Getting hooked on Riesling

If you survey wine people, especially sommeliers, perhaps their most favorite grape is riesling. A white, to boot.

Why? It pairs well with more foods than just about anything else with it's nice acidity, fruit, yet it has a nice structure to it, often with good minerality. Plus, it is not an excessively expensive varietal. It can be made sweet, off dry, or straight out dry, which is becoming increasingly popular. It can be reasonably inexpensive at under $10 or be over $100.

I've always liked, but never loved Riesling. Oh sure, I keep trying it as a good general match to Asian food and a nice white with cheese and crackers. But I've never had a hankering for it. Until now. Ironically, I've been hooked while drinking non-premium Rieslings where I hoped to find a good value. But the taste just all came together at this time.

These are all from Chateau St Michelle, the large Washington winery which has largely corrected the quality issues they've had in the past few years. The good thing is production is large year in and year out and there will be sales off and on. I got all of them from the recent BevMo sale on WA wines.

• 2008 Dry Riesling Columbia ($8) - very solid, reminiscent of riesling from Germany with a bit more citrus fruit and less minerality. Good acidity and length. I bought 4 more. My score: 89.
• 2008 Riesling Columbia ($8, WS 87) - similar to the Dry Riesling, but perhaps just a tad less intense. Still very nice and drinkable. My score: 88-89.
• 2008 Late Harvest Riesling Columbia ($6 BM) - I only got one bottle and don't remember that much but it was solid. At $6 I'd get more, if the sale were still on and they had more. My score was likely a 88-89.

The other region, besides Germany/Austria/Alsace for good rieslings is Australia, of all places. One of my wine deals of 2008 was the Leasingham 2007 Riesling Magnus (WS 91) for $7, by the case. Citrus with lots of lime over mineral/steel. I think I've got 8 bottles left and I'm slowing down on it to let some age. Another is the St Hallett 2008 Riesling Eden Valley (WS 91, $12), which also featured citrus over a minerally finish. Not quite as rich as the European versions.

Two that were not so good, as previously blogged, were the Yellowtail (WS 88) and the Columbia Crest.