Stuart Pigott's Planet Wine

Here is Justin Christoph’s amazing first comment on the beginning of the Summer of Riesling 2012:

Acidity screaming
Acidity screaming

I’ve never seen you look like this without a Riesling
Another harvest fallen through
Another vintage passes by you
I never took the smile away from any wine’s fruit
And that’s a desperate way to use oak
For a wine that is still a child

In Mosel country, dreams stay with you
Like loving vines on the mountainside
Stay alive

I thought pradikat and oechsle were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single wine law shattered

I’m not expecting to grow Riesling in Berlin
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun dial wintertime

In Mosel country, dreams stay with you
Like loving vines on the mountainside
Stay alive

So take that label off that bottle it doesn’t fit you
Because it’s happened doesn’t mean you’ve been discarded
Pull up your head off the cellar floor, acidity screaming
Cry out for all the sugar, you ever might have wanted
I thought pradikat and oechsle were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single wine law shattered

I’m not expecting to grow Riesling in Berlin
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun dial wintertime

In Mosel country, dreams stay with you
Like loving vines on the mountainside
Stay alive

Ted Kalaboukis of German Wine Canada also wrote with important news:

This year Canada has joined the summer of Riesling too! — we start the 31 days of German Riesling or les 31 jours du Riesling allemand on July 1st (Canada Day!) with devoted restos in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver — customers can win a long weekend in Berlin just by enjoying a glass of the great grape. Details at 31daysgermanriesling.ca and 31joursrieslingallemand.ca

“Summer of Riesling” begins today, June 20th, in the USA & Germany!

“Sommer of Riesling” fängt heute am 20. Juni in den USA & Deutschland an!

I hereby declare the Summer of Riesling Germany open simultaneously with Paul Grieco’s declaration of the opening of the Summer of Riesling USA in New York City (see www.summerofriesling.com)! Grieco is the Canadian co-owner and manager of Restaurant Hearth and the four Terroir wine bars in Manhattan, and self-styled “Overlord” of the Riesling movement in North America. This year he won the James Beard Award for the Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional. The James Beard Awards are the equivalent of the Oscars for American gastronomy.

Hiermit eröffne ich den “Summer of Riesling” erstmals in Deutschland zeitgleich mit Paul Grieco in den USA. Grieco ist der Besitzer von Restaurant Hearth und den Terroir Weinbars in Manhattan/New York. Grieco steht an der Spitze der Riesling-Bewegung in den USA und wurde dieses Jahr mit dem James-Beard-Award als herausragender Fachmann im Bereich Wein und Spirituosen ausgezeichnet (für die amerikanische Gastronomie das Pendant zum Oscar der Filmwelt). 2008 rief er den ersten “Summer of Riesling” in seiner Wein-Bar “Terroir” ins Leben. Dieses Jahr nehmen hunderte von Restaurants und Weinhändler in den ganzen USA an dem Sommer-Riesling-Festival teil, und erstmalig sind auch deutsche weinaffine Lokale wie Hammers Weinkostbar in Berlin-Kreuzberg dabei.

[Paul Gieco with Austrian Wine Queen Elisabeth Hirschbuchler/ Paul Grieco mit österreichische Weinkönigin Patricia Steiner]

Some people think that Riesling is “only” the 20^th most widely planted grape variety in the world, and therefore a minor niche product, except in Germany where it is the most widely-planted grape variety (with 22,580 hectares, or 21.9% of the total vineyard area). However, something big has been happening to and with Riesling during the last few years. Suddenly this white wine grape whose history goes back to early 15^th century Germany is generating a global buzz .

Having been following the Riesling grape and it’s wines for 30 years I should have seen all this coming, but it wasn’t until I circumnavigated Planet Wine at the beginning of this year that I suddenly realized how seriously I had under-estimated the scale of the Riesling phenomenon. In Sydney I found that the second Australian Summer of Riesling was already underway and in New Zealand I bumped into the first Summer of Riesling everywhere I went. Just 6 weeks after my return home to Berlin I began radically remodeling this website to reflect these developments, renaming it STUART PIGOTT RIESLING GLOBAL.

