Resurgence of Riesling

Welcome to vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. About this time two years ago the press was all abuzz about the resurgence of Riesling. So what happened? Two summers ago many a wine writer dedicated an article to the resurgence in popularity of Riesling. This was great news to me as Riesling is by far my favorite white grape. One of the reasons I believe it fell out of favor is that Americans for the most part only had access to the sweeter styles of Riesling so they had very little exposure to truly great Riesling. As it became less cool to drink sweet wines people turned their noses up at Riesling. Too bad there are some truly great wines being made from Riesling – wines that are not very sweet and are able to age for a very long time. One article quoted Randall Graham, a pioneering Riesling winemaker from California as stating "Riesling is the most misunderstood and under-appreciated grape variety, like Cinderella a princess relegated to the status of a charwoman..." However, nothing seems to have happened even though more wineries are producing Riesling in collaboration with the likes of Randall Graham and Germany's famed Dr. Ernst Loosen. We don't seem to consuming it as eagerly as was predicted. So I am pleading with you to dismiss those old notions that Riesling is just a gooey sweet wine and give these amazing wines another chance this summer. And thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.