So I was listening to NPR's Kojo Nnamdi show, with Michael Franz ( wine review online) and Paul Lukacs (Washington Times) as his guests. The topic of the segment was Riesling. Mainly, it was about Riesling's popularity, and yet it never actually manages to take off in the way of Merlot or Pinot Noir,or hell, even Pinot Grigio from Italy (lemon water) and exploring why that is. And then, naturally, callers called in claiming their undying love and allegiance to Rieslings.
This topic of discussion is getting old. Really old. Go to any wine tasting, read any wine article or blog or book, and sooner or later this debate comes up. Why are we beating a dead horse? Riesling is a wonderful grape, when vinified skillfully, it produces an amazing wine. Lots of people love it. I'm one of them! Just like pizza and sex, even when it's bad, it's still pretty good! I think most people start out on Riesling and then branch out from there, like Riesling is the gateway drug of the wine world.
Lots of people are still scarred from what I like to call the "Blue Nun" years. The demand increased for these amazing German babies, and then the market was flooded with horrible sugar bombs, even the hobos wouldn't touch it,stuff so bad it offended the jug wines! Then Germany stepped in and, well, you know the rest....
What I'm saying is that I think Riesling has HAD it's day. I think it will always be the next big thing, that perennial emotional favorite. That's it's place in the wine world. Riesling has it's niche, just like Merlot or Pinot or hell, even jug wine for that matter. Can't we just enjoy it and find something else to nitpick about already? Like the sad homogenization of wine, or the lack of easy to understand information. Or why don't we go back to the Right Bank vs. Left Bank one, I never get tired of that!
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