The Summer of Riesling began in 2008 in Paul Grieco’s recently opened ‘Terroir’ wine bar on East 12^th Street/Manhattan during which Rieslings by the glass were the only white wines on offer! Many of hiss colleagues laughed or shook their heads in disbelief, but it worked and he repeated it in ’09 and ’10. Last year the Summer of Riesling USA went Coast to Coast for the first time with the backing of the International Riesling Foundation (IRF – see www.drinkriesling.com). 222 restaurants and wine bars participated.

This year the Summer of Riesling USA will have around many more participants, ranging from Charles Phan’s the Slanted Door in San Francisco (see www.slanteddoor.com) the most successful restaurant in California to ambitious establishments in unlikely locations like Inez Ribustello’s On the Square in Tarboro/North Carolina (see www.onthesquarenc.com) and Amanda Danielson’s Trattoria Stella in Traverse City/Michigan (see www.stellatc.com). Another innovation this year is the first German participants, which include Hammers Weinkostbar in Berlin-Kreuzberg (see www.hammers-wein.de).

This year Paul Grieco and “Stickermeister” Steven Solomon, the designer of the Summer of Riesling USA had stands at both the ProWein trade fair in Düsseldorf/Germany in March and the VieVinum trade fair in Vienna/Austria to spread the gospel in Rieslings homelands. As Grieco observed at the latter event, „just imagine, all of this started in one 24 seat restaurant!“

Do I want a SUMMER OF RIESLING ? There’s no need to ask – YES!

Does the world need a SUMMER OF RIESLING ? It’s kind of you to ask – YES!

And now a final question to Paul Grieco: what comes after the summer of Riesling?

“The fall of Chardonnay!”

Dr. Jochen Simens was editor of the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper before he took over the ex-Bert Simon wine estate in Serrig on the Saar in 2006 and turned it into Weingut Dr. Siemens. His Rieslings from the 2011 vintage are amongst the finest produced in the region in this great vintage, and his dry 2010 Riesling Spätlese “T” from the Würtzberg vineyard is a Rider on the Storm! Here he tells his own story:

A while ago a thoughtful producer reissued the great Doors album ‘LA Woman’ in nicely remastered version. Great music! So recently I found myself walking and climbing through my steep Riesling vineyards along the Saar river humming the opening tune of that album called ‘The Changeling’. Suddenly it occurred to me how fitting that is for the vines to the left and right of me: “I’m a changeling, see me change”. How true!

To my left was the Serriger Würtzberg site with its red slate soil full of iron oxide and quartz rocks and to my right the equally steep Serriger Herrenberg site with pure blue slate that reflects some warmth even on a cold, but sunny day. Riesling to my left, Riesling to my right. But what a difference! The Changeling to my right is very elegant, sleek, crisp and almost aristocratic; The Changeling to my left is much more robust with broad shoulders, minerality galore and a bouquet of  wild herbals. Of course, you don’t see all that walking down the rows between the vines. There they are almost perfect look-a-likes, though their masks are ever-changing throughout the seasons. Even during harvest time they don’t let you know more than a few naked numbers like the weight of grapes, sugar content, acidity and ripeness.

Carefully squeezed from the grapes the juice slides into the tanks and barrels down in the cellar where it starts its natural fermentation. Then little by little the Riesling starts to show his/her Changeling character. During the first few weeks much to the amusement of my wine maker, Herr Lenz, I might mix up the emerging wines from the two different vineyard sites, but not for too long. Then the changeling shows his character: the Herrenberg is suddenly showing off as pure grapefruit juice, while the Würtzberg carries the aromas of wild fennel and an ever changing mix of herbs. At the end of January 2011 one of the 1200 liter barrels of the 2010 vintage had for two or three weeks a very authentic smell of marijuana! It was very extreme, but was gone before bottling, thank goodness.

