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Taste scale for Riesling on the cards
July 28, 2008
Howard G Goldberg in New York
Every bottle of Riesling should carry a taste scale so consumers can see exactly what style of wine they are getting, the International Riesling Foundation has proposed.
In its first major initiative, the newly formed New York State-based foundation has created guidelines to help consumers predict the taste of any Riesling.
The foundation disclosed its so-called Riesling taste scale as the second annual Riesling Rendezvous, sponsored by Chateau Ste Michelle and the German producer Dr Loosen, began yesterday at the Washington producer's headquarters near Seattle.
The foundation has proposed descriptors it hopes to see on every bottle: dry, off-dry, medium dry, medium sweet and sweet, perhaps to be accompanied by a graphic.
Although Riesling is the fastest-growing white wine in America, the absence of
dependable common label information about gradations of dryness and sweetness makes most purchases a gamble, Riesling experts agree.
'Market research has shown that many consumers think of Riesling only as "a sweet white wine" despite the wide range of tastes it can represent,' the foundation said.
To help winemakers choose the most suitable characterisations, it created a chart of technical parameters involving the interplay of sugar, acid, and pH, which determines taste. Producers' use of the system would be voluntary.
The foundation, created last November, has an international board consisting of more than 30 top Riesling producers. Its president is James Trezise, president of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, a trade association.
Have your say...
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 Outstanding idea for Riesling. This has been done before... for Sake. But, the consumer must be informed and the retailer/restaurantuer, as well. Many styles to choose from. Nothing definitive.... this will surely help... if the ratings are legit.
Anon
Difficult to achieve but wonderful idea - think of the ramifications for every other 'appellation' or class of wine!
Phil Styles, St.Gaudent, France
Excellent idea but why stop at Riesling? New York Wineries are known for
their sweeter wine styles -for both Labrusca and Vinifera. Canadian VQA
Wines have done this for years. Additional tools to help consumers purchase
wine can only be regarded as a good thing...
JP Hailey, Lewiston, NY, USA
There are already some diverse, but similar approach, systems of classifying Rieslings according to sweetness and style-Canada uses a sugar content identifier, Germany & Austria, of course, have traditional classes such as "Spatlese", "Auslese". etc. I think we don't need to throw out the baby with the bathwater by injecting a completely new system, but try to derive a universally accepted one since Riesling is prominently produced and respected throught out the entire wine world. the U.S. has , unfortunately, suffered a poor market image of all riesling as "sweet" or sugary wine-thanks to the decades of importation of cheap German "Plonk" and the production of cheap priced sweet to of-dry at best imitations in American wineries over the last few decades. Only now is this varietal, usually quite revered by good winemakers, now making a comeback in the US market. One problem has been that the poor quality image in the past has caused good Rielsing grapes to be "plowed under" to enable growing more lucrative grape varietals.
The tasting wheel developed by Ann Noble at UC Davis and the Australian created "Essential Wine Tasting Guide" by Vinum Vitae Ltd are two good reference points that might be used to establish a generally accepted set of descriptions , readily understandable by the broad market. Style shoudl be direct and straightforward: ie."dessert" or "aperitif/appetizer" and body character also identified to allow better food matches for dinner table or other food uses.
Robert W. Bentley, Port Townsend, WA
About time! Riesling has always been the world's most exciting white wine grape, but between the myriad variety of styles and the often German-nuanced label descriptors/designations, many in the trade don't know what to expect, let alone most consumers.
Barry Bassin, FL, USA
Replying to Robert's comments - Spatlese and Auslese refer only to harvest ripeness, not residual sugar. In fact, Germany's top wines (arguably) the Grosse Gewachs and Erste Gewachs are made from grapes of Auslese ripeness and are completely dry. I believe that a numerical value or symbol on each bottle would go a long way toward making an it easier on consumers (and many trade people as well).
Paul J. Criger, South Lyon, Michigan, USA
I glance at the alcohol level to get an indication of the sweetness. If it's 8.5%, it's not going to be dry. If I see an Spatlese at ABV 13% I'll expect it to be more-or-less dry.
Some prior knowledge is needed to make these rough calculations, so it's easy to see how some kind of numerical scale would help the typical customer buy the style he or she actually likes. I'm sure I've seen this type of scale on some (Alsatian?) bottles before.
I think one of the best things a producer can do to get people buying the wine is to write a brief, but meaningful, tasting note on the back label. This is very obvious, of course, which makes it all the more baffling that every single winemaker doesn't do it.
Paul Kiernan
If this is done well it can't be a bad thing. Maybe now wineries that make sickly sweet Riesling with high levels of residual sugar will stop telling us they're Alsatian in style!
Mick Dowling, Peter Lehmann Wines, Tanunda, South Australia
There are some Australian Shiraz styles that could also do with this scale.
Peter Nixon, Sydney, Australia
As a wine writer for more than 10 years, I can tell you from first hand experience that the majority of people--not those who read wine magazines--do not know Riesling. They don't really care about harvest notes or acidity levels. Many do not understand alcohol levels enough to know what they mean. But, they are buying more of it, that is for certain. At the Riesling Rendezvous, we heard that wine drinkers say they want dry, but actually, they drink more off dry and sweeter Riesling. At this point, ANYTHING will be better than nothing. Nothing will be 100 percent accurate, but at least with a starting point--a label or something--consumers have better odds to find something they like. Because Riesling comes in so many different styles, I spend more time trying to describe particular wines to readers than any other varietal I write about. And, in the end, I write for consumers--the more I can help novice (and Riesling newbies) wine enthusiasts, the more they will share their joy and discoveries with others. So, thank you International Riesling Foundation for making the effort.
Christina Kelly, Spokane, Washington, USA
Winemakers everywhere would dearly like to advise on their labels the sweetness of their Riesling wines for prospective buyers. Restaurateurs know this imponderable inhibits diners from trying different Rieslings.
But there are too many variables, like sweetness masks tartness better than acidity masks sweetness and so a sweet Riesling which is really very tart can taste dry. Then most people have a taste threshold of 4 grams per litre of sugar, but some have a sweetness threshold of only one gram! Further, Riesling is a naturally tart grape variety, so Noble Rot wines with their sweetness derived from glycerine (imparted by the exotic mould) have historically appealed and we covet them as Spaetlese and Auslese wines.
Ian Hickinbotham, oenologist
I have been using a Riesling “dryness” scale on my Pey-Marin Riesling from Marin County, CA since 2005 and it has been well-received by trade and consumers who seek to make informed purchase decisions.
Jonathan Pey
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