Riesling

Riesling (pronounced “REESE-ling”) is a speckled golden green-yellow grape with white flesh. It is another rather finicky varietal that is heavily influenced by the soil and climate in which its grown as well as the hand of the winemaker. Rieslings wines can be made anywhere on the taste spectrum from very tart to a level of sweetness that makes your teeth ache. The International Riesling Foundation (yeah, it is a real organization) recognized the problem wine consumers were facing when trying to select their next Riesling from the wine shelf and developed the IRF scale. Now wineries can add this scale to the back label of their Riesling so that a wine drinker can tell how sweet or dry the wine inside the bottle will be before they make their purchase.

Here in Oregon, there are a passionate group of Riesling producers hell-bent on educating the world about the refined and elegant wines being made in our state. And after tasting Riesling from all over the globe, I do believe that Oregon’s juice is some of the best in the world.