When the time to decide on the dryness or sweetness of the emerging wine The Changeling opens a new box of surprises. Green fruit aromas like apple or gooseberry accompany the dry Rieslings, yellow fruits like peach the semi dry, and finally a bunch of tropical fruit aromas such as mango, pine apple and passion fruit the sweet Auslese. And all that from one grape variety!

I leave it to Stuart to explain to us the chapter about the changeling who emerges through aging in the bottle. But with the experience of just the seven harvests I had in these great vineyards at the southern limit of viticulture along the valley of the Saar River I’m sure the changeling won’t stop to surprise us.

Jochen Siemens, Serrig/Saar

Weingut Dr. Siemens, Römerstrasse 63, 54455 Serrig

Tel.: (49) / (0)  6581 / 920 0992  –  Fax: (49) /  (0)  6581 / 920 0993

Email: weingut@dr-siemens.de  –  Web: www.dr-siemens.de

PS Weingut Dr. Siemens also producers a remarkably good Pinot Noir red for a region that on papere is seriously sool climate!

Stuart Pigott

“The Cantonese are the only Chinese people who cook with fish sauce,” said Charles Phan brightly. That sounded like a simple observation from the founder and master chef of the Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, but it’s implications go a lot further than you’d think. Although his parents are both Cantonese, Phan’s cuisine is definitely Vietnamese – the country where he grew up – and his home is California. For him you are what you cook, eat and drink and his own identity is at once absolutely clear, yet pretty complex.

When I left Berlin on Saturday, June 2^nd for a week of wine tasting in Austria (a Think Piece on Austrian Riesling follows shortly!) I felt sure I’d got the Slanted Door story all wrapped up, but I quickly found out I was dead wrong.

Just a few hours after I arrived at the VieVinum wine fair in the Hofburg (former imperial palace) in Vienna I got an email from Slanted Door wine buyer Chaylee Priete saying that not only was she at the VieVinum, but part of the restaurant team was also in the city. There would be a Slanted Door pop up in the Wine & Co restaurant on the Mariahilferstrasse the following evening and could I come?

Of course! leapt at the chance to experience the Slanted Door’s cuisine and the mind-boggling clash with the schnitzel capital of the world made that seem even more appetizing. Quickly I had enough people anxious to join me to fill a table.

A long day tasting high-end Austrian Rieslings, Grüner Veltliners and Blaufränkisch reds at the VieVinum sounds like heaven to a lot of wine lovers, and on the Sunday it was exciting, but if you’re a professional and you’re taking your job seriously, then it’s also exhausting. The combination of the warm, humid weather and an air-conditioning system made up of nothing more than a few open doors and windows made it pretty brutal. It wasn’t until I’d blasted all the sweat off my body under the shower and waled to the Mariahilferstrasse from my hotel that I felt the first tingle of excitement.

After taking the escalator to the third floor at Wine & Co. we were instructed to climb an unlikely looking staircase which looked like it lead to offices. But no, suddenly we were in the Slanted Door pop up savoring the most delicious rice cake I can remember eating – daikon rice cake in a sauce with shitake mushrooms, shallots and chilli soy sauce.

The 2011 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd ‘Urgestein Terrassen’ from F.X. Pichler in the Wachau was as perfect with it as the 2011 Riesling Urgestein from Schloss Gobelsburg in the Kamptal  DAC had been with the shrimp, pork and mint spring rolls with peanut sauce that came before it. Classic Slanted Door!

Then came the unexpected high point of the evening, which was a little speech of thanks from Charles Phan and the chance to talk with him as the rest of the guests hurried home or on to nightclubs. The best I can do here is just to let the man speak for himself:

“A lot of people think we’re an SF company, but we travel back to Viet Nam every year…”

“A third of our staff are Mexican and a lot of them think that we steal their ideas and ingredients…”

“Vietnamese cooking is all about smell, but we think texture is really important too…”

“Our first wine list featured Italian wines, but they didn’t really work with the food, so we changed…we want to be kingof what we do, so we just did Riesling!”

