The Grape You May Not Know Is So Great!

Riesling developed from a, now, little grown French grape called Gouais Blanc — originating along the Rhine River going from Alsace into Germany. For decades, its overwhelming expression for Americans was through modest quality sweet German whites — an association that persists even to this day.

Of course, the truth is you can make a modest quality sweet wine with any grape. Such drinks are not the product of the grape but of the winemaking. True, not all grapes have it in them to make great single variety wines, but Riesling most certainly does. You can find fine, fine dry, off-dry, and even sweet Rieslings. Luckily, Riesling’s reputation has not dulled its love and admiration in the wine community, and, thus, you can find this aromatic, acidic, and fruity white grape grown from Austria to Australia, from New Zealand to New York.

This Wine Wednesday, we look at Rieslings from around the world. Please brave the heat to join us for this free walk-up tasting. See how many Rieslings you can love.