Fellow cork-dork here (CMS Somm) from the Niagara wine region in Canada! World class Riesling here similar to what you would expect from the Rheingau. Cheers to all the wine lovers out there.
Cheers from Washington State! Cork dork (grad student studying wine chemistry, WSET 2) who's about to help teach a class on wine chemistry this weekend🍷😁
Another well made and informational wine video. Though I would think that Spatlese should also be considered a sweet category for Riesling. I was also surprised that Austria and the Finger Lakes Region weren't mentioned as high quality dry Riesling production regions. But maybe too much information could be overwhelming for some people.
Thank you for attempting to help us understand about Riesling. The many comments below only show how difficult it still is to understand the German wine system.
Riesling is neat because TDN production (the chemical responsible for the petrol flavor) is related to heat during growing too - it can cause a fault sometimes called "atypical aging" when the petrol character dominates the sensory palate. I'm a grad student at WSU researching wine and I love to see the sommelier end of things too😁
I personally like the VDP system... The Pradikat designations are only used for sweet wine. German wine labels fascinate me, they are so intimidating but once you get the system down, they give A LOT of information.
Not really. Let me add to the confusio🙈Prädikatsweine can be dry/not sweet as well. It is actually becoming more and more common that e.g. Spätlese is made in the dry way ("trocken ausgebaut"). Nevertheless, you'd find the VDP Collar and classification on them :-)
@@kamurke uhm basically all german wines that are fermented till dry are Spätlese or a higher Prädikat. Depending on the region and grape variety a Spätlese must be harvested with a minimum potential alcohl between 12,0 abv and 13,5 abv. There arent many dry wines with less than 12abv in Germany
@@kilianhzh The point was that the OP said that Prädikatsstufen are only used for sweet wines. Which in my opinion is a bit misleading 🤷♂️ Or do you find a Kabinett trocken specifically sweet?
@@kamurke this is just for the VDP. It has its pros and cons. They are not allowed to label the Prädikat with dry wines. On the other hand a Kabinett trocken gives you a distinct style that is clearly different from Spätlese trocken or auslese trocken. Just like in Wachau …
Yes, I do have trouble finding out when the wine is sweet or dry. The most helpful information for me is the alcohol level on bottle. For German Riesling when the alcohol content is above 12% or Trocken is indicated its clear. But this is not all. Your excample (a VDP wine) is almost always Trocken or can be sometimes fineherb more often an exception and not clearly defined. These qualifications do not follow German wine Rules and are unique to the VDP just as Erste Lage or Grosses Gewachs. Nothing wrong with the quality of these wines. In the German system wines made from sweeter grapes are called Kabinett, Auslese, Spätlese, Trocken Beeren Auslese, Eiswine. All defined by sugarlevel by Ocsele? for the grapes. not the wine. The first 3 "predikat stuffen" can be sweet or dry or inbetween. Indicated by the alcohol content that can be as low as 7% with a lot of residual sugar or as high as 13% for dry. You just picked a bad example with a VDP wine without explaining the official rules correctly. It takes only 15 minutes :)
I learned a little bit. I used to just look at the % of alcohol to determine if it's dry (which I still do). Anything over 11% will probably not be very sweet. The BATFE and the FDA need to hurry up on their standardization rules of the back label which they are working on for imports and domestic so everyone can consistently read the label.
Think you don't like Riesling with some residual sugar? Do you like Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnay? Be aware that this contains from 1/2 to 1 percent residual sugar. The slight sweetness of many Rieslings is part of the package, to balance the acidity. If the wine tastes good, drink it. Don't obsess over residual sugar.
For Riesling wine made in Germany, residual sugar does matter. In Germany, there is a sweetness scale that producers have to use for their high quality wines to note the sweetness level. This is because in Germany, Riesling can be made into a dry wine all the way to a dessert wine and they have to label the sweetness of the wines based on the sugar levels in the grapes.
@@numanuma20 you are wrong. There is no mandatory labeling of how sweet/dry the wine is. You are probably thinking about Prädikatswein. This has nothing to do with the level of sugar in the final product. It just tells you how much sugar was in the grapes. If you want to know how sweet the wine is you have to look for terms like „trocken“ „halbtrocken“ „lieblich“ „süß“ . They are not mandatory and most sweet wines will not carry them to tell you how sweet they are.