PS You are what you cook, eat and drink…DRINK RIESLING!

The Slanted Door, 1 Ferry Building #3, San Francisco, CA 94111

Tel.: (1) 415 861 8032 – Web: www.slanteddoor.com

Whether you already know it or not I have to introduce you to one of my favorite places on Planet Wine. Forget where you are now, what you’re doing, how it looks and how you feel. The sun is low in an azure sky and a wind that sharpens the mind, crystalizing my  thoughts, is blowing through the Golden Gate whipping strands of fog into the city. Back home 6pm would be way too early for dinner Saturday night, but here it feels just right.

Just for a moment as I step into San Francisco’s cavernous Ferry Building it feels eerily quiet after the creative bustle of the Farmers Market this morning. Then I pull open a glass door and breathe in the intoxicating swirl of warm sounds and smells…The Slanted Door is the biggest grossing restaurant in California and one of the America’s most famous restaurants. However, the bald repetition of those facts doesn’t even begin to convey what this place is all about. Since it opened in 1995 the Slanted Door has been a melting pot of Vietnamese cuisine, the best Californian ingredients and California’s gastronomic spirit, whose roots are deepest here in San Francisco. This is its 21^st century cliché-defying reincarnation. Nothing here is off-the-shelf standard, yet it all feels so natural and joyful.

For me no less than for many other of the roughly one thousand customers per day this is also a seriously remarkable wine destination. Forget all the verticals, horizontals and icons of wine. Where else are the why, how and what of wine so perfectly matched as here? At least since my first visit in the summer of 2000 one of the most important departments of the wine list has been Riesling. In my book  that makes the Slanted Door a Riesling Palace!

Today this is first and foremost the work of two remarkably normal citizens of Planet Wine, Chaylee Priete and Gus Vahlkamp, though they’d also want me to give their entire team a nod. As Gus said to me the last time I visited the Slanted Door just a few weeks ago, “we have the lower-case d-for-democracy approach.”

“Why did you pick this wine?” I asked as he poured the 2010 Seligmacher dry Riesling from Eva Fricke’s eponymous micro-wine estate in Germany’s Rheingau, “Because, then I get to drink it!” answered Chaylee, who was sitting next to him.

This might sound out of wack in a “sophisticated” restaurant, but it fits the Slanted Door just like a glove. In the fine dining cosmos “sophisticated” often actually means self-consciously fancy and self-importantly complicated, but those are things which this place always completely avoided.  The consistent excellence of the quality (nothing ever disappointed me at the Slanted Door), the seemingly effortless self-confidence of the food, the unfailing optimistic atmosphere and straight-down-the-line approach are surely the secrets of its popularity.

“When Mark Ellenbogen wrote that wine list I think it was going very much against the grain,” Chaylee said, pointing me in the direction of the restaurant’s back story. Mark Ellenbogen was sommelier back in 2000, though we were never introduced. “Back around 1997 California wines grew much bolder,” Gus observed. So Mark went in the opposite direction, plunging deep into German Riesling and Austrian Grüner Veltliner and a bunch of other things that were seriously uncool at the time. That seriously astonished me on my first visit. (I drank a Mosel Riesling from Carl Loewen and a Kamptal Grüner-Veltliner from Hirsch, both almost unknown at the time).

Today the Slanted Door sells almost 9,000 bottles per year of Grüner Veltliner by the glass and roughly every eighth bottle of wine sold there is a Riesling.  40 of the 175 wines on the list are from my favorite grape, though the Slanted Door is just a short drive from the magic kingdom of California Cult Cabernet, Napa Valley. Feel the Force! So this move was anything but a fad or a short-term marketing ploy, rather it became a tradition because it worked with the food. The customers bought into it big time.

