A riesling for a non-reisling drinker....

I don't drink rieslings hardly at all.... they are usually too sweet with little acid... which I like in a white wine. I do drink quite a few sauvignon blancs, especially in the Summer. But yesterday I was treated to a wine and cheese tasting that was unexpected. I was persuaded to try a Dr Burklin-Wolf, Burklin Estate Riesling 2007 with my cheese sampler (which included a stilton, some tasmanian blue, a summerdale, among others). The pairing was excellent. The riesling blended with the cheeses beautifully. It was really dry. Another of the things that I usually do not like about rieslings is a touch of what I usually describe as a mild kerosene sort of taste/smell to many rieslings. This had that as well but something about the cheese pairing made it all work. I was indeed surprised. I liked it enough that I bought another bottle to bring home.

Best Wishes,
Glenn

Burklin-Wolf are best known for their dry style rieslings. You don't hear a lot about them on the wine boards, but they are outstanding producers in the Pfaltz. You might want to try Austrian rieslings as well, especially from the Wachau, as they 1) tend to be quite dry and 2) don't usually have a petrol note. The same goes for Australian rieslings from the Clare Valley: if you want really dry, high acid rieslings, they may be to your liking.

I am surprised you say Rieslings have little acid, Glenn, though certainly if you have been drinking sweet ones that might make them seem less acidic. I think sweet styles are generally popular because the sweetness offsets the acidity. I think you should try more dry Rieslings. Trimbach (Alsace) for example. Or Grosset (Australia). I think you might like them.

[David M. Bueker]

Bad Riesling (unfortunately there is a lot of it) can show too obvious sweetness and poor acid balance.

As for petrol - it's not country dependent. There's a specific chemical reaction that produces it, and it happens all around the world.

As for petrol - it's not country dependent. There's a specific chemical reaction that produces it, and it happens all around the world.

Well, chemistry is certainly no respecter of national boundaries, but the climate and wine-making in certain countries can be more or less conducive to petrol characteristics.

For anyone interested in this subject, here is an interesting article: http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/ri ... petrol.htm

put me in camp of if you think Riesling is low acid, you're drinking the wrong Riesling! If you like dry, as noted Trimbach in Alsace is a good choice, along with most Clare and Austrian Rieslings. There are of course plenty of dry Germans, but the best can be expensive. I do like the Knebel trocken. You might also check out David and Salil's postings on the Terry T portfolio.

Too low acidity? Riesling? You've definitely not tasted any of the finest from either Alsace or Germany or (as I recently discovered, to my delight) the Finger Lakes in New York, USA. There's a lot of overripe, vapid, low-acid, mediocre riesling out there from the New World, alas, mostly the victim of being grown in too clement a climate. The riesling vine is a masochist--make it suffer, and it delivers pleasure.

-Paul W.

If you can locate somewhere that sells good quality Australian wines, look for some of the dry Clare Valley rieslings - particularly from the sub-regions of Watervale and Polish Hill - or from Eden Valley.

Best dry riesling? Wachau!
They can be expensive, best smaragds can cost 50-60 euro (Hitzberger, Prager, FX Pichler, Knoll). Olso federspiels are good wines.
Petron note gets out after 5-10 years or more.

[David M. Bueker]

Those Wachau wines are excellent Christian, but would you start a non-Riesling drinker at that exalted level? Perhaps a federspiel, as drinking something like Hirtzberger's Singerriedel might spoil the person for life. It's just too good to start there.