@@numanuma20 yes but the Prädikat has nothing to do with the sweetness of the wine. Most sweet wines in germany don’t even carry a Prädikat. They are made by sweetening an already fermented wine with RMC or other kinds of sugar. This is not allowed for prädikatswein - so the bottle will not say Spätlese. On the other hand you can ferment Kabinett, Spätlese and with strong enough yeasts even auslese to dry. The prädikat is not a sweetness scale and it is not mandatory.
I really dont get all the hate sweet wines get.I woud more gladly drink sweet wine than something so sour that it feels its burning my eyes from their sockets
Surprising that you don't mention the finger lakes when you talk about new worl locations that produce reisling. I very much prefer then to anything produced in Washington state.
it's a matter of production size and distribution/availability. WA ~65k acres of vineyards and NY is still around 5-6k acres (vinifera, not including hybrids)
German wines with quality-level "Auslese" are not necessarily sweet. They may be elaborated as dry (trocken) as well! - They will of course taste very different from a dry wine of a lower quality-level, like for instance "Kabinett", since the grapes of an Auslese-wine have to be much riper and thus to contain more natural sugar!
oooo yah! gas! crazy right? It's actually from a compound present in all wines that becomes more present as wines age. TDN as it's referred to as, is particularly noticeable in white wines like Riesling!
Fellow cork-dork here (CMS Somm) from the Niagara wine region in Canada! World class Riesling here similar to what you would expect from the Rheingau.
Cheers to all the wine lovers out there.
Cheers from Washington State! Cork dork (grad student studying wine chemistry, WSET 2) who's about to help teach a class on wine chemistry this weekend🍷😁
Thank you so much! I've been drinking Rieslings for over 40 years and learned something new...
Fellow Riesling lover here from the Lake Michigan Shore. We’re making some award winning Rieslings here too. Great video! Cheers! 🍷🍷🍷
Fantastic!
Another well made and informational wine video. Though I would think that Spatlese should also be considered a sweet category for Riesling. I was also surprised that Austria and the Finger Lakes Region weren't mentioned as high quality dry Riesling production regions. But maybe too much information could be overwhelming for some people.
Thank you for attempting to help us understand about Riesling. The many comments below only show how difficult it still is to understand the German wine system.
Just one thing there is no sh-sound in „Auslese“ it is just a normal s-sound … like in riesling
I congratulate you for tasting Rieslings with a Burgunderkelch !
Austria not mentioned? Excellent Rieslings to be found in Austria.
That they can! Excellent addition.
Riesling is neat because TDN production (the chemical responsible for the petrol flavor) is related to heat during growing too - it can cause a fault sometimes called "atypical aging" when the petrol character dominates the sensory palate. I'm a grad student at WSU researching wine and I love to see the sommelier end of things too😁
We also love the geeky side. Thanks for sharing your notes!
I was startled to discover that petrol note in a bottle of Spanish Rueda (Finca la Colina 2020). Amazing!
I am totally in love with this woman. I mean, my heart literally heaves with joy at the sight of her. That smile!!!!
I love very spicy Chinese food with a dry Riesling. Doesn’t get better than that.
I personally like the VDP system... The Pradikat designations are only used for sweet wine. German wine labels fascinate me, they are so intimidating but once you get the system down, they give A LOT of information.
Not really. Let me add to the confusio🙈Prädikatsweine can be dry/not sweet as well. It is actually becoming more and more common that e.g. Spätlese is made in the dry way ("trocken ausgebaut"). Nevertheless, you'd find the VDP Collar and classification on them :-)
@@kamurke uhm basically all german wines that are fermented till dry are Spätlese or a higher Prädikat. Depending on the region and grape variety a Spätlese must be harvested with a minimum potential alcohl between 12,0 abv and 13,5 abv. There arent many dry wines with less than 12abv in Germany
@@kilianhzh The point was that the OP said that Prädikatsstufen are only used for sweet wines. Which in my opinion is a bit misleading 🤷♂️ Or do you find a Kabinett trocken specifically sweet?
