Last Tuesday I attended a dinner in Charlottesville hosted by Williams Corner Wine, one of our favorite importers and wholesalers. The wines were from importers Mosel Wine Merchant, who specialize in German wines, particularly Rieslings made along the Mosel river. We must have tasted at least a dozen different Rieslings plus a really nice German Pinot Noir. The wine was served with braised rabbit, which was delicious. Here are a few things I learned:
- Rieslings are still hugely under-rated. A $25 Riesling blows away most Chardonnay at that price when judged on the basis of complexity, food-friendliness, and originality, among other things.
- Even sweet rieslings pair beautifully with food.
- Global warming appears to be making better quality German Rieslings, so it's not all bad!
- Wine geeks appear to mostly be men. As the guests continued to arrive, I noticed with chagrin that there wasn't a woman among them. I mean wine geek in a positive way, though
The tasting made me really wish that Rieslings were taken more seriously. Too many people just can't get past the sweet ones, and the dry ones don't seem to be of much interest either. Too bad.
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