THE RIESLING CONUNDRUM

THE RIESLING CONUNDRUM

Folks, before you completely go bonkers over the Nouveau Beaujolais (release date is Thursday, November 18) and then go into hibernation, only sucking down brooding Reds, Wine Meister has an issue to bring forth that is very dear to his (German) heart.

When I reported in an earlier blog on the pleasures of shopping for wine in a small store in my neck of the woods, Ludwig’s Tobacco and Liquors in San Anselmo, Marin County, California, USA, I was shocked that the store didn’t carry a single bottle of German Riesling. Dolefully, owner Magid Nazari revealed that nobody buys them because people don’t understand them.

Imagine this. Sommeliers at the finest eateries all over the country have been extolling the virtues and versatility of Riesling for years now and it's still not catching on with wine drinkers.

Don't worry, I don’t want to put you through the same ordeal as the famed NYC sommelier and restaurateur Paul Grieco did with his customers at his two wine bars called “Terroir” (www.wineisterroir.com). Beginning last June 21 until September 22, the only “by the glass” selections were Rieslings. Mr. Grieco called it “The Summer of Riesling.” All other wines had to be purchased by the bottle.

Believe it or not, German Rieslings were America's most popular wines before they were pushed aside by overoaked Chardonnays. Ask your grandparents, if you doubt the Wine Meister's words.

SOME BACKGROUND

Germany is the northernmost wine growing country in the world. Before the onset of global warming, this often meant that bringing grapes to total maturity was almost impossible. To boot, Riesling is one of the grape varieties with naturally high acid levels. The German wine maker (Kellermeister) would balance the high acidity by either adding a small amount of sweet, unfermented grape juice, or more traditionally, s/he would stop fermentation before all the sugar in the must had been converted into alcohol. This accounts for the fact that traditionally made German Rieslings are extremely low in alcohol (7.5% - 9.5%) and are wines which are light, fresh, fruity, and easy to enjoy by themselves or with many foods.

With rising demand in Germany for dry Rieslings, wineries after global warming brought riper grapes, responded and are now also producing dry-style Rieslings by making sure that the must is wholly fermented. German winemakers have recently turned out very good examples of this new style. In my own experience however, Americans who continued to be fans of the traditional style Rieslings (containing some residual sugar) from way back, often reject the new, dry style Rieslings coming out of Germany.

That’s what I call the Riesling conundrum. Most wine consumers now display what one could describe as a "sweet wine phobia" and often confuse "fruity" with "sweet" when it comes to German wines. On the other hand, the "traditionalists" reject the dry style German Rieslings, which means that you won’t find many dry German Rieslings on the shelves of wine stores in the US. Even the homegrown (often inferior) versions usually follow the slightly sweet German style.

It turns out that German Riesling is the wine that really goes superbly well with all Asian cuisines and when that Asian cuisine turns up the heat, only Riesling with a bit of residual sugar can “stand up” to it. It's the low alcohol and the residual sugar in these wines that do the trick.

WHAT SHOULD I BUY AND WHERE DO I GET IT?

The least expensive bottle would be a "QbA" from a recent vintage. But you must make sure that it comes from a top German producer (e.g. ’08 Kesseler “R”or Dr. Loosen “Dr. L,” both available for $15 at the Wine Club (www.thewineclub.com) in San Francisco). Actually, for a dollar more you can climb  into the next quality category, called “Kabinett,”and get their ’08 St. Urbans Hof “Ockfener Bockstein” Riesling Kabinett.

2009 was another successful vintage in Germany and a good choice would be the ’09 Moenchhof “Uerziger Wuerzgarten” Riesling Kabinett, sold for $18 at K&L in SF.

