Riesling: The World's Most Misunderstood Grape

Mullay-Hofberg vineyard slopes beside the Mosel — Mullay-Hofberg, photographed by Melsheimer.

If you've ever avoided Riesling because you assumed it was sweet, you're in good company, and in the presence of one of wine's great misunderstandings. In the 1970s and 80s, Germany flooded export markets with cheap sweet Riesling that bore no resemblance to the great dry wines the country was also making. The sweet version became the association, and the dry version got buried.

Riesling is the grape that proves sweetness isn't a style, it's a dial. Turn it down and you find one of the most complex wines on earth.

The sweetness problem

The range of Riesling is extraordinary: from bone-dry, searingly acidic wines that age for decades, to lusciously sweet late-harvest styles. Same grape, same places, different harvest moments. The Rieslings we carry are almost all dry or gently off-dry; any sweetness is balanced by the acidity to the point where you barely perceive it.

Why the Mosel produces the best examples

The Mosel valley is arguably the most dramatic wine landscape in the world. Vineyards cling to near-vertical slate slopes, everything done by hand. Slate stores heat during the day and releases it slowly at night, forcing roots deep into rock where the mineral character comes from. A Mosel Riesling tastes of slate in a way that isn't metaphorical.

Melsheimer and what makes their wines different

Thorsten Melsheimer farms the near-vertical Reiler Mullay-Hofberg vineyard that has been in the family for generations. Yields are low, cellar intervention is minimal, and wines are built to last. The range runs from an entry-level Trocken up to the single-vineyard Lentum, which spends seven years on lees before release.

The case for Riesling at the Dutch dinner table

Germany is the Netherlands' closest wine-producing neighbour. At the table, Riesling is one of the most food-friendly wines in existence: the acidity cuts through fat and richness in a way that Chardonnay can't, and the mineral precision pairs with almost anything from Dutch cheese to Indonesian rijsttafel.