Inspired by the Terroir wine bar in New York City, the Summer of Riesling is a concept borrowed from Terroir’s owner Paul Grieco, who established it five years ago.  Eighteen months later the concept is growing considerably across Australia and NZ.

The Australian Summer of Riesling is  a support group for Riesling producers and Riesling tragics alike to help them promote Riesling, the most noble of all grape varieties. It is also a contact point for Riesling lovers and consumers.

The Summer of Riesling has acted on multiple levels to promote Riesling around Australia.  In the Summer 2011 the organization co-ordinated and assisted with over 20 Riesling-focused events, with the aim to increase awareness of Riesling within the minds of the market through conventional, personal and social media channels.

Ultimately, the Australian Summer of Riesling is about  creating Riesling events and  helping  promote others’ Riesling events. 2012 presents a shift in direction; with more people in each major capital helping drive the Summer of Riesling initiative even more.

Learn more at the Australian Summer of Riesling website.

About 25 years ago I was walking through a trade tasting at which various Oregon wines were on display, and stopped at one table where a pourer was serving an Oregon Riesling. I took a sample and said to the server, “Smells a little like the Mosel.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” came a voice behind me, and the man who I turned to see was Peter Sichel, the man who made Blue Nun famous in the 1970s.

I handed my glass to Peter, an old friend even then, and Peter said, “Well, it IS like the Mosel!”

Thus was my introduction to Oregon Riesling, a category of wine that simply has flown under the radar for the last two decades, and which now has begun a slow resurgence.

Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem Vineyards has seen Riesling over the last 30 years here and he is thrilled that Riesling is in comeback mode, even though nationally the wine is almost invisible.

“When I first started looking at the wine industry in 1980,” he said, “23% of everything that was growing in the state was Riesling. Since then, everything else has grown and only in the last few years has Riesling made a comeback.”

State statistics show that Oregon Riesling vineyard acreage has grown 32% in the last decade, but almost all of that growth has occurred in the last five years with the rapid growth in Riesling sales.

Still, only 800 acres of Riesling are growing in Oregon, most of it in the Willamette Valley area that is already wildly successful for Pinot Noir. Indeed, it is Oregon Pinot Noir that wholesalers and retailers want, and as a result both Riesling and Pinot Blanc, which the state makes so exceptionally, are lagging in sales nationally.

For a long while in the early years, Peterson-Nedry admitted, Riesling was a “cash-flow white that was fairly innocuous,” and much of it was sweet. He said most Oregon producers “weren’t serious about Riesling back then, and as a result Riesling languished for about 20 more years.”

The exception, he said, was “a small handful of very serious people who knew that this was arguably the best white wine in the universe. These were typically small producers who then grabbed Riesling and started treating it like Pinot Noir — growing the grapes better, getting smaller tonnages, and then seeing a wine with a transparency of the terroir.”

The best of Oregon Riesling is dry, and Peterson-Nedry said that at a tasting of 28 of the wines in early June, most of the wines were far better than they have ever been — “outside of the occasional flaws, which comes from having passionate but immature wine making. That’s the thing that needs to be watched.”

He said that scanner data do not come from places where is hand-selling. As a result, although grocery stores (most of which have scanners) show increases in Riesling sales, he said, Riesling sales growth is even greater at tasting rooms, restaurants, and at other places that sell direct to consumers where there is a knowledgeable sales person.

The dry style of wine is selling in part because much of it is in tasting rooms, where hand-sales are the norm. “The drier versions are popular anywhere there is hand-sell person.”

Peterson-Nedry estimates that about 10% of all Oregon Rieslings are bone dry (perhaps up to .5% residual sugar), and that medium dry wines account for perhaps 60% of the market, evenly split between medium dry and medium sweet.

In his estimation, Willamette Valley is the best region for Riesling, though some elevated places in the Umpqua Valley also make excellent Riesling.

Chehalem makes a small amount of a sparkling Riesling (called Sext!) that he says, “We can’t keep it in the tasting room more than a few months before selling out.”

He added that wines like this “are a lot more applicable to the things we are eating these days,” he said. It sells for all of $21.

One of the leaders in Oregon Pinot Noir is Argyle. Longtime wine maker Rollin Soles says he started with Riesling in 1988 from the old Cal Knudsen property, planted in the early 1970s.

