Making Riesling Roundtable

Ask any wine expert and they will tell you — Riesling deserves its day in the sun. Long touted as one of the most food-friendly wines available, it’s versatility in the winery also cannot be beat. Riesling can be made into a variety of wine styles, from bone dry to icewine, and can be enjoyed early or aged for a decade or more. But while it is well-known and loved where its European roots lie — Germany, Austria and the Alsace region of France — Riesling has long suffered under the stereotypes of mass produced, uninteresting sweet wines in the New World. But perhaps there is no better time for Riesling to step into the spotlight. White wines with little (or no) oak, higher acidity and less manipulation in the winery are fast becoming popular among today’s wine drinkers, and Riesling fits right in to this trend. “Money aside, there is a drift toward crisp white wines. This, you may think, is hardly a trend, but what people think as being dry white wines — like many a California Chardonnay