Alas, a long time ago, Rieslings were shelved into the aperitif world. People typically preferred a “drier” slant in their wine to accompany their classic recipes. While dry Rieslings were in fact prevalent, particularly in Alsace, but also in Germany, the degree of consistency and quality always wobbled on the heels of other French wine regions. The German wine image, specifically, was lacking – mostly due to two things: a general lack of regulations, and difficult weather. With the cooler weather conditions being so darn tricky, consistency lay largely with the production of more one-dimensional quaffing wine. And of course, let us not forget a national inclination toward a tasty refreshing alternative: German beer. Lacking the proper body to clean up their act, Germany attempted a jab at regulation with their 1971 wine laws.

They centered the new regulation wholly on sugar levels, or degrees of ripeness and in doing so, managed to transform their world image entirely. Well…almost entirely. Wines were categorized based on their degree of ripeness ranging from dry/off-dry to sweet. If grapes were picked later, they would have a longer time to ripen and develop higher sugar levels, thus, “Late Harvest Wines.” In a nutshell, wines were priced higher for riper grapes, which led to sweeter wines. After all, the longer you keep the grapes on the vine to ripen, the more loss of yield and profit from those that lack the gusto to truck on.

All this new emphasis on bracketing quality wines with sugar ripeness did not exactly help the German ability to offer a trendy dry wine food pairing for the culinary world. Furthermore, they still had no means of classifying wines purely on the level of best vineyard or producer. They had no Corton-Charlemagne, Petrus, or Rothschild name recognition. They had no poster child to launch the proper international status. One German producer could likely be producing an entire gamut of various varietals, each prepared in an entire range of wine styles, thereby only leading to an inevitable mystification for the average consumer and critic.

Most recently, in an attempt to remedy such hierarchal discrepancies, the German wine laws have made a few additions. There are now label specifications for single varietal and single vineyard bottlings. In light of the fact that Riesling has a reputation for being naturally terroir driven, one can only speculate that single vineyard designations will highlight the distinctions in regional production and eventually lead to a merit based hierarchy.

Meanwhile, an explosion within the internationally acclaimed culinary world has also similarly granted us with a very extensive list of unique approaches to all cuisines. The international scale is enormous including everything from Moroccan bean soups to seared tuna tatakis, tandooris, teriyakis, foie gras foams & tropical fruit emulsions, escarole laden pizzas, shrimp & grits, cured meats, spicy fish tacos, tikki masalas, perogies, etc…

Food pairing is a funny thing. Apart from classic no-brainer couplings: champagne & oysters, sauternes & foie gras, port & stilton, pinot noir and salmon; the rest is open to interpretation. This wide open field of pairing possibilities has given Rieslings the opportunity to shine. Consider its sweetness striding along side a mild teriyaki sauce; its fresh natural acidity offsetting a fleshy white meat sautéed with earthy greens; its juicy tropical hints underlined by a tangy mineral quality accentuating a pineapple, passion fruit, and mango salsa preparation. The possibilities have now proved to the new culinary public that they are likely to be infinite. And, with an infinite amount of possibilities, you’re likely to find a combination that will suit you.

The next time you’re browsing the aisles of your local wine merchant, or perusing the wine list of your favorite bar or restaurant, think about what you now know of Riesling.