“It’s my belief that Riesling, Chardonnay and a number of other white grapes don’t really show how great they are until they have produced a few crops,” said Soles, perhaps as many as eight harvests.

The key to most of the Argyle wines is that they were made dry, partly because Soles cut his teeth as a wine maker making dry, age-worthy Riesling for Brian Croser’s famed Petaluma Winery in Australia.

Working with Clare Valley fruit in Australia, Soles made wines that became superb with a decade or more in the bottle; as a result Argyle’s wines are striking with bottle age.

Part of the reason these wines hold so well is that Soles makes sure the pH levels of the wines is usually between 3.0 and 3.1. The wines show typical minerality, and usually have well under 1% residual sugar.

“I made one of America’s first dry-style Rieslings, and that got us into some very good restaurants,” he said.

The Knudsen vineyard from which his first wine came began to decline in the late 1990s, so 1999 was the last vintage off that original vineyard.

It was then that Argyle put in triple-density (“poor-man’s close-spacing”) Riesling vines on devigorating roostock, using a classic German clone.

“We took out vines that made $50-a-bottle Pinot Noir to do this,” he said, and now has six acres making a Riesling that sells for $18.

Soles sees a great following for the dry Riesling in London, “where the public seems to be about a decade ahead of American wine buyers.” Still, he acknowledges that dry Riesling sales are rising in the United States.

Another Oregon Riesling project worth looking at is at Brooks Vineyards in Amity. The family project makes some of the most stylish Riesling in America, some of which are not always showy when first released, but take dramatic nuances with a bit of time in the bottle.

Janie Brooks said the winery’s five acres of grapes, planted in the early 1970s, are augmented with some purchased fruit, and the winery now makes about 2,000 cases of mainly dry Riesling. Brooks also makes 300 cases of a medium sweet Riesling and about 150 cases of a Late harvest Riesling.

Brooks hired Chris Williams as head wine maker in 2006, and he has done a brilliant job of structuring the dry Rieslings. Early in their life, they show a superb though restrained fruit complexity, and then become sublime just a year or two after release.

“We have always done well with our dry Riesling,” she said, “and we are really hoping for a great result from Summer of Riesling,” the promotion in which literally more than 100 restaurants nationally will pour Riesling by the glass for all 94 days of summer.

“We have 10 restaurants in Portland area that are participating in Summer of Riesling,” she said. “From what I’ve found over the years trying to sell Riesling is that the key is to have it front of the right consumers – and this is great with a captive audience of foodies and wine lovers.”

Southern Oregon also makes some fascinating Rieslings, with Foris in the Rogue Valley among the most consistent producers. And Bridgeview’s Blue Moon Riesling, also of the Rogue, is one of the state’s most popular Rieslings, made in a slightly sweeter style.

The annual Riverside International Wine Competition in southern California is chaired by prominent California wine writer Dan Berger, who spearheaded the creation of the IRF Riesling Taste Profile and uses it to define the categories of Riesling in the competition. The top designation, comparable to Double Gold in many competitions, is Chairman’s Award. Here are those, along with Gold medal Rieslings from the 2011 competition.

Unanimous Gold

Glenora 2010 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling

Chateau St Michelle 2009 Eroica Riesling

Heron Hill 2008 Ingle Vineyard Dry Riesling

Chateau Lafayette Reneau 2010 Late Harvest Riesling

Heron Hill 2009 Semi-Dry Riesling

Galen Glen Winery 2010 Stone Cellar Dry Riesling

V. Sattui Winery 2009 Early Harvest Dry Riesling

Anyela’s Vineyards 2009 Medium-Dry Riesling

Lakewood Vineyards 2009 Finger Lakes Riesling

Gold Medal

Treveri Cellars Columbia Valley Riesling

Chateau Lafayette Reneau 2010 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling

X by Xabregas 2010 Spencer Riesling

X by Xabregas 2010 Figtree Riesling

Atwater Finger Lakes 2010 Dry Riesling

Atwater Finger Lakes 2009 Sweet Riesling

Milbrandt Vineyards 2009 Columbia Valley Traditions

Treleaven Wines 2008 Cayuga Lake Late Harvest Riesling

Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards 2010 Finger Lakes Semi-dry Riesling