@@kamurke this is just for the VDP. It has its pros and cons. They are not allowed to label the Prädikat with dry wines. On the other hand a Kabinett trocken gives you a distinct style that is clearly different from Spätlese trocken or auslese trocken. Just like in Wachau …
Yes, I do have trouble finding out when the wine is sweet or dry. The most helpful information for me is the alcohol level on bottle. For German Riesling when the alcohol content is above 12% or Trocken is indicated its clear. But this is not all. Your excample (a VDP wine) is almost always Trocken or can be sometimes fineherb more often an exception and not clearly defined. These qualifications do not follow German wine Rules and are unique to the VDP just as Erste Lage or Grosses Gewachs. Nothing wrong with the quality of these wines. In the German system wines made from sweeter grapes are called Kabinett, Auslese, Spätlese, Trocken Beeren Auslese, Eiswine. All defined by sugarlevel by Ocsele? for the grapes. not the wine. The first 3 "predikat stuffen" can be sweet or dry or inbetween. Indicated by the alcohol content that can be as low as 7% with a lot of residual sugar or as high as 13% for dry. You just picked a bad example with a VDP wine without explaining the official rules correctly. It takes only 15 minutes :)
I was stationed in Germany in the mid 80s...the wine was in either brown or green bottles. One was dry and the other sweet.
In the 1980's, I believe it was largely traditional. Mosel in green and Rhein in brown. At least that's the way they came in when I was importing them
I learned a little bit. I used to just look at the % of alcohol to determine if it's dry (which I still do). Anything over 11% will probably not be very sweet. The BATFE and the FDA need to hurry up on their standardization rules of the back label which they are working on for imports and domestic so everyone can consistently read the label.
Thank you nice
Think you don't like Riesling with some residual sugar? Do you like Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnay? Be aware that this contains from 1/2 to 1 percent residual sugar. The slight sweetness of many Rieslings is part of the package, to balance the acidity.
If the wine tastes good, drink it. Don't obsess over residual sugar.
For Riesling wine made in Germany, residual sugar does matter. In Germany, there is a sweetness scale that producers have to use for their high quality wines to note the sweetness level. This is because in Germany, Riesling can be made into a dry wine all the way to a dessert wine and they have to label the sweetness of the wines based on the sugar levels in the grapes.
@@numanuma20 you are wrong. There is no mandatory labeling of how sweet/dry the wine is. You are probably thinking about Prädikatswein. This has nothing to do with the level of sugar in the final product. It just tells you how much sugar was in the grapes. If you want to know how sweet the wine is you have to look for terms like „trocken“ „halbtrocken“ „lieblich“ „süß“ . They are not mandatory and most sweet wines will not carry them to tell you how sweet they are.
@@kilianhzh That was exactly what I was talking about.
@@numanuma20 yes but the Prädikat has nothing to do with the sweetness of the wine. Most sweet wines in germany don’t even carry a Prädikat. They are made by sweetening an already fermented wine with RMC or other kinds of sugar. This is not allowed for prädikatswein - so the bottle will not say Spätlese. On the other hand you can ferment Kabinett, Spätlese and with strong enough yeasts even auslese to dry. The prädikat is not a sweetness scale and it is not mandatory.
I really dont get all the hate sweet wines get.I woud more gladly drink sweet wine than something so sour that it feels its burning my eyes from their sockets
Just finished a bottle of sweet Riesling. I love it , much better than Moscato .
@@Sammiein im not crazy about moscato either,kinda reminds me about overbearing parfume
Surprising that you don't mention the finger lakes when you talk about new worl locations that produce reisling. I very much prefer then to anything produced in Washington state.
it's a matter of production size and distribution/availability. WA ~65k acres of vineyards and NY is still around 5-6k acres (vinifera, not including hybrids)
German wines with quality-level "Auslese" are not necessarily sweet. They may be elaborated as dry (trocken) as well! - They will of course taste very different from a dry wine of a lower quality-level, like for instance "Kabinett", since the grapes of an Auslese-wine have to be much riper and thus to contain more natural sugar!
Ok. Did she say, "Wet slate?" Aroma of "petrol?"
oooo yah! gas! crazy right? It's actually from a compound present in all wines that becomes more present as wines age. TDN as it's referred to as, is particularly noticeable in white wines like Riesling!
Mary me!!!!!!!?
She is already married " to wine " :):):):)