| King Riesling Resurrected | | | | By: Subhash Arora | << back  Page 2 of 2 |
Of course, the latest100- pointer, half- bottle TBA Riesling 2001 that retails for US $ 2000 makes it drinkable only by modern day kings and czars. Dry Kabinetts on the other end of the spectrum make them highly refreshing as aperitifs in Indian summers.
Earlier this month when Fritz visited India for multiple trade tastings, I had an opportunity to put his hypothesis to test. Wines from Dr. Loosen, Mosel winery that has revolutionized wine making concepts and is famous for good quality Rieslings, had been couriered and received after payment of custom duty. On opening the case, a few bottles of one label were found wet. Apparently, wine had leaked out of the stelvin cork, damaged perhaps at the customs office. We chose to taste all these bottles with damaged cork by mixing them randomly with the sealed bottles. No one could find any difference in the flavour though the bottles were exposed to oxygen for over a week.
I believe Mr. Hasselbach when he tells me that in a recent blind tasting of Gunderloch wines in the US, the best wine turned out to be a bottle that had been opened and stored for over a month. Imagine the cost savings and increased drinking pleasure for Indian wine drinkers for whom storing away the unfinished bottle and consuming in 3-7 days may be the norm!
While, we are still far away from consuming a half bottle of icewine or TBA or a late harvest wine made from Botrytised grapes , with or as dessert during the course of a meal in one evening, Riesling does give us a fragrant option with lively acidity and gloriously aromatic flavours- from aperitif to the main course, to dessert. How many varietals offer us that luxury?
And the Riesling doesn’t have to be from Germany either. Washington State and Clare Valley have also honed their techniques and find it difficult to produce enough Riesling. A crisp welcome awaits the resurrection of the forgotten king of grapes, in India. Hail King Riesling!
Subhash Arora
February 24, 2006
About the Author:
Founded Delhi Wine Club five years ago to promote wine culture in India through education by organizing various programmes and training seminars, wine tasting dinners etc.Writing content and managing India's first wine webzine, with India-centric wine news since inception. The Club has organised 105 events in 5 years and has been been voted the best wine club of India by the first-ever survey carried out by Wine Business International, Germany.
Wine passion has taken him to various wine fairs, vineyards and conferences around the world. He has written regularly for a popular daily under, 'Wonderful World of Wine'and a couple of national magazines. An engineer from IIT, Delhi with Master's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business Administaration from the University of Minnesota, he has been actively promoting wine in India by delivering talks, organizing wine appreciation courses,training waiters and managers,designing wine menus and offering wine consultancy.
He has been a juror for the Vinitaly Wine Competition in 2006. He has been invited to be a speaker at various international forums like Vinitaly, Prowein and Fenavin. He is also the India correspondent of Wine Business Interntional. He is the editor article contributor of delWine, an eNewsletter that goes out to about 6000 people around the world.
He has been also voted 'the Best Wine Journalist' in the Who's Who Survey.
Website Name: Delhi Wine Club
Website URL: www.delhiwineclub.com
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