Fox Run Vineyards 2009 Finger Lakes

Tierce 2008 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling

Thirsty Owl Wine Company 2010 Finger Lakes Medium Sweet Riesling

Peregrine 2007 Central Otago Riesling

Glenora 2009 Finger Lakes Sweet Riesling

Augusta Winery 2010 Seyval Blanc

Frisk 2010 Frisk Prickly Riesling

Heron Hill 2009 New York Dry Riesling

Alba Vineyard 2009 Warren Hills Estate Dry Riesling

Jekel 2010 Monterey Medium-Dry Riesling

Swedish Hill Winery 2009 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling

Kona 2010 Red Mountain Reserve/Estate Bottled Dry Riesling

San Juan 2010 Yakima Valley Les Vignes DeMarcoux Vineyard

Wollersheim Winery Dry Riesling

Wollersheim Winery Medium Sweet Riesling

Cedar Creek Winery Medium Sweet Riesling

Swiftwater Cellars 2010 Columbia Valley Medium-Dry Riesling

Lakewood Vineyards 2009 Finger Lakes Medium-Dry Riesling

The Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition is sponsored by the LA County Fair and run by Dr. Bob Small and his colleagues, who also use the IRF Taste Profile to define Riesling categories. In 2011, this competition added number scores to the medal designations, and the results are as follows:

Riesling, Dry (0<1%RS)

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 95 Points

Wolf Blass www.wolfblass.com.au
Riesling, Yellow Label, South Australia 2008

GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Chateau Ste Michelle www.ste-michelle.com
Riesling, Dry, Columbia Valley 2009

Dr. Konstantin Frank www.drfrankwines.com
Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes 2010

Foris Vineyards Winery www.foriswine.com
Riesling, Rogue Valley 2009

Thirsty Owl Wine Company www.thirstyowl.com
Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes 2009

G. Marquis www.magnotta.com
Riesling, Red Line, Niagara Peninsula VQA 2010

Peller Estates Winery Okanagan www.peller.com
Riesling, Private Reserve, Okanagan Valley VQA 2010

Concannon Vineyard www.concannonvineyard.com
Riesling, Selected Vineyards, Central Coast 2009

Villa Maria Estate
Riesling, Cellar Selection, Marlborough 2010

Red Tail Ridge Winery www.redtailridgewinery.com
Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes 2009

Swedish Hill Winery www.swedishhill.com
Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes 2010

Chateau Grand Traverse www.cgtwines.com
Riesling, Dry, Old Mission Peninsula 2009

Riesling, Medium Dry (1.0‐2%RS)

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Chateau Lafayette Reneau www.clrwine.com
Riesling, Estate, Finger Lakes 2010

Swedish Hill Winery www.swedishhill.com
Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes 2009

GOLD MEDAL – 93 Points

Belhurst Estate Winery www.belhurst.com
Riesling, Dry, Seneca Lake 2010

Dr. Konstantin Frank www.drfrankwines.com
Riesling, Semi-Dry, Finger Lakes 2010

Helfrich
Riesling, Alsace AOC France 2008

Loredona www.dfvwines.com
Riesling, Monterey 2010

Lucas Vineyards www.lucasvineyards.com
Riesling, Semi Dry, Finger Lakes 2009

The Hogue Cellars www.thehoguecellars.com
Riesling, Columbia Valley 2009

Wollersheim Winery www.wollersheim.com
Riesling, Dry, American

SeaGlass www.tfewines.com
Riesling, Monterey County 2010

Kilikanoon www.kilikanoon.com.au
Riesling, Mort’s Reserve, Clare Valley, Australia 2010

Riesling, Medium Sweet (2.1‐4%RS)

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 95 Points

Frisk www.friskwines.com
Riesling, Prickly, Alpine Valleys Australia 2010

GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Belhurst Estate Winery www.belhurst.com
Riesling, Semi-Dry, Seneca Lake 2010

blüfeld www.blufeldwines.com
Riesling, Mosel, Germany 2009

Debonne Vineyards www.debonne.com
Riesling, Reserve, Grand River Valley 2010

Deinhard www.deinhard.com
Riesling, Piesporter, QbA Mosel, Germany 2010

Riesling, Sweet (4.1‐6%RS)

