After a 2-year interruption, Annette Schiller and Christian Schiller, with Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours, invited again for their traditional August Riesling Party. This is a casual wine tasting and socializing event taking place inside well as outside on our decks. Each guest has to bring a bottle of Riesling/ German wine. Annette prepares typical German food to enjoy with the wines.
See:
Invitation: Annual Riesling Party 2022 at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA
2022 Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Virginia, USA
Pictures: Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2019)
Riesling
Worldwide, there are about 34.000 hectares planted with Riesling.
Germany – with 22.400 hectares – accounts for 2/3 of the total. The
second largest Riesling producer is Australia, with 4500 hectares. But
this is only about 1/10 of the total. Alsace follows with 3500
hectares. Austria, the US with Washington State and New York State as
well as New Zealand make up the remainder. But overall, Riesling is
really a niche wine, accounting for only less than 1 percent of total
wine production in the world - but a very special niche wine.
Dry and Sweet Riesling
Many wine drinkers, in particular outside of Europe, when they see a
Riesling in the shelves, have the association of a sweet-style wine.
This is however misguided. Rieslings as a rule are dry wines. Of
course, there are the famous sugar sweet Beerenauslese,
Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein and Schilfwein wines from Austria and
Germany, the Sélection de Grains Nobles from France, the icewines from
Canada and other Rieslings, made from botrytized, dried or frozen
grapes.
The grapes that go into these wines have such a high sugar content that
there is nothing you can do to make dry wines out of these grapes.
They inevitably produce nobly sweet wines. But apart from these
specialty wine, which account for only a tiny share of total
production, Riesling grapes in Germany, Austria, Alsace, the US and
Australia have normal sugar content at the time of fermentation and
tend to produce dry wines, when fully fermented.
However, modern cellar methods allow winemakers in Germany (and
elsewhere) to produce wines with a bit of residual sugar with these
grapes. These are exceptional wines, essentially made by not letting
the fermentation going its full course so that natural sugar remains
in the wine. Alternatively, German winemakers are allowed to add
sweet-reserve (sterilized grape juice) to increase the sweetness level
in the wine, but today, this is mostly done, if at all, for fine
tuning the residual sweetness. These fruity-sweet wines are the wines
that are so popular among the fans of German wine in the world. These
sweet-style wines have lost popularity in Germany, although there
appears to be a comeback, but in any case remain very popular outside
of Germany, for example in the US.
Schiller's Riesling Party 2022: 80 Bottles of Wine
This year, 80 Riesling/ German wine lovers followed the call and showed
up with a bottle of wine, mostly, but not exclusively, Riesling, ranging from the popular entry level Loosen Brothers Dr. L to a number of quite spectacular wines, including a 50 years old Dom Perignon Champagne, which Donna Christenson brought. The center of the party was our lower deck,
where I arranged the wines according to their sweetness level.
Interestingly, not a single guest brought a GG (Grosses Gewächs), the new ultra-premium dry wine category in Germany.
While
there were about 50% dry and 50% sweeter-style wines, most of the dry
wines were accounted for by Alsace, Austria and the Finger Lakes region,
while all sweet-style wines were accounted for by Germany. This is in
stark contrast to what you would experience for example in a restaurant
in Frankfurt, where the list for German wines, except for noble-sweet
wines, is essentially accounted for by dry wines.
Finger Lakes: 13 Bottles
The Finger Lakes Region in Upstate New York was quite well represented. 13 guests had decided to bring a bottle from this region. Most of the wines were dry.
Austria: 10 Bottles
Austria was also very well repressented with 10 bottles, all dry, including some premium single vineyard wines.
One of the main importers of German wine, Terry Thiese, used to tell his clients: if you like dry Riesling, go to my Austria portfolio, if you like sweet Rieling, go to my German portfolio. For several decades, he was very influential in German wines in the USA, in particular on the East Coast, and he still is, although his German wine portfolio is now exclusively with Skurnik wines.
Today, many wine drinkers in the USA associate German wines with residual sweetness and those who like dry Rieslings stay away from German wines and instead go for Austrian (or Alsatian, see below) Rieslings.
Alsace: 5 Bottles
5 guests brought a wine from Alsace, including some premium single vineyard wines.
Washington State - Moldova - Canada: 3 Bottles
We had one Riesling from Washington State, one from Moldova and one from Canada.
Non-Riesling: 9 Bottles
Some guests brough non-Riesling wines, including a 50 years old Dom Perignon Champagne, which Donna Christenson brought.
Germany - Entry-level: 3 Bottles
The German entry-level wines (Blue Nun level) included a wine from Rheinhessen in a bottle with a window through which you could see the Neuschwanstein Castle.
Germany - Entry-level: 10 Bottles
Other German entry-level wines were from producers with a good reputation, like the Dr. L of Weingut Dr. Loosen.
Gutswein Trocken: 5 Bottles
5 guests brought a German Riesling at the Gutswein level.
Kabinett: 13 Bottles
The
most popular category were German Kabinett level wines from the Mosel,
including from Weingut JJ Prüm, Weingut Dr. Loosen, Weingut, Weingut Forstmeister-Geltz Zilliken, Weingut Maximin Grünhaus - Weingut der Familie von Schubert and Weingut Willi Haag.
Spätlese + Auslese: 6 Bottles
There were 6 Spätlese and Auslese wines, all from winemakers with a good reputation and all from the Mosel.
Noble-sweet German - Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein: 3 Bottles
Invitation
Dear wine friends,
Annette & Christian
Previous Riesling Parties at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Virginia
This was our seventh annual Riesling Party in McLean, Virginia:
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2019)
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2017)
Annette and Christian Schiller’s Summer of Riesling 2016 in McLean, Virginia,
with German Star Winemaker Christian L. Stahl, German Wine
Journalist Joachim A.J. Kaiser and Virginia Star Winemaker Chris
Pearmund
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2015)
Riesling Summer at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2014)
Summer of Riesling with Annette and Christian Schiller in Washington DC, USA (2013)
2021
No Riesling Party (Covid)
2020
No Riesling Party (Covid)
2019
2018
No Annual Riesling Party
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
schiller-wine: Related Postings
Announcement: Ombiasy WineTours in 2022 Summer and Fall
Announcement: 3 Ombiasy Wine Tours in 2022 - Rhône Valley Tour: June 20 - June 29, Germany South - Alsace: July 01 - July 10, Bordeaux: September 20 - September 29
Upcoming: Total Immersion in Bordeaux: World Class Wines and Exquisite French Gourmet Cuisine - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France - One Room Available (Single/ Double)
One Room Available - Forthcoming Germany-South and Alsace Tour by ombiasy WineTours, July 01 - July 10, 2022
One Room Available - Rhône Valley Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Culture and History, France, June 20 - June 29, 2022
Christian Schiller`s SCHILLER-WINE Blog on Corking Wines` Top 101 Wine Writers of 2020 List
German Wine Society Capital Chapter Membership Meeting 2022: Carl Willner Re-elected
President and Christian Schiller Re-elected Vice-president, USA/ Germany
Washington DC Downtown, USA/ Germany
Christian Stahl, Winzerhof Stahl, Franken, Germany back in the USA - Winemaker Dinner at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Northern Virginia
The Wines of Germany: Presentation by Annette Schiller at the German Embassy in Washington DC/ Consular Conference December 2021
All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle - Presentation by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, at the 2021 American Wine Society National Conference in Atlantic City
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