UVA Import
Grape

Riesling

Riesling from Paulinshof and Bauer in the Mosel: dry and off-dry white wine, and Riesling sekt. From slate.

Riesling

Riesling: dry, off-dry or sweet, and how to tell from the label

Riesling is the grape that carries every level of sweetness, because its acidity keeps the wine fresh however much sugar is left. It is also why the label on a German Riesling carries more words than most wines: sweetness is rarely given as a number, it is given as a word, and the words are not translated.

What do trocken and feinherb mean on a German wine?

Trocken means dry: at most four grams of residual sugar per litre, or up to nine when the acidity is high enough to balance the sugar. In practice the wine tastes dry. Feinherb and halbtrocken sit just above, with a touch of sweetness that balances the acidity rather than making the wine sweet. That is the style many people are actually after when they ask for a "dry" white to go with spicy food.

Are Kabinett and Spätlese sweet wines?

Kabinett and Spätlese say nothing about sweetness at all. They describe how ripe the grapes were at harvest, meaning how much sugar was in the berry before fermentation started. A Spätlese can be bone dry, and a Kabinett can be sweet. That is why they often appear alongside trocken or feinherb on the same label.

What is Grosses Gewächs (GG)?

Grosses Gewächs, abbreviated GG, is dry wine from one of the top-classified single vineyards. The term comes from the growers' association VDP and corresponds roughly to a Burgundy Grand Cru. It describes the site, not the sweetness. Der Ring Mosel also uses the term, and the Kammer from Paulinshof is a Der Ring GG, not a VDP one.

The Rieslings in the selection come from Paulinshof and Bauer in the Mosel. In the Mosel the vines grow in slate, on steep south-facing slopes along the river, and the wines take on the taut style of citrus and wet stone.

The styles from the Mosel: dry Kabinett from the Juffer at Bauer, dry Riesling from red slate at Paulinshof, Grosses Gewächs from the Brauneberger Kammer, a vineyard Paulinshof owns outright, off-dry Spätlese feinherb from the same site, and traditional-method Riesling sekt brut.

What food goes with Riesling?

Dry Riesling is served cold, around eight degrees, with fish, shellfish and sushi. Off-dry and feinherb handle spice and acidity in food better than most dry whites, and are what many people really mean when they ask for a "dry" white with Asian food.