines ranging from bone dry to lusciously sweet. It all depends how the wine is made.

But why am I writing about my love for Riesling now? It’s to do with a bottle I opened last night. About five or six years ago I bought some fairly decent dry Rieslings from Lidl. It was back when they used to get rid of their ‘wine tour’ stocks overnight for £3.99 a bottle. I used to pick up a dozen or so wines every few months when they were trying to clear the shelves. About six years ago, I decided to hold on to a couple of bottles of Riesling and keep them to see what would happen. Now these were fairly simple supermarket wines. They weren’t anything special. And back when my wine education was still in its formative stages I just assumed they would develop into wonderful wines with age. As my understanding of why some wines age beautifully and some simply go off developed, I was becoming surer that the Rieslings I bagged in Lidl would be turning into vinegar. Although I stored the bottles in ideal conditions I opened one last night – fully expecting it to have to go down the sink.

What I found was a fantastically rounded wine which had kept its acidity for seven years and had developed wonderful properties. It was oily, just as I’d experienced before, and still had amazing lime and apple flavours. The wine had a fantastic length and smoothness which showed exactly what a bit of age can do to a Riesling.

This was far more about luck than anything else. When I bought these wines I had no idea whether it would age well. I just hid them away for half a decade to see what would happen. I now stick pretty closely to wine ‘drinking windows’ as people with far more knowledge than me can assess a wine’s ageing potential.

But what this has done is remind me why I love Riesling. It has so much to offer; from young zingy thirst quenchers, to oily aged roundedness all the way to unctuous, gloopy orangey dessert wines.

Whatever your previous experience of Riesling – I urge you to keep trying!

Cheers.