Mary Earl
| Special to the Kitsap Sun
Over the years, I’ve been asked many times what my favorite wine is. That’s a tough call, I like almost all of them and it depends on what’s on the menu.
I am partial to red wines. But with fresh cooked crab, Hood Canal shrimp or crisp apples and sharp cheddar cheese, I like the most marginalized of noble grapes – Riesling.
Now before you say, “Eeew, that’s too sweet,” hear me out.
Riesling is a cold-hardy, German grape from the northern most vineyards in Europe. It is also significantly planted in Washington, Alsace, Austria, Finger Lakes, Oregon, South Africa and Australia.
There are many renditions of Riesling from still to sparkling, very dry to very sweet and everything in between. Can’t say that about Cabernet, Chardonnay or Syrah. Well, maybe Syrah. I’ve had a sparkling Shiraz, or a French Bandol that has a dollop of Syrah. But that still doesn’t come close to the versatility of Riesling.
Riesling is remarkably aromatic with minerality, apples, peachy, flowery aromas that carry into the flavors. But what makes this wine great is its bright acidity. This tartness comes from the cool climate it’s grown in and gives Riesling that juicy quality, making it food-friendly, whether sweet or dry.
Even though it’s white, Riesling can age gracefully and successfully even after many decades in the cellar. The natural acidity of Riesling is its best quality in this regard. The residual sugar also plays a part in elegantly aging sweet wines. When aged, the color will evolve from light straw to a golden, honey colored wine.
Aromas will change too, from fruity, flowery and mineral tones to honey, beeswax and petrol. That petrol or diesel-like aroma – in a very good way – is a natural compound known as TND that is sometimes found in other grapes but predominantly in Riesling.
The Mosel is Germany’s most significant wine region and it comprises beautifully terraced hillside vineyards lining the Mosel and its tributaries, the Saar and Ruwer rivers.
The Mosel River (Moselle in France) flows over 300 miles from the Vosges Mountains in eastern France to Germany’s Rhine River. Meandering through northeastern France, it heads north to the border of Luxembourg and Germany. Then the Mosel and Saar rivers zigzag through ancient German towns lined with steep hillside vineyards.
The Mosel’s best producing vineyard sites are planted exclusively to Riesling and located along the river and its tributaries where the heat from the sun is also reflected off the water. South and southwest facing slopes are prized for their exposure to direct sunlight that helps to ripen the grapes.
Now comes the hard part – making sense of those wine labels. German wine labels have a lot of very long words, but they’re packed with information.
Not only do they pinpoint towns and vineyards, but also the producer, grape variety, how ripe the grapes were at harvest, the style and of course the alcohol level.
Take for instance, Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Mosel, Germany. Joh. Jos. Prum is the producer (founded in 1911 although the family has been around for 400 years), Wehlen is the town (er signifies belonging to), Sonnenuhr is the vineyard around that town, Riesling grape and Spätlese style from the Mosel.
German wine quality classification is very precise. Because of the cool climate, ripeness is a key indicator of quality, and the basis of the Prädikatswein system.
To qualify, a wine must be made from grapes with a must weight (more sugar, more weight) of over 67 degrees Oechsle. It may then be classified into one of the six official Prädikats (the highest tier of quality).
Kabinett is the lightest, made from grapes harvested at 67-82 Oechsle. Kabinetts are often produced in a dry (troken) or medium-dry (halbtroken) style.
Spätlese denotes ‘late harvest’, ideally grapes are picked later at 76-90 Oechsle. Spätlese wines are slightly richer and typically sweeter than Kabinett.
Auslese means ‘select harvest’, made from ripe grapes (83-100 Oechsle) and infected to some degree by botrytis. Auslese wines are traditionally sweet, but you may occasionally run across a trocken.
Beerenauslese (BA) translates to ‘berry selection’. These are super-ripe grapes (110-128 Oechsle) that remain on the vine and are ‘selected’ only if affected by botrytis. Sweeter and richer because of the botrytis, Beerenauslese are intense, golden nectars.
Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) translates to ‘dry berry selection.’ Grapes are left on the vine until reaching a raisin-like state, with highly concentrated sugars (150-154 Oechsle). Trockenbeerenauslese is the sweetest, rarest, labor intensive and most expensive of the Prädikatswein.
And the top and very expensive tier – Eiswein, which are always in little 375ml bottles. These ice wines are super ripe grapes (110-128 Oechsle), harvested and pressed while frozen. This naturally concentrates both sugars and acids, resulting in even more rare, lusciously sweet wines with balanced acidity.
If you’re wondering what spurred me into this narrative of German Riesling, I did it because 1.) recreational crabbing season in Hood Canal will be announced this month for July and August; 2.) I just graduated from WSU Extension Kitsap’s Beach Naturalist program and; 3.) a barge trip on the Mosel and Saar Rivers in my future.
As written earlier, Riesling is a natural pairing with seafood, including salmon, scallops, shrimp, and trout Whether sweet or troken, Riesling is Asian, Thai and curried dishes’ best friend. Duck, pork, foie gras and smoked salmon are also wonderful candidates to be paired with Riesling.
On the desert end, peaches, apples, pears and grilled pineapple are the best sweets to make the meal complete – with a little glass of Spätlese or even a BA.
Riesling is definitely the chameleon of the wine world, with its highly adaptable style in each region it sets its roots. But only in Germany does Riesling unveil the full spectrum of its capabilities. I hope I’ve inspired you to seek out Riesling and pair it well.
Mary Earl has been educating Kitsap wine lovers for a couple of decades, is a longtime member of the West Sound Brew Club and can pair a beer or wine dinner in a flash. She volunteers for the Clear Creek Trail and is a longtime supporter of Silverdale.