Riesling's kiwi promise
Compiled by Joe Hyam
It is hard to escape the question nowadays: "What happens after Chardonnay?" The answer, particularly if you look to New Zealand or the cooler regions of Australia and other New World countries, is likely to be: "Riesling".
Although Riesling - sometimes known as Rhine Riesling in the New World, to distinguish it from hybrid varieties - is a far more difficult and less adaptable grape than Chardonnay, it has a wider potential.
Riesling is an ingredient of one of the two great sweet wine styles of the world and yet, as more and more people are coming to realise, it is capable of producing dry wine of distinctive character - aromatic, full-bodied and fruity, yet possessing a powerful life-giving acidity. It is particularly well suited to the strong-tasting, spicy food popular today.
It is true that the grape requires a long growing season to be at its best. But modern wine-making techniques and knowledge of terroir are giving the grape a new chance to establish itself on an international basis.
A recent tasting in London of New Zealand's Villa Maria Estate Rieslings proved the point. It demonstrated the range and quality of the dry wines produced from grapes grown in two vineyards in the cool Marlborough district. The wine has been made only since 1991 and the four years of production have each seen quite different vintages. Yet in every case the wine showed versatility, strength and difference across the spectrum of citrus, apple and herbal flavours.
Villa Maria also reaffirmed the versatility of Riesling with some stunning botrytis-affected wines made in the years 1991-1994. These are clearly wines which will age well. Their distinctive, complex, marmalade-and-honey qualities promise an exciting future for New Zealand as the home of dessert as well as dry wines, of Riesling as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Villa Maria's dry Riesling 1993 is currently available only from branches of Threshers and its Wine Rack subsidiary. Both offer a trade discount of 10% on the VAT-inclusive price of £5.79 a bottle.
Bottle change
In order to emphasise the dry style, Villa Maria and other Riesling producers are now abandoning the tall, thin bottle traditionally associated with Riesling in Germany and Alsace. Some, such as Villa Maria, are using Burgundy-style bottles. The latest to announce the move is Caxton Tower Wines, which is launching its Australian Jacob's Creek dry Riesling and its New Zealand Marlborough region Stoneleigh Vineyard Riesling in Bordeaux-style bottles.
