Riesling

Riesling has been called the ‘queen of grapes’, and not without good reason, it’s probably the variety with the greatest elegance and distinction in the world.
The Riesling variety is a natural crossing of Weisser Heunisch (Gouais Blanc) and a Frankish variety (Traminer seedling). The grape clusters are small but dense, cylindrical, shouldered, usually no wings and small yellowish-green grapes with scar marks. Riesling thrive in cool to moderate climates.
Today, it has emerged as one of the most collectible white wines among top connoisseurs around the world.
Riesling wines have high acidity with a definite citric and floral/fruity character. The Riesling’s flavours, when young, include apple, pear, citrus, grapefruit, peach, gooseberry and newly-cut grass, though as it gets older it acquires notes of honeycomb, marzipan, butter sponge cake and baked apples, even petroleum wax (a natural compound called TDN). Extra ripe grapes can also produce wines with flavours of apricot, mango, pineapple and dried fruit. Riesling has many harvest and vinification options as it can be light to full-bodied and dry to sweet. The grape is susceptible to noble rot (botrytis) and produces outstanding beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese wines.
Wine made from Riesling is quite unlike any other. It is generally light in alcohol, refreshingly high in fruity natural acidity and has the ability to transmit the character of a place (terroir) through its extract and unique aroma. It is also capable of ageing for decades in bottle. In general it performs best if fermented cool. Riesling and new oak and malolactic fermentation don’t go together too well, in contrast, old wood in large-sized containers smooths it off and adds complexity.
Riesling is great as it is so exceptionally good at expressing terroir, but also because it makes white wines that are so good at ageing. A fine Riesling almost demands time in bottle. They can be quite austere in youth, in contrast the prospect of a 50 year old Riesling can be an appetising one.
High acidity, low alcohol content and differing levels of sweetness have made Riesling wine a true trump card when matching up with food.
The more light and fruity ones are perfect for salads, aperitifs and raw fish. Those more on the dry and full-bodied side pair up nicely with fatty meats such as goose, duck or roast pork; fish like trout and salmon and also with patés. Auslese (selected extra ripe grapes) can work well with desserts that are not overly sweet. All the off-dry and semi-sweet Rieslings work wonderfully with spicy dishes like Thai curries, Indian cuisine and fiery-hot Mexican cuisine.