The ultimate purveyor of German Riesling in the San Francisco Bay Area, if not the whole West Coast, is Dee Vine Wines (www.dee-vine.com). They are located at Pier 19 on the Embarcadero in  San Francisco and they carry Rieslings going back to 1862. Yes Sir, top quality Rieslings are almost immortal, a bottle of which would set you back by only $15,000. For about 0.1% of that, try the 2008 Josef Rosch “Leiwener Klostergarten for $15.50. I’ve tasted Rosch wines on numerous occasions and he is one of my all-time favorite producers.

RIESLING MISCELLANEA

If you want to know more about other quality levels of German Rieslings (Spaetlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese (don’t you love the poesy of endless German words) and Eiswein, I’ll be more than happy to oblige.

For potential or actual collectors,  Rieslings are a must. Top German Riesling is the only White (perhaps a top, late harvest, Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley in France comes close) that ages and improves fantastically.

Speaking of the longevity of German Riesling, the bottle in the picture above is of a 1983 "Maximin Gruenhaeuser Abstberg" Auslese. 1983 happens to be the birth date of my beloved daughter and this bottle was consumed at her birthday this February. It had gotten much drier than when I first bought it for her future wine stash in 1985 and it was simply superb.

MISCELLANEA

You just met Riesling, one of the great vitis vinifera (wine-bearing) grapes. Others are the Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, the Burgundy grapes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and Gewuerztraminer from  South Tyrol (Alto Adige) in Northern Italy. They are called “great," because they originated in Europe, but eventually succeeded in the far corners of the earth. All are of Eurasian origin.

Thomas Jefferson and other gentlemen farmers attempted to grow vitis vinifera grapes from Europe in the United States, but the vines soon withered and died.

This riddle was only solved when European vineyards were virtually wiped out in the second half of the 19th century by a pest dubbed phylloxera, accidentally imported from the United States. Phylloxera is an aphid that attacks the rootstock of the vine and kills it.

European vintners flooded their vineyards (if they were flat) and tried a variety of bizarre schemes to get rid of the pest, but to no avail. Finally it dawned on the people searching for a cure, that native American grapes (called “vitis,” such as the Concord grape, source of the great Manischewitz wines) were immune to the pest and American rootstock, with vitis vinifera  budded  upon it, became the salvation of European vineyards.

News from the boonies: “123 Bolinas,” Marin County’s great new wine bar in Fairfax, (www.123bolinas.com) will host an oyster extravaganza (Hog Island Oyster Company) on Sunday November 21, from 4 – 7 pm. Reserve your oysters by e-mailing them at oysters@123bolinas.com.

WINE MEISTER’S CREED

SWABIAN ROOTS AND THE WINE MEISTER'S CREED

Some of my devoted fans expressed sticker shock after reading my very first blog. I reported on a Spanish tasting (price range $18 to $99) by the “Uptown Tasting Group". That’s exactly the point of belonging to a tasting group. You average out the expense of the wines. I love tasting highfalutin wines, but being a cheapskate is in my blood.

Frugality is as German as Mercedes Benz or BMW. Their owners race along the Autobahn, screech to a halt at a rest stop during lunch time, and munch on their Wurst sandwiches, which Mutti had made earlier at home.

Let’s dig deeper into the German soul. Germans identify with their dialect groups or tribes.

Bavarians love beer, weisswurst, lederhosen, oompah music, and rough play.

Swabians, like the Wein Meister, drink wine, love spaetzle, grouse, and make fun of their peculiar outlook on life.  "Schaffe, schaffe, Haeusle baue, verrecke" (Toil, toil, build your own four walls, kick the bucket) is our central creed. The Swabians are a laconic lot. We are notorious for our penny pinching ways.

A recent story in the New York Times looked into this thriftiness business that helped Germany weather the global financial melt down. The reporter ended up talking to the Hausfrauen of Memmingen, where the Wine Meister spent the first ten years of his life.

Has the Wine Meister street cred for bargain hunting or what?

BARGAIN HUNTING

The Wine Meister lives in Marin County and the greater San Francisco Bay Area is where his happy hunting grounds lie. Until further thorough research, I can only give you thumbnail sketches of the places that wine consumers in Marin County think of as bargain stores and then some.

