Smith-Madrone is honored to be only one of two Napa Valley wineries profiled in John Winthrop Haeger’s newest book, Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright and Dry, just published by UC Press. The book contains 23 full-color maps and numerous illustrations. The book discusses Riesling’s history, clones, dry vs. sweet and goes into detail about Riesling in Alsace, the Rhine, Wachau, the Danube, Alto Adige, the eastern U.S., Canada, Washington, Oregon and California’s Coastal valleys. In all, 83 vineyards/wineries are profiled. Riesling Rediscovered is a comprehensive, current and accessible overview of what many consider to be the world’s finest and most versatile white wine.
Riesling is the world’s seventh most-planted white wine grape variety and among the fastest growing over the past twenty years. It is a personal favorite of many sommeliers, chefs, and other food and wine professionals for its appealing aromatics, finesse, and minerality; for its uncanny ability to reflect terroir and for its impressive versatility with cuisines of all types. Riesling Rediscovered looks at the present state of dry Riesling across the Northern Hemisphere: where it is grown and made, what models and objectives vintners have in mind, and what parameters of grape growing and winemaking are essential when the goal is a delicious dry wine.
John Winthrop Haeger is a sinologist, historian, and academic administrator who has written about wine since 1985 for Connoisseur, Wine & Spirits, Saveur and other publications. He is the author of North American Pinot Noir (2004) and Pacific Pinot Noir (2008).
More information and links for purchasing the book at http://www.oenosite.com/riesling/ .
We will share some excerpts from the book in the next few blog posts.
From The Introduction, page 3:
Riesling, made in any idiom, is a cocktail of minerality and fruit with flavors so varied and intense that some wine writers have wondered out loud if it might not sometimes be too flavorful for its own good. Its aromas and flavors are clean and linear and are delivered with elan and verve. It is delicious on its own, yet arguably is the most versatile of all varieties with food. These virtues arrive free of excessive ripeness and are propelled by natural acidity, and Riesling often has a degree or two less of alcohol than is normal for most of the world’s Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Viognier. So-called secondary fermentation (actually malolactic conversion) is unnecessary – though not necessarily problematic if and when it occurs – in Riesling, and the flavors of milled oak, whether as chips or as toasted new barrels, are almost always counterindicated. Riesling is the joy of every chef who works with seafood and the so-called white meats, and it works even with notorious food foes such as asparagus and artichokes. As the late, great Chicago chef Charlie Trotter (1959-2013) put it in his seafood cookbook of 1997, “It gives purity and focus to all the flavors on the table.” When Riesling is made dry, the variety’s profile is especially precise, bright, tense and lively. Riesling tastes of many things, depending on where it was grown, but no other wine in the world tastes like dry Riesling.
from John. W. Haeger’s Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright and Dry
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