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 96 Points

St. James Winery www.stjameswinery.com
Riesling, American

GOLD MEDAL – 95 Points

Silver Lake Winery www.silverlakewinery.com
Riesling, Roza Hills Vineyard, Rattlesnake Hills 2009

Chateau Grand Traverse www.cgtwines.com
Riesling, Late Harvest, Michigan 2009

St. Clair Winery www.southwestwines.com
Riesling, New Mexico 2010

SILVER MEDAL

Chateau Grand Traverse www.cgtwines.com
Riesling, Select, Sweet Harvest, American

Hyatt Vineyards www.hyattvineyards.com
Riesling, Rattlesnake Hills 2010

Schafer-Reichart Selections www.schafer-reichart.com
Riesling, Rudi Veit, Mosel – Piesporter, Germany 2009

South Coast Winery www.southcoastwinery.com
Riesling, Temecula Valley 2010

The Hogue Cellars www.thehoguecellars.com
Riesling, Late Harvest Riesling, Columbia Valley 2010

Riesling Blends

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Fulkerson Winery www.fulkersonwinery.com
Riesling Blends, Riesling-Traminette Finger Lakes 2009

Ice Wine ‐ Riesling

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 98 Points

G. Marquis www.magnotta.com
Ice Wine – Riesling, Silver Line, Niagara Peninsula VQA 2009

Riesling, Late Harvest (6.1‐12%RS)

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Kilikanoon www.kilikanoon.com.au
Late Harvest Riesling, Mort’s Cut, Clare Valley, Australia 2009

GOLD MEDAL – 92 Points

South Coast Winery www.southcoastwinery.com
Late Harvest Riesling, Temecula Valley 2009

Limited Production

BEST OF CLASS, GOLD MEDAL – 94 Points

Ferrante Winery www.ferrantewinery.com
Riesling, Golden Bunches, Grand River Valley 2008

Much of the industry is now based in the Willamette Valley, a cooler valley still. Thirty years ago as much as 23% of Oregon’s production was Riesling. Although a much lower percentage than that today due to the explosion of Pinot Noir in the state, there is even more passion and focus on Riesling, plus huge growth over the last decade—admittedly from a small base. More than 40 producers take advantage of the naturally late-ripening, low alcohol, white fruit and flower-accented, firmly but not screechingly acidic character of the fruit from this Region 1 cool climate. Riesling grape growing mirrors the conservative precision used on Pinot Noir, while relatively hi-tech winemaking is protective of fruit finesse while being transparent to terroir. This is especially true as mature plantings from the prior halcyon days of Riesling are rediscovered and as the ageability of early bottlings is appreciated.

The finished style is mainly on the dry side of the IRF scale, with 60+% Dry or Medium Dry, but with a full range through to botrytised dessert stylings. In a recent tally, approximately 70% of the bottlings carry screwcap closures. Cool Climate, acid, ripe-but-not-overripe fruit, low alcohol, and passionate, small-scale winemakers characterize Oregon’s Riesling. Oregonians subscribe to the view that Riesling is where many consumers begin to learn the magic of wine, and where sophisticated wine drinkers return to complete their journey.

The incredibly popular Riesling promotion created by Paul Grieco of Terroir Wine Bar in New York City is being expanded to other major markets with sponsorship by the International Riesling Foundation, featuring more than 150 top restaurants showcasing Riesling for a full three months. www.summerofriesling.com.

Finger Lakes Rieslings on VineTalk, starting June 2011 on the web

A popular public television series to make wine fun and friendly by having A-list celebrities taste and talk about the joys of wine is now offering the segment featuring Finger Lakes Rieslings on its web site. The Finger Lakes Riesling session is the most popular of the 13 produced, including Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Burgundy Pinot Noirs, and Spanish Riojas, according to the producers. Famed actor Stanley Tucci serves as the host, with comedian Nathan Lane, opera singer Harolyn Blackwell, and Chef Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill bantering about the different styles of Riesling they like best, guided by Food &amp; Wine Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle and Sommelier Stephanie Caraway. www.vinetalk.com.

2011 Finger Lakes Riesling Festival, August 13-14, 2011, Canandaigua Lakefront, New York.

Riesling tastings and sales, food vendors, farmers’ markets, music and entertainment (for consumers, free admission). www.rieslingfestival.com.

Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting, February 6-7. 2012, Sydney, Australia.
This two-day celebration of the quality and diversity of Riesling wines will feature world- renowned Riesling experts Jancis Robinson and Stuart Pigott as key speakers and commentators. www.franklandestate.com.au.

International Riesling Symposium 2012 sponsored by VDP-Rheingau, Germany (tentative)

Riesling Rendezvous hosted by Chateau Ste. Michelle &amp; Dr. Loosen Estate, July 2013, Seattle Washington, USA www.rieslingrendezvous.com

The “Summer of Riesling” concept was created in 2008 by Manhattan restaurateur Paul Grieco, General AND Manager of Hearth Restaurant, Terroir Wine Bar East Village, and Terroir Tribeca. That year, the ONLY white wine that Terroir customers could get was Riesling—30 different wines by the glass and 100 by the bottle—a radical move that has paid off handsomely.

The following two years the program expanded in various ways, including by enlisting 14 other Manhattan wine bars as part of the celebration and adding a concert where the only alcoholic beverage available was Riesling—no beer, no liquor. And the Summer of Riesling even attracted visits by the German Wine Queen.

Never content with the status quo, Paul has taken Summer of Riesling national, with support from the International Riesling, an organization specifically created to promote Rieslings from around the world. More than 150 top restaurants will be participating in the 94-day celebration in 20 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. There has even been interest among restaurants in Amsterdam, France, and Germany—but that’s for next year.

Participating restaurants include some of the country’s most famous: Spago Beverly Hills, Restaurant Gary Danko and Slanted Door in San Francisco, The French Laundry in Napa Valley, Websters Wine Bar in Chicago, B & G Oysters in Boston, Wild Ginger in Seattle, and, in New York, Bar Boulud, Craft, and Daniel—along with Terroir, of course. The full list is shown below.

The restaurants have agreed to feature at least three Rieslings by the glass throughout the entire summer, along with their bottle selections; many are offering even more. The restaurants select the wines they wish to feature, which may remain the same or change during the three month period. To add some fun and color, they’ll receive special T-shirts, Riesling tattoos, buttons, window stickers, and lots of information about Riesling.

For more information on Summer of Riesling, visit www.summerofriesling.com, or follow the fun on twitter (@summerriesling) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Summer- of-Riesling/174866069226298). Information is also available on the International Riesling Foundation’s web site, drinkriesling.com.

Restaurant List
List of Restaurants(PDF)

Media contacts:

Paul Grieco for Summer of Riesling information (pgrieco@hearthrestaurant.com)

Jim Trezise for IRF information (jimtrezise@nywgf.org)

The April 2011 issue of Wine Spectator had a glowing article about the 2009 vintage in Germany, with many ratings at 90 or above. They are:

Top Wines

• 97 Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Gold Cap Mosel Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 2009
• 97 Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling Auslese Mosel Bernkasteler alte Badstube am Doctorberg 2009
• 97 Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Auslese Mosel Bernkasteler Bastube 2009
• 96 Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Gold Cap Mosel Brauneberger Juffer 2009
• 96 Hoffmann-Simon Riesling Spätelese Mosel Piesporter Goldtröpfchen 2009
• 96 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Auslese Rheingau Rosalack 2009
• 96 Joh. Jos. Prūm Riesling Auslese Gold Cap Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2009
• 96 Joh. Jos. Prūm Riesling Auslese Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2009
• 95 Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Riesling Spätlese Mosel Bernkasteler alte Badstube am Doctorberg 2009
• 95 Baron Zu Knyphausen Riesling Qualitätswein Rheingau Erbacher Steinmorgen 2009
• 95 Schloss Lieser Riesling Spätelese Mosel Lieser Niederberg Helden 2009
• 95 Okonomierat Rebholz Riesling Qualitätswein Trocken Pfalz Kastanienbusch GG 2009
• 95 Schloss Schonborn Riesling Spätlese Gold Cap Rheingau Hattenheim Pfaffenberg Lothar Franz 2009

Top Values

• 95 Meulenhof Riesling Auslese Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2009
• 94 St.-Urbans-Hof Riesling Spätlese Mosel Ockfen Bockstein 2008
• 93 Robert Eymael (Monchhof) Riesling Spatelese Mosel Mosel Slate 2009
• 93 Selbach-Oster Riesling Qualitätswein Mosel Zeltinger Himmelreich Anrecht 2009
• 92 Markus Molitor Riesling Kabinett Mosel Zeltinger Sonnenuhr 2009
• 92 Selbach-Oster Riesling Spätlese Mosel 2009
• 92 St.-Urbans-Hof Riesling Kabinett Mosel Ockfen Bockstein 2009
• 91 Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Riesling QbA Mosel 2009

