Wine Lessons > Sex amongst the grapevines

Okay, if I mentioned in the title that this lesson was really about Riesling how many of you would scanned past it to look at the ridiculous specials I'm throwing out below...hands up, please. Okay ignoring the funny looks you are getting from your work mates or your family, keep your hands up if you think Riesling is a sweet wine. Good...now keep your hands up if the last "Riesling" you had was from a cask or blended with Traminer or Crouchen. Thank you, can put your hands down now.

I use inverted commas around the "Riesling" mentioned above because much of this wine was "Riesling" only in name. Just as we Aussies used to call our Shiraz "Burgundy" (Burgundy is really Pinot Noir), our Semillon "Chablis" (really Chardonnay) and anything left over that was red "Claret", we also use to call anything we threw in a cask that was a little sweeter "Riesling". Now granted that many of the German Rieslings are sweet (and many are dry too), but this mis-labelling of "Riesling" (usually it was Muscat Gordo Blanco or even simply Sultana) led a whole drinking generation to grow up believing that Riesling was a sweet wine.

But you shouldn't feel ashamed if you hand was raised for the questions above because you certainly are not alone and you can redeem yourself...

So, if Riesling isn't fruity & sweet, what is it like? Now we get to the sex bit...

Well, the racy bit anyway. Because racy is a great way to describe young Riesling. Other descriptors used for young Aussie Rieslings are refreshing, crisp and dry. The flavours you could expect to experience are juicy limes, floral notes, lavender, lemons, orange blossoms, apricots, flint and minerals.

Australia's most exciting Riesling regions are the Clare Valley (full-bodied, dry), the Eden Valley (finer, more elegant styles), Frankland River (fragrant, elegant) and Tasmania (racy, aromatic). New Zealand is also producing some wonderful examples of Riesling from Central Otago and Nelson (fruity, racy).

You know what they say about getting better with age, in Australia Riesling fits this bills probably more so than any other white wine style, but that's another story...

Now about redemption...I think there are plenty of winemaker who would offer their forgiveness if you were to give one of their Rieslings a go...