Spring is my favorite time of year. It's the time of renewal, soft sunlight, warm air, new green leaves, flowers,
rose-colored garlic, asparagus, strawberries, fresh goat cheese and good milk
chocolate. Everything smells fresh and tastes good. And we can finally go out again with
light and colorful spring outfits and walk through the warm breeze.
When it comes to wine, I highly recommend
enjoying two light, aromatic white wines right now -- Riesling
and Gewürztraminer. Just as you are now wearing silky light shirts,
cotton pants and slip-on shoes rather than a heavy winter jacket, wool pants and boots, it's time to hang up the rich Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs and Chardonnays a little while. Riesling and Gewürztraminer are the perfect wines for spring -- they make you feel rejuvenated and
refreshed!
Riesling and Gewürztraminer are not
well known in America, but they are generally affordable and
easy to drink. The wines are fairly dry, but with a slightly sweet style, aromatic and intensely flavorful, yet delicate enough
for light and elegant spring meals (composed salad, seafood pasta, sushi and
other light but also a bit spicy Asian foods like Thai and Vietnamese dishes). Another good thing is that many of the wines are lower in alcohol (often below 10%), particularly Riesling.
At the wine shop, Riesling
and Gewürztraminer are easy to spot. They are both in tall slender
bottles called a “hock” or Rhine, normally colored brown in Germany’s Rhine region
and green in Alsace, France and the Mosel region of Germany. This shape is
used elsewhere for grape varieties associated with Riesling and Gewürztraminer.
The following descriptions of Riesling and Gewürztraminer are from “Wine for Women, A guide to
Buying, Pairing, and Sharing Wine,”
by Leslie Sbrocco, published by William
Morrow:
The Grape
Story
Both Gewurztraminer and Riesling are highly aromatic varieties,
but have uniquely different personalities. The two share intensely floral,
spicy, and fruity qualities and an uncanny ability to age, yet Gewurztraminer
shows its appeal the minute it’s poured. Riesling tends to be more reserved,
revealing itself slowly in the glass.
Gewurztraminer:
The Flower of the Vine
When you pour Gewurztraminer, a mélange of floral, fruity, and
spice aromas jumps from the glass and begs you to take a sip. Once you do, the
wine can range from crisp and fresh to soft and smooth, depending on its
birthplace.
Though Gewurztraminer reaches its pinnacle of
expression in the French region of Alsace, the name comes from the German word
for “spiced—gewürz. The traminer par harks to a village named
Tramin in northern Italy, which is where the grape is thought to have
originated.
Like Pinot Gris, the
skin of Gewurztraminer grape is more deeply colored than many other white
grapes. Its pinkish/golden skin often imparts a more golden color and gives the
wine oomph. The acidity is generally lower than in Riesling, which adds to
the wine’s voluptuous character.
The
Incredible Lightness of Riesling
While Gewurztraminer is a crowd pleaser, Riesling can be a bit
harder to understand. Some Rieslings are fruity and lightly sweet, while others
are so steely and acidic they take years to soften and express themselves. For
lovers of the elusive grape, though, there’s nothing better. It is arguably the
world’s greatest white variety and produces wines of ethereal lightness and
complexity.
Riesling can smell
of minerals and fruit (peach, apricot). In the mouth there’s a sparkling snap of
acidity and juicy freshness. But in its youth it can be angular, like a young
supermodel’s face. When the best wines age, however, they become fleshy and
immensely interesting.
While delicious
Rieslings can come from a variety of locations around globe, the grape’s origin
is Germany. It is planted all over the country in cool to downright cold
regions. Riesling gleefully takes the climatic abuse and keeps coming back for
more, thriving in conditions that would make most other varieties run for the
sun.
That’s because Germany
pushes the northernmost limit for growing grapes. To maximize their exposure to
the sun and actually get the fruit ripe, winegrowers in places like the Mosel
River Valley plant vineyards on slopes that would make skiers salivate. It
works, though, because the grapes get ripe, gloriously so in many cases, and
produce some of the world’s most coveted white wines.
And of course
many other countries and regions produce good Riesling and Gewurztraminer:
California, New York, Oregon and Washington State in the U.S., Austria, Australia,
Chili, Italy and New Zealand. Each region produces interesting characteristics
due to different climates, soils and winemakers. Cooler climate regions tend
to produce wines that are light and crisp; in warmer regions, the wines are
ripe, flavorful and more aromatic. However it’s all a matter of style, so try discovering the differences. They are all delicious. Cheers!
Note: In Germany Riesling
is made in a variety of styles ranging from dry to very sweet: Kabinet --dry and light, Spätlese
– semi-sweet and full-bodied, Auslese -- sweeter, Beerenaulese – sweet, strong, intense, and Eiswein-- very sweet, big flavored, sharp, concentrated. So make sure you identify the variety on the label. Also, the sweeter wines are more expensive than
the dry ones -- Auslese and Beerenaulese are very expensive. California produces
high-quality dry, fruity and slightly sweet Rieslings, sometimes
called Johannisberg Riesling. California
also makes excellent Late Harvest wines from
botrytis-infected grapes (as are France’s famous Sauternes). Oregon and Washington
State produce good Riesling also.
For more interesting wine information go to:
http://www.gourmetnotes.com/uploads/basic_20wine_20guide_20112007.pdf
