Most of you know me as an advocate for the wines of Alsace when it comes to riesling, but even I have to admit that Germany produces some stunning rieslings.  Germany has recently been blessed with a string of good vintages, it seems that year after year German vintners are having great success in making consistently good wines worthy of aging.  Rieslings can range from dry to gently sweet to really sweet, from the Mosel, the Rheinhessen, and the Pfalz, all of good to great quality and affordable.  In fact, the Germans themselves drink mostly dry wines.  Rieslings can also age extremely well (white Burgundy aren’t the only ones that have that ability) and can pair well with a number of different dishes (not just the usual pork, seafood, poultry, etc…).

Many consumers find it difficult though to understand what style of riesling they’ll find when they pick up a bottle of German riesling.  With this in mind, I thought I’d take the opportunity to run through some basics on German wines, particularly what’s on the labels.

To help you with some German, here’s a basic sweetness/richness guide for German wines… Continue reading A little German