Riesling is finally trendy!
Beer, booze and bars.
Ever since I started to really like wine, which probably dates back to around 1988 or so, I've been a Riesling drinker. Okay, now, did any of you read that and think, "Wow, I can't believe this so called wine expert likes sweet white girly wine, unlike me, who only drinks BIG red manly wines!" If so, then you need an emergency headerectomy, which means "pull your head out of your ass." Because, my wine dinosaur friend, Riesling is now officially trendy.
I say that not because I read about it in Wine Spectator (although I believe that and other magazines have declared it to be so) but because I see young people drinking it, and not just girls. It's so popular that the "all Riesling, all the time" tasting I'm doing Monday, June 16 at happinez wine bar in Saint John had over 20 takers registered two weeks before the event.
Also, I've notice the increased selection on the ANBL shelves. There are now around 40 listed on the ANBL website. Granted, many (12) are from Australia, or are plonky German stuff instead of QmP (the top quality classification), but there are a couple of great ones from Germany (Lingenfelder, Dr. Zenzen, Anselmann) and several tasty versions from Alsace.
I really want to see more from Germany and Ontario.
But the Rieslings are there "" they weren't about five years ago - and people are trying them and liking them. Even Yellow Tail and Wolf Blass have a Riesling! Well, of course Wolf Blass have had one for many years, but it's now a general list product here, and it's pretty darned good, with fresh citrus flavours. I'd take it over their Yellow Label Cabernet any day.
The older I get and the more wine I drink, the more I realize how amazing Riesling wine can be. I enjoy monster "kick in the head" red wines too, but when I really want to enjoy and contemplate a wine, it's difficult to beat aged Riesling, whether it's from a good German producer or a premium New World site, like the reserve versions from Southern Ontario or the cool climate parts of Australia.
As a young wine, Riesling has lots of floral and fruit (apple, peach, citrus) character, with refreshing acid, which is why it often has a touch of sugar, or even a dollop or a blob, for balance, but with age it develops complex aromas and tastes, including honey, nut and a certain oiliness that some describe as paraffin or petrol.
Soon, this list of age-worthy Rieslings may include Nova Scotia, as the last two vintages from Gaspereau Vineyards have won medals at national Canadian competitions. I wish they made enough to sell New Brunswick Liquor a few bottles.
And hey "" why can't we try planting in New Brunswick? Our vineyards are growing. People are smarter about where and what to plant than they've ever been. Whenever I drive back towards Saint John from Sussex along the highway, and I look to my right at those sloping hills down to the Kennebecasis River, I think to myself "If we were in Germany that would be 100 per cent grape vines." Maybe not Riesling, but surely its relatives Muller-Thurgau or Riesling""Sylvaner would survive. Maybe it's time I bought some land and planted an acre or two.
Back to 1988. That was my first year in Ontario. I lived in Hamilton, right on the doorstep of Niagara's burgeoning wine industry. I was already pretty much obsessed with craft beer, and I soon discovered "craft" wine: good wine like the Rieslings of Inniskillin, Hillebrand, and newcomers Vineland Estates and Cave Spring. These good value, crisp, mineral tinged, lemon and apple flavoured wines became my new favourites, and some of them still are today.
Today, real men drink riesling.
Craig drinks Riesling for an aperitif, main and after dinner drink. Either he's versatile or Riesling is. Visit Craig at www.frogspad.ca.
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