Terry Theise on his love affair with Riesling

[Robin Garr]

Terry Theise's name on a Riesling is a big selling point for me. This helps explain why.
https://grapecollective.com/articles/te ... h-riesling

[David M. Bueker]

I have known Terry for 17 years, and consider him a personal friend. He is one of the wisest judges of wine I have ever known. Terry and David Schildknecht have largely formed the way I look at wine. Equal parts reverence and irreverence.

A lovely interview. thanks for posting this!

[Jenise]

I enjoyed it a great deal, although it did make me feel like a freak for not getting reisling. I mean, I like it, but I'm not moved by it.

[David M. Bueker]

I enjoyed it a great deal, although it did make me feel like a freak for not getting reisling. I mean, I like it, but I'm not moved by it.

Freak.

No freak here at Chez Doris!

[Jenise]

Doris, how do you feel about Sauvignon Blanc? Davey hates it; I love it.

[David M. Bueker]

I hate it less since the head injury. That's probably not much of an endorsement.

[Jenise]

I hate it less since the head injury. That's probably not much of an endorsement.

Wha-at? Any particular ones you hate less?

I always enjoy Terry Theise's writings and would enjoy them even more if they were a bit more succinct. He must be a great resource for those in reach of New York.

I love Riesling but my drinking of German prädikat Riesling with RS has suffered a blow since Germaine has declared war on it when I misguidedly served a cloying Grünhaus "Spätlese" '05.

BTW it is reported on UK Wine Pages that Grünhaus has joined the VDP. Presumably Abtsberg and perhaps Herrenberg will be GLs.

Jenise, looking at my countertop in the kitchen and recent buys, I have 18 bottles of Riesling, 3 Chenin Blanc and zero SB.
Have not read the article from TT yet.

Jenise, looking at my countertop in the kitchen and recent buys, I have 18 bottles of Riesling, 3 Chenin Blanc and zero SB.
Have not read the article from TT yet.

CT tells me that I have the following bottle numbers of leading white varieties -

Riesling 114
Chenin 98
Chardonnay 10
SB 4

I am overweight in sweeties in the first two and am getting closer to selling off most of them but will probably buy dry/trocken/sec versions of the same in their place.

I realise that I am underweight in Chardonnay and, more specifically, in Chablis, Jura and Mâconnais versions. I'm not in the market for Côte d'Or whites; too expensive, mostly too rich and prone to premox.

[Robin Garr]

... feel like a freak for not getting reisling. I mean, I like it, but I'm not moved by it.

Okay, this brings me out of the Freak Closet. When I see love notes from David and others whose palates I consider trustworthy, I really feel like there's something wrong with me.

I don't know if Jenise has the same issue or something different, but to me it's just too intense. Like music turned up loud, or old-school technicolor that makes the world look like a postcard landscape. I get it that this is wrong, but it's an instinct that I can't seem to overcome. Maybe this is why i land on the AFWE side? Have pity on me, a sinner ...

[David M. Bueker]

I hate it less since the head injury. That's probably not much of an endorsement.

Wha-at? Any particular ones you hate less?

No. I have not really paid attention that much, but I find less of the unripe green in the wines than I used to.

[David M. Bueker]

... feel like a freak for not getting reisling. I mean, I like it, but I'm not moved by it.

Okay, this brings me out of the Freak Closet. When I see love notes from David and others whose palates I consider trustworthy, I really feel like there's something wrong with me.

I don't know if Jenise has the same issue or something different, but to me it's just too intense. Like music turned up loud, or old-school technicolor that makes the world look like a postcard landscape. I get it that this is wrong, but it's an instinct that I can't seem to overcome. Maybe this is why i land on the AFWE side? Have pity on me, a sinner ...

Riesling is not some geek test case, although many of its greatest supporters seem to make that case. It's not hard for me to grasp why the off-dry and sweet Rieslings put some people off. For the vast majority of people, wine is supposed to be dry. Of course many of the most popular wines are not really dry, but they are not as sweet as a kabinett or even many estate Rieslings. I am not going to get into the issue of sweetness in food preps that need sweetness in wine.