  91 Dr.H. Thanisch (Muller-Burggraef) Riesling Kabinett Mosel 2009

• 90 Darting Riesling Kabinett Pfalz Dūrkheimer Hochbenn 2009
• 90 Von Hovel Riesling Kabinett Mosel 2009
• 90 Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling QbA Mosel Noble House 2009
• 90 St.-Urbans-Hof Riesling QbA Mosel 2009

A free alphabetical listing of more than 400 wines reviewed is available at www.winespectator.com/043011.

Riesling du Monde

The 2011 Riesling du Monde competition in Strasbourg yielded two Grand Medaille D’Or awards and 64 Medaille D’Or, with 40 for French wines, 17 for Germany, 3 for the Czech Republic, 2 for the United States, and 1 each for Luxemburg and Slovakia. Results are available at http://www.portail-vins-du-monde.com/riesling/riesling2011.

All throughout May, Finger Lakes wine producers, restaurants, hotels, and other tourist attractions will celebrate the region’s “signature wine”. Visitors will enjoy Riesling tastings with wine makers, Riesling-themed dinners, special getaway packages including a complimentary bottle of Riesling, and “Riesling Hour, the world’s largest Finger Lakes Riesling party” on May 26. www.fingerlakeswinecountry.com/A-Riesling-To-Visit.aspx.

Riesling & Co. Tasting 2011, May 12, 2011, New York City

Wines of Germany features top winemakers showcasing the 2010 vintage for media and trade. www.germanwineusa.com.

2011 Riesling Experience, 9-10 June, 2011, Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada

Famed Alsatian producer Pierre Trimbach will conduct a tutored tasting of Riesling wines, a “Great Lakes” panel will include Riesling producers from several states, and a Riesling- friendly luncheon is included. www.rieslingexperience.com.

Summer of Riesling, June 21 – September 21, 2011, in major U.S. and Canadian markets.

The incredibly popular Riesling promotion created by Paul Grieco of Terroir Wine Bar in New York City is being expanded to other major markets with sponsorship by the International Riesling Foundation, with more details to come next month.

2011 Finger Lakes Riesling Festival, August 13-14, 2011, Canandaigua Lakefront, New York.

Riesling tastings and sales, food vendors, farmers’ markets, music and entertainment (for consumers, free admission). www.rieslingfestival.com.

Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting, February 6-7. 2012, Sydney, Australia.

This two-day celebration of the quality and diversity of Riesling wines will feature world- renowned Riesling experts Jancis Robinson and Stuart Pigott as key speakers and commentators. www.franklandestate.com.au.

International Riesling Symposium 2012 sponsored by VDP-Rheingau, Germany (tentative)

Riesling Rendezvous hosted by Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Estate, July 2013, Seattle Washington, USA

www.rieslingrendezvous.com.

That explains the different promotional initiatives like “Riesling Month” in New York’s Finger Lakes region, where wine lovers will be to sample hundreds of Rieslings from scores of wineries throughout the entire month. In addition, local hotels, restaurants, transportation companies and other businesses are offering special packages for the visitors. And for those who can’t take advantage of all this on site, there will be a social media-based “Riesling Hour” on May 26 when people around the country can share their thoughts on tweets, Facebook, and blogs about the Finger Lakes Riesling right in front of them. (www.RieslingHour.com)

Summer of Riesling will officially launch on June 21 for 94 days until September 21, taking a highly successful New York City promotion national. Manhattan restaurateur and Riesling fanatic Paul Grieco started this at Terroir Wine Bar, where the only white wine available all summer was Riesling—albeit a fabulous selection from around the world. The promotion grew in size and enthusiasm the next two years, and now will spread to other major cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto. A listing of all participating restaurants will be available for the June newsletter. The International Riesling Foundation is sponsoring the promotion, with Paul Grieco at the helm.

