Research Paper on "Comparison of Riesling Grape Varietal"

Research Paper 16 pages (4294 words) Sources: 15 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Rieslings

A Drink for All Ages

There are three kinds of wine, those that are most rewarding when drunk in their infancy and those are suitable to be drunk after they have aged, and those that can be drunk either young or old. Riesling is one of these latter: Usually drunk young, it does improve (and change) with age. While many of the best Rieslings are still made from grapes grown in the wine's origination country of Germany, it is now grown in a number of different regions around the world. As is true for every type of wine, the terroir matters for Riesling. While some wines are very hard to distinguish in terms of where they were cultivated, this is never true of Riesling.

The concept of terroir is complex and difficult to convey in words alone. The following, however, encompasses much of what is meant by the term:

I define a "vin du terroir" as a wine with vineyard specific, inimitable characteristics, the nature of which can not be explained by an array of unambiguous measures, and where the winemaker is subordinate relative to the terroir. (The geology of the vineyards of Alsace, 2008)

Indeed, the terroir for Riesling is especially important, and this is the focus of this paper. This paper provides an assessment of a range of varietals to determine what the key features are in determining the most significant factors that differentiate the various varietals. Among these features are the types of soil, climate variations, and style of viticulture. Of these three major influences on the quality and taste of wine, soil type is probably the most important. Soil is such a strong determinant of the quality of grapes and thus of wines in large measure because grape roots extend so far down -- extending down 30 yards at times to supply a steady and sufficient source of both water and nutrients to the plants (Linhoff, n.d.) Riesling grapes are especially sensitive to the range of soil type variation that the roots encounter as they descend from surface to bedrock, as Linhoff (2005) describes:

… wine growers are concerned with the entire soil profile from the surface to the bedrock. Significant changes at any depth can affect grape vines. Furthermore, soil makeup directly influences many aspects important in quality grape growth. One of these aspects is the acidity of soil. Soil acidity has a direct influence on nutrient uptake and is therefore of great importance to grape growers. (p. 46)

Because of its importance of soil type on the quality of vines and grapes, it will be the primary focus of the analysis of three regional varietals of Rieslings.

Good Rieslings are quite widely available at reasonable prices, which means that they are often the choice of individuals who know relatively little about wine. As a result, there has grown up a mini-industry helping to explain to the novice wine aficionado how regional differences should be considered when selecting a Riesling that meets the needs and preferences of each individual.

Riesling Provenance and History

Before examining the differences among selected varietals of Rieslings, I will provide an overview of what is common to all members of this wine group. Rieslings, which are generally considered to be among the top three most important white wines (along with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc) have a long history in Europe. The majority of Riesling grapes are grown in Germany, although Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the United States all grow the white Riesling grapes on a commercial level. Rieslings prefer a cooler climate, and so are not grown in a uniform fashion across the countries where they are cultivated. The fact that Riesling grapes can only successfully be cultivated in colder climates is of increasing concern as climate change affects more and more of the Riesling-growing regions of the world. (Of course this is true of other wines as well.)

The conventional assignment of parentage for Rieslings had been that it is descended from wild grapes that grew in the Rhine Valley, but newer examination of this wine grape (using the process of DNA tracking) has documented the fact that one of the key ancestral plants of Riesling grapes is the Gouais Blanc variety. Gouais has an even longer history than Riesling, having been planted across a wide swath of France throughout the Middle Ages (Robinson, 2006, p. 319). It was considered a somewhat inferior wine, the grapes for which were planted in areas only when the micro-climate could not support the more highly prestigious Pinot Noir or Pinot Gris. Gouais Blanc produced an acidic wine that was considered to be overly simple for sophisticated and cultivated taste. While the Pinot wines were drunk by the nobility and members of the clergy, Gouais Blanc was the choice of ordinary workers and farmers (Robinson, 2006, p. 319).

Gouais Blanc (called Weisser Heunisch in German) was extensively cultivated during the Middle Ages in both France and Germany, although it is now rarely seen. It is no longer cultivated commercially and is in fact difficult to find at all. The other documented parentage (again, through the process of DNA analysis) of Riesling is a cross-fertilization that includes both Heunisch and Traminer varieties. Since these latter two varieties are most common in Germany, the assumption that Riesling did in fact originate in Germany is certainly arguable, although it is also possible that the variety was first cultivated in France (Bird, 2005, pp. 95-7). There have been enough exchanges of genetic material among different wine traditions that it is now impossible to untangle with absolute confidence and exactitude the ancestry of modern varietals of wine. This may actually be a good thing: A little mystery is not a bad thing at all in the consumption and appreciation of wine.

Common Elements of Rieslings

In general, as noted above, Rieslings from throughout the world can vary widely in their taste. However, there are common elements to the range of tastes and aromas. Rieslings are generally fruity when drunk young (which is more often than not). Different assessments by educated wine tasters of Rieslings suggest that it has the fruit flavors of apples, peaches, and grapefruit along with other aromas including honey or roses (Bird, 2005, p. 93). Aged Rieslings are often considered to have petroleum overtones.

The fact that Rieslings have a high degree of acidity qualifies them as a wine that can be aged successfully. That is, the level of acidity is adequate for the chemistry of the wine to remain stable over a long period of time; this stability is what ensures that the wine will remain drinkable over decades and even potentially centuries. The standard range of aging times for different Rieslings is as follows: Five to fifteen years for dry Rieslings; ten to twenty years for semi-sweet Rieslings; and between ten and thirty years for sweet Rieslings (Robinson, 2006, p. 736).

German Rieslings

The home of the Riesling historically is the Rhine Valley, and Germany remains one of the most productive regions of the world in terms of the number of different types of Rieslings and in terms of the number of prestigious Rieslings. The prestige of the wines from this region arises both from their objective quality (to the extent that wine can be said to be able to be judged objectively) and from the fact that some connoisseurs believe that there is something more authentic about Rieslings from their home region.

As Asimov (2010) describes it: "a good German riesling from the Mosel region is like no other riesling in the world. It is simply one of wine's singular glories." Asimov (2010) continues his exegesis of the glories of Mosel Riesling, especially the varieties that are made with grapes that have been allowed to stay the longest on the vine:

In my ideal world, the wine in the glass I raise each year to the coming of spring is a Mosel kabinett riesling. It is a wine of gorgeous delicacy, as fragile as the petals on those first tentative blossoms yet possessing a tensile strength that comes of perfect balance. It is a captured moment, evocative more than impressive, fleeting rather than penetrating, whispered nuance, not high volume.

The above language demonstrates the usually floridness of the wine review (and there is as well the temptation that is always present when reading a wine review to assume a certain degree of required hyperbole). But it does suggest the subtleness and simplicity of the best German Rieslings.

Riesling grape cultivation completely dominates the Mosel Valley:

Mosel is fifth among the thirteen German wine regions with respect to both vineyard acreage and total wine production. ...

More than half of all Mosel wine is Riesling. The German hybrid Mueller-Thurgau represents about 20% of the wine production. In third place is the historic variety Elbing that dates back to Roman times and is the major grape variety in the neighboring country of Luxembourg. Only about 2% of Mosel… READ MORE

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