On the intensity side, the acids in Riesling can often make it seem so piercingly vibrant that is uncomfortable to drink. I have even had Rieslings with too much acidity for my taste. 1996 and 2010 produced some wines like that, and I am very acid tolerant.

I am probably as guilty as anyone out there of mythologizing Riesling, taking after my two vinous mentors, Theise and Schildknecht. While I adore reading their work, they both tend to wrap the wines in in a cloak of high language, with David Schildknecht often using words that have fallen from the normal vocabulary.

In general though, Riesling is no more inscrutable than Pinot Noir. Maybe the sweetness thing is an issue, but it's not an AFWE/not AFWE thing.

[Robin Garr]

In general though, Riesling is no more inscrutable than Pinot Noir. Maybe the sweetness thing is an issue, but it's not an AFWE/not AFWE thing.

I hear you, David, and I'd say my attitude about Riesling is more a (lack of) preference than an actual aversion. And this in spite of having tasted all manner of wine fairly often with David S when he worked for a Cincinnati-Louisville distributor and, later, large wine retailer.

I can tell you that it's not the sweetness - I admire the way even sweeter Rieslings present a natural, fresh-fruit sweetness that is never cloying. It's not the acidity. We of the AFWE love acidity. What's more, it's the steely acidity that balances the sweetness (when present) and makes it more than tolerable.

My prior statement about Technicolor and loud music is the best analogy I can come up with. There's something in Riesling that's just too much of a good thing for me. I get this in Viognier and Gewurz, too - and now that I think about it, in Sauvignon Blanc (!), but without Riesling's saving graces.

[Robin Garr]

PS:

In general though, Riesling is no more inscrutable than Pinot Noir.

I love Pinot Noir, and - maybe rushing in where angels fear to tread - don't find it particularly inscrutable, except when - regardless of provenance - it's made in an overripe, highly alcoholic style.

[David M. Bueker]

Is your issue with the aromatic white based on the nose or the palate?

[Robin Garr]

Is your issue with the aromatic white based on the nose or the palate?

Yes.

More seriously, the nose, really, but with the caveat that I'm including retronasal aromatics - the huge factor of aromas that we sense internally via the wine in our mouth. It has to be the nose, though, I think, since I've already acknowledged that the acidity and the sweetness - true flavors, not aromatics - do not bother me.

[David M. Bueker]

If I recall correctly, you are a pretty big fan of Italian whites. True?

Interesting source of dislike Robin. The one I most often hear about it is being too sour/thin, and not possessing the palate breadth of some other wines. But, I can see how the aromas present themselves in a vibrant/aggressive way. I happen to find it much more elegant (in general) than viognier and gewurz, but such is such.

Lots of wine out there, and we all focus on different ones.

[Robin Garr]

I happen to find it much more elegant (in general) than viognier and gewurz ...

I totally agree, Rahsaan. I was holding that up in a comparative way, but I do find far more saving graces in Riesling.

[Robin Garr]

If I recall correctly, you are a pretty big fan of Italian whites. True?

You talkin to me?

Yeah, in a way, but that one requires some parsing. I like some Italian whites (Southern, mostly) in a similar was as I do some Southern French whites - like a good Falanghina or Greco di Tufo, for example - in a style in which I find body, complexity and balance. That doesn't mean I like any old Pinot Grigio or Frascati that comes around the bend.

[Jenise]

Jenise, looking at my countertop in the kitchen and recent buys, I have 18 bottles of Riesling, 3 Chenin Blanc and zero SB.
Have not read the article from TT yet.

Yesterday I ordered two cases of white wine. If you count the six pack FedEx just delivered, my white purchases this week were:

6 Chablis
6 Chenin Blanc
6 chardonnay/pinot noir rose
12 Sauvignon Blanc

That pretty well covers my interests, both in content and proportion.