“When I started doing the list one and a half years ago I didn’t want to make a lot of changes,” Chaylee continued, “the wines we have are such a perfect match with our food, with almost any food.” If anything many long-term relationships with winegrowers have been intensified. For example, Germany’s Josef Leitz (in the Rheingau) and Joahnnes Selbach (in the Mosel) are custom-making Rieslings for the restaurant.

But Gus and Chaylee have work to do and I’m hungy. So, let’s eat! The yellowfish sashimi has an melt-in-the-mouth texture and a wonderful cleanness of flavor, the ribs are as sweet and succulent as last time, the pork chop with pineapple and chili one of the best sweet-sour-spicy flavor combinations I’ve tasted in a long time.

OK, I’m being unfaithful to Riesling tonight, but the dry Muskateller from Nikolaihof in Austria’s Wachau is a type of wine which only Riesling winemakers seem to really master. And the elegant Blaufränkisch red from Moric in Austria’s Burgenland comes from one of my favorite winemakers, Roland Velich. These are both wines seriously influended by the Riesling Spirit.

Of the German Rieslings on the current list the Seligmacher from Eva Fricke is $89. If I’d wanted something slightly sweeter, then the 2008 Musbacher Riesling Kabinett from Müller-Catoir in the Pfalz would have been a great place to start; a crowd-pleaser for just $40. However, there’s no denying that the 2009 Domprobst Riesling Spätlese from Willi Schaefer in the Mosel at $69 is more sophisticated and barely sweeter. The latter would have been perfect with that pork chop. This is also a rare restaurant that takes mature wines seriously without making a fetish out of bottle age. All that holy dust! The 2001 Rothenberg Spätlese from Gunderloch in Rheinhessen would be a steal if I wasn’t so jet-lagged.

The sun has set and fog fills the city streets, traffic noise reverberating through them as I walk back to my hotel with crystals showering through my mind the whole time.

The Slanted Door, 1 Ferry Building # 3, San Francisco, CA 94111

Tel.: (1) 415 861 8032 – Web: www.slanteddoor.com

Although I enjoy cooking I’m really not a talented cook. Even worse, because I get too little practice, when I do cook I tend to feel nervous. A glass of Riesling often helps me then, but I rarely feel confident in the kitchen. In spite of this, over the years I’ve found some dishes I can cook without any trouble that tastes nearly perfect with my favorite Rieslings. This department of STUART PIGOTT RIESLING GLOBAL is all about great no brainer Riesling & Food Combos.

One of the most exciting of Riesling & Food Combos going is also one of the easiest to prepare, because it requires zero cooking. That is smoked salmon or lox (salt-cured salmon) with a Riesling “Kabinett” from Germany, or a Riesling from somewhere else on Planet Wine made in the same light-bodied and off-dry style. Mostly these wines are drunk as aperitifs or for al fresco refreshment, which is fine. However, if you never tried them with smoked salmon or lox, then you’ve missed one of the greatest food and wine pairings period. And all you have to do to experience it is to put a suitable Riesling in the ice box and buy some salmon.

That’s the theory. However, I had to admit that it’s been a long time since I tested it by lining up a selection of Riesling wines with various types of cured salmon though, so I decided that was something I had to do. Then the perfect opportunity presented itself. Immediately before leaving New York City for home I purchased some lox from Russ & Daughters on 179 East Houston Street (see www.russanddaughters.com), which for me is the best source.

Every time I purchase or order lox in the Big Apple I go through a little ritual and this time was no exception. First, they politely ask me “have you had this before? It’s very salty.” I politely reply that I have had it many times before, that I like the salty taste and that’s why I’m ordering it. Then, we both smile.

When I got home to Berlin I went to the nearest department store and purchased two contrasting types of cold-smoked salmon. First, I grabbed some Yukon red salmon from Alaska, which is not only deep in color, but also very lean (only 8.4% fat) and dense in texture. The organic smoked salmon from Ireland I also put in my basket is the “classic” which I grew up with in England, and it is softer in texture and considerably fattier (13.6%). I guess the fat content of good lox is comparable, but a significant part of these fats are Omega 3s which are very good for the heart, inhibit the growth of some types of cancer, and may have further health benefits.