Some major Riesling producers in the United States have recently changed ownership, with positive implications for the future. Pacific Rim Winemakers of Washington State was sold by Randall Graham to the Mariani family, though the excellent management—winemaker Nicolas Quille and marketer Shawn Bavaresco—continue advancing the company. Fetzer, Jekel, Bonterra, and many other California brands were sold from Brown-Forman (a spirits company) to Conche y Toro winery in Chile, a great development in terms of a winery being in charge of wineries which produce exceptional Riesling.

I’ve been a big fan of Finger Lakes Rieslings for a long time, in part because of the intriguing variation of aroma and taste characteristics from within one region, which I’m still trying to understand.

When you want to know something about what’s in a particular wine, you typically go to a university viticulture and enology department and pose a specific question.

If the college does a research project on the issue, it may take years to get any meaningful results. But what happens when it’s hard to even formulate the question?

That’s the case with the Finger Lakes Riesling. One of the first questions that arose with this fast-growing category of wine wasn’t that complicated: Is there a distinctive regional difference between the Rieslings of the various areas of the Finger Lakes? And if so, what are the differences?

We could also ask, “Which specific attributes are worth fostering, and are there any negative attributes that are worth trying to minimize?” And, “Do these differences really exist? And if so, are they related to growing vines or to enological decisions?” And then came the confusing questions that make answering the first one so difficult:

• Do the Finger Lakes have such variable seasons that Riesling comes out radically different each

• Is the choice of yeast strain very important, slightly important, or unimportant in the final result? Does the temperature of fermentation affect any of this?

And it keeps getting worse.

From an intuitive point of view, Peter Bell, wine maker at Fox Run Vineyards, said that a few years ago he firmly believed there were differences between the various regions surrounding the lakes.

“I used to think that the west side of Keuka made more minerally kinds of wines,” said Bell, “but I have had to kind of change my mind in recent years. It seems to be that wine maker intervention trumps the regional issues, and today I see no discernable differences.

“I’m prepared to believe that all three — Keuka, Cayuga, and Seneca – make very similar wines.” Some of what Bell now believes came out of a recent Cornell University study coordinated by Anna Katherine Mansfield, assistant professor, who said that there may be some subtle differences, but that generally, “We see a need to define Finger Lakes Riesling as a whole.” Mansfield said “the challenge of east coast wine making” throws a monkey wrench into such investigations.

The research project was done on a site-specific basis, rather than sorting by lake. So the vineyards used were on the east shores of three lakes, Seneca, Keuka, and Cayuga.

“And what we found was, there were no significant differences,” she said.

In 2009, weather was so wet “no vines were water stressed,” and the differences between sites were subtly apparent. In 2010 it was warmer, causing some water stress — “and water stress affects the production of monoterpenes and the TDN [petroleum] notes could change.”

Mansfield said the research did find some differences in the wines from different regions, but there are many differences and variables.

She added, “You get more of the tropical flavors and pineapple from a southeast Seneca wine and the wines of the northwest shore show more lime and apple, and the wines are really steely and minerally on Keuka Lake, and the wines show less of the fruit forward character.” But she asked rhetorically if the differences were really related to the styles of the producers.

“And certainly it is related to the yeast strains used and the temperatures of fermentation — all of that impacts it.”

Bell said he was not “consciously bowing down to some altar of a similar style of wine; I’m not trying to toe the line of a style for this lake.”

Chris Gerling, also of Cornell, noted that weather in the Finger Lakes “is so variable that we have no standards of production from year to year. I have no idea what a typical year is for us. In 2009, it was so cool and moist wine makers were all asking how do you get the acid out? Then in 2010, we had the
opposite problem, lower acids.”

He said vintage variations make such investigations difficult to do. “2007 was not a prototypical year, it was warm and dry, and many people did different things in the vineyards.” That year, he said, there was a bit of rain in October, which had an effect on the final wines. “Some people picked before the rain, some people picked after.”

He said 2008 might have been better suited for a look into regional distinctiveness; “you might get a better handle on regional character. However, although there are more good characteristics in 2008, that may not magnify the differences more.

“And then what happens when some wineries use a synthetic cork? The wine may not last as long, or it might.”

So far, with mixed results as well as differing weather patterns, all we know for sure is that Riesling consumers around the world who have tasted these wines now get the fact that “Finger Lakes Riesling” is a phrase that automatically implies high quality, and still leaves us with questions of specificity that we have not yet answered – or even posed!