Annette and I threw our Annual Riesling Party at our Washington DC area home in mid-August. Annette in the invitation:
Dear wine friends,
summer is approaching its peak and it gets hotter and hotter. People start asking: when is you annual Summer Riesling Party. Well it is about time for our annual Riesling party.
Please join us for a fun wining and dining early evening event with genuine German food.
When: Sunday, August 14, 2016, 5.00 pm
Where: at the “Schillers” in McLean, VA
What to bring: 1 bottle of Riesling per person OR your special German wine which can also be other than Riesling that you would love to share with your fellow wine aficionados.
I just brought back some bottles of delicious Pinot-Blancs (did you know that Germany is # 1 producer world-wide of Pinot Blanc? And of course Germany is # 1 producer of Riesling world-wide) from the easternmost, internationally unknown, but gorgeous German wine regions. I would love for you to taste these delicious wines and to entice you to explore these regions further.
Christian and I are very much looking forward to seeing you on August 14th at our house.
ZUM WOHLE
Annette & Christian
100 people followed the call and showed up with a bottle of wine, mostly Riesling. Some brought a bottle of Spätburgunder. There were relatively few American Rieslings this year. It was great fun!
Special Guests
We had 3 special guests:
Joachim A. Kaiser, well-known wine German journalist and wine consultant, flew over from Germany just for the party and presented wines from Weingut Balthasar Ress, Hattenheim, Rheingau. The wines he had in his luggage were very special: there were from the recent 2015 vintage! This was probably the first time in the US that wines from the outstanding 2015 vintage could be tasted. In Germany 2015 was a picture-perfect vintage, only occurring once in a lifetime, and sometimes it does not occur, and we were extremely excited to taste those wines.
For more information on winery Balthasar Ress, see here: At Weingut Balthasar Ress in Hattenheim, Rheingau, during the 2015 Harvest with Winemaker Dirk Würtz, Germany
Christian Stahl, an elite winemaker from the Franken wine region presented his wines at the party. He is highly regarded in wine circles and prominent German wine critic Stuart Pigott always gave his wines the highest remarks. Christian was on a promotion tour to New York City, Chicago and Washington DC and we were extremely delighted to get him at out our Summer of Riesling 2016.
It is very recent that his wines get exported to the US: Welcome to the USA: Christian L. Stahl from Winzerhof Stahl in Franken, Germany
Chris Pearmund is one of Virginia's most widely recognized and well respected winemakers. He has over 25 years experience in the industry. He brought some wine from his winery, Pearmund Cellars.
See also: Virginia's Best Wines: 2016 Virginia Governor's Cup, USA
Summer of Riesling
The Summer of Riesling Campaign is the brainchild of New York Riesling Guru Paul Grieco. The first Summer of Riesling took place in 2008. The Summer of Riesling Campaign in 2014 was the final chapter, according to the Summer of Riesling website.
This year, the Summer of Riesling is back: Summer of Riesling Returns! It’s All German, All Summer. Wines of Germany is giving wine lovers nationwide the opportunity to celebrate their love of Riesling. Restaurants and wine shops across the country will be offering by-the-glass specials and tastings beginning the first day of summer (June 20) through the end of August.
For previous Summer of Riesling Parties at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Virginia, see.
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)
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-wine: Related Postings
At Weingut Balthasar Ress in Hattenheim, Rheingau, during the 2015 Harvest with Winemaker Dirk Würtz, Germany
Welcome to the USA: Christian L. Stahl from Winzerhof Stahl in Franken, Germany
Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Müller Catoir – Germany-South Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Heads up for the 2017 Tours - to Germany and France - by ombiasy WineTours
Invitation: Summer of Riesling 2016 at the Schillers in McLean, Virginia
Virginia's Best Wines: 2016 Virginia Governor's Cup, USA
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