Then I rummaged around in the cellar and put half a dozen off-dry and slightly sweet Rieslings in the ice box. After that all I had to do was set the table. Although I’ve visited America any number of times over the last 27 years I’m still learning about how our common language divides us. In England I’d have said that all I had to do was lay the table, which would send Americans into fits of laughter. That’s because the word has a very different meaning in America to in England, where traditionally it has no sexual connotation.

Seeing salmon on my plate and Riesling in my glass makes me feel good, particularly when I know that both are from sustainable production. Of course, when you take notes a tasting like this becomes work, but everything was so clear I hardly needed to write down anything. The Yukon red salmon was the easiest of the cured fish to find a wine which fitted brilliantly with it. Just look for a Riesling that isn’t bone dry, but also isn’t too juicy and sweet (which I’d call Spätlese style). And remember every wine tastes less sweet with cured salmon than it does on its own, because the fat in the fish “soaks up” the sweetness of the wine.

This effect was way more pronounced with the “classic” Irish smoked salmon and the 2010 Josephshöfer Riesling Kabinett from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt in the Mosel labeled ‘feinherb’, or off-dry, tasted bone dry with the fish. If you’re looking for the ultimate in sophistication, then this kind ofcold-smoked salmon and a mature Riesling Kabinett like the 2006 Graacher Domprobst from Willi Schaefer (another Mosel) is a flavor marriage made in heaven. To reproduce this experience you need a Riesling Kabinett from the Mosel, Nahe, Mittelrhein or Rheingau regions that is from the 2008 vintage or older and declares an alcoholic content no higher than 10%. The older the wine is the better the combination will be, as long as the wine isn’t oxidized.

If you prefer excitement to subtlety, then a younger more succulent wine like the 2010 Riesling Kabinett from Karthäuserhofberg on the Ruwer (for legal reasons the wacky label gives the region of origin as “Mosel”) will deliver the goods. The 2008 ‘Smith Cullam’ from Frankland Estate in Western Australia was also deliciously fresh (lime aroma and crisp acidity) with the “classic” smoked salmon. So the Mosel has no monopoly on this no-brainer Riesling & Food Combo. Semi-dry American and New Zealand Rieslings with an alcoholic content of 12% or less ought to work just as well.

The salt in the lox dramatically changed the taste of every wine it touched. Suddenly the Karthäuserhofberg wine tasted of oysters. Dry Rieslings are not happy campers with pure lox, but the situation improves dramatically when you combine the lox with cream cheese and a toasted plain bagel. The first time I expereienced this minor gastronomic miracle was at Barney Greengass’s on 541 Amsterdam Avenue in New York City (see www.barneygreengrass.com). I immediately realized why the combination of lox, cream cheese and bagel is so good. The slightly bland flavor of the bagel and the creaminess of the cheese balance the pronounced saltiness of the lox. For my taste the result is one of the few really perfect simple dishes.

Hard though it may be to believe, it tastes even better with a wine like the 2006 Riesling Kabinett from Willi Schaefer, but if you like un-oaked Chablis then wines like the just off-dry 2010 Riesling “feinherb”from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt are also delicious with this New York classic.

I wanted to keep this thing short and snappy, but it ran away with me completely. So I’m stopping right here and heading straight to the ice box to pull out the left-overs from yesterday evening…

The United States of Riesling: Sean O’Keefe for President!

STOP PRESS – I just received the following comment to the below from Sean O’Keefe:

“Thank you for your presidential nomination! I was working on a 5-year plan/Great Leap Forward speech but became sidetracked by bottling the 2011 Vintage…I took my hands completely off the handlebars on te 2011 Lot 49 Riesling, and the wine steered itself in an interesting direction. I might have cruised over the edge on this one (though I remember thinking that about the 2010 Lot 49 as well when it was a newborn!)”

