New York Riesling Diary: Day 16 – Does it really have to be Riesling?

Of course not! As the above photo proves. It’s not even wine that’s being poured into my glass, but apple juice. I took the photo June 22nd, 2007 and in Oslo/Norway during a trip searching for the most northerly wines in the world. Then, suddenly there was an old friend, the James Grieve apple which my maternal grandfather had grown in his garden, but in the form of a mind-blowing apple juice. I had no idea that this kind of flavor experience was possible with unfermented fruit juice. My favorite fruit is the grape and I definitely prefer it fermented form, because you need alcoholic fermentation to unlock about 99% of the aromas, but regular readers already know that.

Riesling is one of the most wonderful things on Planet Wine, not least because of its enormous diversity of flavor. It spans the entire range from bone dry to honey sweet, every weight class from featherweight to super-heavyweight and almost the entire wine aroma spectrum. For that reason there’s a Riesling for every conceivable situation (expect those where alcohol is forbidden or the wine must have a reddish color for reasons of protocol, ritual or symbolism). But this is also the reason that the Riesling Spirit is inclusive and open, because the argument that a particular combination of dryness/sweetness, weight and aroma type is good for Riesling can equally be applied to wines from other grapes that fit the same bill.

Last night I very slowly pot-roasted the cheeks of several Berkshire pigs I bought a few blocks from here in Essex Market (see www.heritagefoods.com) with carrots and shallots in white wine. While waiting for this to cook and for the guests to arrive my landlord here at the Hotel of Hope, Jürgen Fränznick and I drank the rest of the bottle of 2010 Pinot Gris from Ponzi in Oregon that went in the pot. If every Oregon Pinot Gris had this kind of freshness, clean dry taste and attractive melon and gooseberry aromas then I’d drink more of the stuff. (Thanks Luisa Ponzi!) Then came the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc from Framingham in Marlborough/New Zealand. Sauvignon is definitely not my favorite white grape, but in this case the green paprika aroma – regular readers know that this comes from pyridines – was not too strong and a passion fruit note complemented it very well. Better still, the acidity was not sharp, much less biting as is so often the case. (Thanks Andrew Hedley of Framingham!) Then the guests were there and the food was ready, so we drank several lighter Pinot Noirs which were all good.

The point is that these things were right for the situation, and there was absolutely no reason to demand Riesling, much less to adopt a take no prisoners approach, but there never is in the Here & Now. I know it might seem too obvious to need mentioning, but that’s always where drinking pleasure takes place. But if you’re thinking to yourself, “wow! Chateau Lafite, that’s a famous wine which costs more than a thousand bucks a bottle!” or “oh no! If I drink what’s just been poured in my glass I’ll be in terrible shape for that important meeting tomorrow”, then you’re not going to get much of the smell and taste of the wine in the Here & Now, because in your mind you’re trying to will yourself back to yesterday or on to tomorrow. I promise you that I speak from experience, suffering from a nasty tendency of this kind.

Riesling is not about this kind of nonsense. That is nonsense because you can’t will yourself backwards or forwards in time however much you want to. You can only fall back into the past (for example, the enveloping memories stimulated by smells) or into the future (for example, in lucid dream).  In the Here & Now Riesling works its magic if you give it the chance to do so. There’s joy and freedom, truth and light in Riesling, as well as those acids and aromas. Let them touch you and enjoy all the good wines you encounter while they’re doing that!