“Michigan winemakers produce wonderful Rieslings!”  This I know and have known for sometime.  But what I really wanted to know was how do these Michigan Rieslings compare to Rieslings from the more prominent Riesling regions around the globe?  With the help of a few of my best “wine-friends,” I set to find out.  In our tasting adventure, we discovered that not only is Riesling a wonderful varietal, but it is also a varietal with different characteristics from wine to wine, region to region.  We also discovered that well-made Riesling has true age-ability.

A bit about Riesling

Rielsing originated in Germany almost 600 years ago.  The first documented growths were in the Rheingau region and then in the Mosel region. Today, Riesling is grown all around the world with the most prominent regions being: Germany (the Mosel, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Pfalz, and Nahe regions); France (Alsace); North America (Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Michigan and Ontario, Canada); Australia (Claire Valley); New Zealand (the Marlborough and Nelson regions) and Austria (the Wachau, Kamptal and Kremstal regions). http://www.drinkriesling.com/riesling-rules-book/regions/sacred-places-riesling-growing-regions/

Riesling is a versatile varietal that pairs very well with food and is equally good on its own.  It has the acid to cut through the richness of meats and sauces and also the fruit sweetness to pair well with spicy food as well as lighter and more flavorful meals. 

The Parameters of our tasting

Our “Grand Riesling Tasting of 2011” involved 8 tasters: Marshal Wehr and his fiancé Marilyn, Kurt Hornick and his girlfriend Jill, Shannon and Cortney Casey of ‘Michigan by the Bottle’ and, of course, my wife Jennifer.  Now, we are by no means ‘wine experts’, but I will say, we can hold our own at a tasting!

We settled on 10 Rieslings from: Michigan (Black Star Farms and Chateau Grand Traverse); New York/Finger Lakes (Hermann J. Wiemer); Australia (Stump Jump- D’Arenberg); Washington (Eroica); Oregon (Willamette Valley Reserve); Germany (Deidesheimer Paradieggarten Kabinette-Pfalz); New Zealand (Spy Valley); California (Hagafen); and France (Domaine Bott Freres Reserve).

To be fair and impartial, we tasted all the Rieslings blind and at room temperature to allow the wines to show their true flavors.  None of the wines were “scored” and the tasting was not a contest—simply a comparison.

The “Reveal”

Going into the tasting I was worried that most, if not all, of the Rieslings would fall into the “general” Riesling tasting profile of wines that are nicely acidic with smells and tastes of tropical fruits and/or apples.  What we discovered was not what I expected.  What we found was that, for the most part, Riesling can be a very diverse wine in its smells and tastes.

After tasting the 10 wines, some of the comments and tasting notes of the group included smells of “apples,”  “melon,” “peaches,” “minerals” and “wet stone,” which are what you might expect at a Riesling tasting.  There were also though, smells of “lemon,” “honey,” “candied grapefruit,” “copper,” “vegetable” and “grassiness” . . .  some scents you may not expect in a Riesling.  As to the palate, more times than not there were comments of tastes of “tropical fruits,” “apples,” “stone fruit” and “peaches.”  What we also found though, were tastes of “creamy grapefruit,” “grassiness,” and “lemon-lime,” again, not your usual Riesling profiles.

A few of the surprise tastes and smells and the associated wines include:

Australian Stump Jump:   A lot of minerality on the nose but tasted like creamy grapefruit on the palate—almost like a muted Sauvignon Blanc (we checked—it was a Riesling on the label);

Willamette Valley Reserve from Oregon:   Smelled of “candied grapefruit” but tasted like creamy melons and white peaches;

Spy Valley from New Zealand:  Slight air of grassiness on the nose that is typical of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs and was tart and lemony on the palate (again we checked and it was a Riesling);

Chateau Grand Traverse:  The biggest surprise of the evening was the bottle with scents of “vegetables” and melon on the nose and melons with a zing of lemon on the palate.  This was the first time any of our tasters recalled smelling vegetables in a Riesling but this Dry Riesling from Michigan consistently received these tasting notes.

A Surprise and Delight

I noted earlier that this tasting was not a competition, but I have to say, one of the best Rieslings of the evening, was the oldest of the bunch.  Lee Hershey, one of the most knowledgeable wine experts in southeast Michigan, donated a 1969 Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany.  The cork was “surgically” removed by Marshall Wehr to a Riesling that was honey-brown in color and exploded with a scent and taste of delicious FIG!  Although more than 40 years old, this Riesling still had the acid and flavor profile to stay with the other young Rieslings of the evening!

That is that. . .

The Grand Riesling Tasting of 2011 was a great deal of fun for all of us.  It was a great opportunity to come together and taste a wonderful varietal on a truly objective basis.  I think it reminded all of us that Riesling truly is a great food wine but it also taught us that this varietal can be very diverse from country to county.