riesling

Probably the world's most undervalued grape variety, and certainly the most mis-pronounced. It should be pronounced "reece-ling" as opposed to "rize-ling". It is arguably the world's greatest variety on the basis of longevity of its wines, variety of style and ability to transmit the characteristics of terroir without losing its own varietal traits.

Germany is the historic home of riesling where it is renowned for making floral, honeyed, steely wines ranging from bone dry to the phenomenally concentrated sweet eiswein and trockenbeerenauslese with minerally, slaty overtones. Riesling is also the shining star of Alsace where it achieves great concentration and richness in all its styles.

Plantings around the New World have increased dramatically over the last ten years, notably in the cooler regions of Australia, such as the Clare and Eden valleys and in New Zealand, where the wines are more citrussy than floral and are usually made in a dry style that shows classic maturing notes of kerosene earlier than its European cousins.

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