I think we can take that as acceptance of the nomination I poposed below. Watch out Mitt Romney!

It’s a little-known fact that there’s not only a United States of America, but also a United States of Riesling occupying exactly the same territory. Nobody knows just how many citizens this other United States has, but figures for the total sales of domestically produced and imported wines made from the Riesling grape indicate that it must be many millions, and that this number has grown substantially during recent years. The fact that coast to coast more than 500 restaurants and 100 retailers will participate in this year’s Summer of Riesling festival compared with 222 last year (back in 2008 it was just Paul Grieco’s wine bar Terroir in New York!) suggests that further significant growth may be just around the corner.

The United States of Riesling is a grass roots democracy based on the fundamental principals that all Riesling men and women are created equal, and of government of the Riesling People, by the Riesling People, for the Riesling People. Strangely the position of President is currently vacant, and should an election take place this fall parallel to that for the President of the United States of America, then I propose Sean O’Keefe as candidate for the next President of the United States of Riesling.

O’Keefe is winemaker at Chateau Grand Traverse on the Old Mission Peninsula in North Michigan, the biggest Riesling producer East of the Mississippi. Like Barack Obama he’s not a silver-haired member of the East Coast WASP establishment, but has already gathered enough experience to be fully up to speed on developments within the United States of Riesling. In addition, he has considerable foreign affairs experience in the grape’s European homelands and right around Planet Wine. I’d say that these qualities alone make him well-suited for the top Riesling job in the other US.

Of course, one crucial test has to be how his wines stand up under the most demanding of conditions. The blind tasting of the world’s finest dry Rieslings at the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney/Australia this February was just such a stress test. When it was announced that wine number 5 was the 2010 ‘Lott 49’ from Chateau Grand Traverse the crowd of professional tasters burst into spontaneous applause, so stunned were they that it was a Riesling from America! It was the only such reaction at this tasting. On the strength of this Jancis Robinson, also present in Sydney, made O’Keefe’s Michigan Riesling masterpiece wine of the week on her website! (see www.jancisrobinson.com)

However, for me the tasting which O’Keefe gave me one evening at Trattoria Stella in Traverse City/Michigan when I visited the Old Mission Peninsula in late July 2010 was just as impressive. Instead of showcasing his own wines, or even those of his home state, he poured a coast to coast range of his favorite American Rieslings. Would Mitt Romney have done that? I think he’d have been too terrified of damaging his conservative credentials to even think about it. Which would, of course, mean that Romney would have ignored the significant role the hospitality industry (ever more members of which serve American Rieslings with pride) plays in the US economy. But what’s that to the man who’d have let General Motors go belly up?

Though he has an eccentric sense of humor that makes some people jump out of their skins O’Keefe is a hard-working family man with a strong sense of morality. His barbed jokes are invariably directed against that section of American society (0,1% rather than 1%, I think si the correct figure) whose goal is to enrich itself regardless of the cost to other Americans or the world. On the other hand, one of his most deeply held beliefs is that Riesling is a force for good in the United States and beyond, thoug I’m sure he’d agree with me that nobody should ever forget, alcohol is a drug and Riesling contains alcohol.

Let me be straight with you. Read my lips. I’ve known O’Keefe for 12 years and during that time I’ve learned to appreciate his intelligence and his inspiration, his humanity and his humility. Now I admire his feeling for Riesling culture every bit as much as his down-to-earth approach to wine. Nobody in the wine industry today more vehemently rejects the smoke and mirrors so frequently employed in wine marketing than he does. His combination of soaring idealism and old-fashioned common sense is remarkable in an age both marked and marred by short-term opportunism and blindness to its long-term effects. These things are all good for America no less than for the United States of Riesling.

So I recommend that you vote for Sean O’Keefe as President of the United States of Riesling, that is if an election for the position take place this fall.