Trader Joe's:

Regrettably, I belittled “Two Buck Chuck," when I threatened people with a subscription to the “Two Buck Chuck” wine club, should they refuse to read my blog.

These $1.99 bottles are marketed under the name “Charles Shaw Wines,“ and for obvious reasons became known as "two buck chuck." They are exclusively sold at Trader Joe’s.

The man who brings us these super bargains is Fred Franzia of Bronco Wine Company. Fred has long been a thorn in the tender side of Napa producers. They forced him to abandon an earlier bargain brand called “Napa Ridge.” Its grapes didn’t necessarily come from Napa and thus besmirched the image that clings to everything grown on the hallowed grounds of Napa Valley.

Fred Franzia, though, had the last laugh. He purchased the name of the defunct Charles Shaw winery, built a huge bottling plant at the entrance to the Napa Valley and prints on his back labels “bottled in Napa and Sonoma” both names associated with high quality California wines.

The Larkspur Trader Joe's has a small, but well organized wine department with a staff person on hand to advise customers. As in all Trader Joe's wine departments, the ubiquitous pile of Two Buck Chuck is displayed on the floor. There are other "super bargains" galore. However, despite my better judgment, I bagged the last bottle of a high end Pinot for $20, that usually sells for twice as much.

Barolo and Barbaresco are some of Italy’s most prestigious wines. They come from the Piedmont region and are both made from the native Nebbiolo grape.  Normally, prices start at around $30. The Trader offers ‘05 Barbaresco for $13 and '05 Barolo for $14.  Both are labeled “La Loggia.” The Barbaresco was exactly what I had expected a good Barbaresco from a fair vintage to be like. Bravo! I found the Barolo less appealing, but still good.

Cost Plus:

Small, but decent selection, handsomely displayed, with very helpful staff on the floor. Lots of “bargains” from obscure producers.

Beverages and More (BevMo):

Lots of “bargains,” and massive numbers of wines from all over the world. The ones I am most familiar with are not cheap. No staff person was on hand. How are you supposed to decide whether to buy this $80 bottle of Bordeaux or that $79.99 California Cab as a gift for wine savvy Uncle Bill?

I got the feeling that BevMo is one of those “loss leader” shops. There are indeed some good deals. They have the excellent Naveran Brut Cava (Spanish sparkling wine ) at $12, but then the Deutz Champagne that I see around for $35 costs $58.

Wine Meister’s delicate system doesn’t deal well with hard liquor. Still, I gave the hard stuff a cursory glance and spotted a bottle of German brandy for $35 that I saw later at Ludwig’s for $20.

Ludwig's Liquor and Smoke Shop:

This shop has been a San Anselmo institution for decades. When you enter the handsomely appointed store with its faint, sweet, tobacco smell, you don’t expect this to be a bargain hunters paradise, but it is. The affable owner, Magid Nazari, tastes everything that he sells. His selections from high end to bargain basement specimens are all good values in their class. Emphasis is on California wines, but there is plenty of esoteric foreign stuff around. I bought a very tasty bottle of '99 Valpolicella ($10) that stood me in good stead during Halloween and the Giant's victory in Game 4.

Further issues will deal with bargain hunting in San Francisco and in the East Bay.

MISCELLANEA

Photo above: Wine Meister during a visit to Chateau La Louviere (Bordeaux). The chateaux produces excellent reds and whites. The owner, Andre Lurton, makes bargain wines at his other properties, Ch. Bonnet, Ch. de Cruzeau, and Ch. de Rochemorin.

What did Thomas Jefferson and Richard Nixon have in common? They were both fond of Chateau Margaux. At White House dinners for assorted dignitaries, Nixon would serve his guests ordinary red swill and instructed his server to pour him Margaux on the sly (and you always wondered why they called him “Tricky Dick”). Then again, maybe he was just trying to balance the budget.