Introduction
Riesling is a white grape variety with its
origin in Germany’s Rhine region. Riesling has flowery aromas and used to make
sparkling white, sweet, semi-sweet and dry wines.
Although it ranks 20th in terms
of most grown grape variety with 48,700 hectares but comes in top 3 in terms of
‘most important white wines by quality’ along with Sauvignon Blanc and
Chardonnay.
Flavors & Wine Regions
Riesling is high ‘terroir expressive’ meaning that the characters
developed in the wine are dependent on the place where it is grown.
Riesling is quite popular in Germany, with around 21,197
hectares in 2006, which amounted to 20.8% of all the grape variety grown
planted there and in Alsace wine region of France which had 21.9% share or
3,350 hectares under it.
Wine regions of Germany with cool climate Riesling portrays
tree fruit notes alongside apple notes with considerable levels of acidity. In
warmer climates, such as parts of Austria and Alsace, late-harvest wines
develop into peach and citrus notes. In Eden and Clare Valley of South
Australia, Riesling tends to develop lime notes.
Riesling is grown in Serbia, Austria, Czech Republic,
Luxembourg, Slovakia, Australia, northern Italy, Canada, New Zealand, China, South
Africa, Washington, Ukraine, New York and California.
Aging
Commonly, Riesling wines are aged for 5 to 15 years for dry,
10 to 20 years for semi-sweet and 10 to 30 years for sweet ones.
Some high-quality
off-dry or dry Riesling touch 100 years of aging and still are enjoyable
Riesling wines have a high aging potential which can be
attributed to high acidity and distinct fruit flavors.
Riesling in Australia
In 1838, William Macarthur introduced Riesling in New South
Wales, Australia. At one time, Riesling was the most planted white grape
variety which was taken over by Chardonnay in the 1990s. Riesling is still grown in The Great Southern among other wine regions like Clare and cooler Eden Valley.
Australian Riesling has
citrus fruit flavors and oily texture while young.
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