Respecting Riesling at the right time

Riesling suffers from a widespread misunderstanding of its ageing capability and its sweetness profile as it ages, according to industry experts.

However, even though producers would like more consumers to embrace maturing Riesling, they’re unable to hold onto it long enough before release due to cash flow, said delegates at the Riesling Rendezvous event in Washington in the US earlier this week.

At the two-day event, where Riesling luminaries from around the world gathered to discuss the future of the grape, one panelist suggested that seven years could be the optimum drinking date for Riesling, a remark to which Etienne Hugel of Hugel et Fils in Alsace replied that if producers did keep the wine for that long before release, they would probably "go bust!".

The ideal drinking date for maturing Riesling was debated at more length during the Ageability of Riesling seminar, when Austrian producer Michael Moosbrugger of Schloss Gobelsburg remarked that consumers would benefit from taking the time to understand and therefore appreciate older Rieslings.

He said: "When people visit my winery and see older Rieslings, they ask me if you can still drink them, but the question is not can you still drink them, it’s can you still enjoy them? But," he added, "I stopped trying to convince people to drink Riesling at an older age a while ago as everyone has to make their own decision."

Supporting Moosbrugger’s comments, Frederick Frank of Dr. Konstantin Frank which is based in the Finger Lakes, New York, said that it was important not to patronise, and therefore alienate wine drinkers by preaching to them about when to drink Riesling. He said: "It’s a sensitive issue, but we can’t be seen to be talking down to consumers."

Johannes Leitz of Joseph Leitz in the Rheingau also outlined the difficulty set before Riesling. He commented: "There’s a misconception that all white wines are meant to be drunk young. I sometimes try to encourage consumers to lay the wine down, and Riesling wines are very affordable wines to do that with."

As for the sweetness of Riesling, the sensation of which diminishes with age, Nik Weis from St. Urbans-Hof explained: "The sugar molecules polymerise as the wine gets older, the fructose and glucose form a longer carbohydrate chain. Even though the wine would record the same level of sugar in it, this longer chain of carbohydrates provides a different perception of sweetness on the palate, giving more creaminess rather than sweetness."

The biennial two-day Riesling Rendezvous event was co-hosted by Washington state’s Chateau Ste. Michelle and the Dr. Loosen Estate in Germany. It was attended by 250 delegates from seven countries and six US states, including 70 winery representatives.

Jane Parkinson in Washington State, 15.07.2010