German Riesling and Loire Valley Chenin Blanc - Tasting at the German Wine Society (Washington DC), led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, 2024

A German Riesling and Loire Valley Chenin Blanc Comparative Tasting at the German Wine Society (Washington DC), led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, took place in Washington DC, USA, on November 9, 2024.

Invitation

The German Wine Society's comparative tasting of German Rieslings and Chenin Blancs from France’s Loire Valley will feature ten different wines offered to illustrate the similarities and differences of wines using these grapes.  The tasting will be presented by our own Annette Schiller, who has brought some of these wines back from Europe just for us from her most recent tour.  We now have the full wine list for our event, as shown below.  

Aficionados of a fresh, crisp white wine will eventually fall in love with both the Riesling and Chenin Blanc grapes.  Riesling is of course Germany’s most planted and best known grape, while Chenin Blanc, though not the leading grape of France, is one of its white stars.  Chenin Blanc acquired its name from Mont-Chenin in the Touraine district of France in the 15th Century, but can be traced as far back as Anjou in 845 AD.  There is much to love and little to hate at all about either varietal.  Both varietals can be produced in all sorts of styles: sparkling, still, bone dry, semi-sweet, fruity sweet, or lusciously sweet.  In five flights, one Riesling and one Chenin Blanc each, we will compare the different styles of the two varietals and will examine the decisive factors: acidity level, sugar level, ageability, versatility, value, and terroir expressiveness.

Loire Valley and the Rhein-Mosel-Nahe Valleys Wine Tours by ombiasy WineTours

Earlier this year, Annette led wine tours to the Loire valley and the Rhein-Mosel-Nahe valleys:

Germany Rhein-Mosel-Nahe 2024 by Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours led by Annette Schiller

 

Germany Rhein-Mosel-Nahe 2024 by ombiasy WineTours took place from August 28 – Friday, September 06, 2024. We spent 10 days visiting top wine estates in five wine regions, tasting fabulous Rieslings and Pinot Noir (aka Spätburgunder), meeting world-renowned wine makers, travelling through the world’smost beautiful wine regions, cruising on the romantic Rhein river, looking at dizzying steep vineyards along the Rhein and Mosel rivers, and delving deep into German history and culture: Rheinhessen • Rheingau • Mittelrhein • Mosel • Nahe

 

See: Overview: Germany Rhein-Mosel-Nahe 2024 by Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours led by Annette Schiller - Facebook Day-by-day Postings 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loire 2024 by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller 

Loire 2024 by ombiasy Wine Tours, led by Annette Schiller, took place from Sunday, June 9, to Thursday, june 20, 2024. The tour started in Nantes and ended in Sancerre. 

 

See: Summary: Loire 2024 - Châteaux and Wine - by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller

 

German Riesling and Loire Valley Chenin Blanc - Tasting at the German Wine Society (Washington DC), led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, 2024: President's Report

Carl Willner, President: Last night, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, we held our penultimate event of the year, the Riesling - Chenin Blanc comparative tasting, at the clubroom of Klaus Teuter’s apartment building in the Van Ness area of Washington, D.C., one of our regular venues. We started on time at 7 pm after finishing setup, and concluded by about 9 pm, with a number of guests lingering to help with cleanup, drink some wines that Klaus brought, and hear my wife Nina playing the piano. The event was very well attended....

From the viewpoints of achieving our educational purposes and the enjoyment of our guests, I think this event also counts as a major success.  The wines were well chosen, illustrating the versatility of both Riesling and Chenin Blanc all the way from sparkling to dry to sweet, in five different paired flights.   Annette’s presentation - aided once again by the speaker we have acquired - was highly informative about the regions, wine types and producers, enhanced by the information and pictures coming directly from her visits to many of the producers showcased.  I particularly enjoyed Annette’s love for the wines and their producers exhibited in her discussion of the Kloster Eberbach Spätlese that completed the last flight. 

 

Several audience members raised good questions, which Annette had no trouble answering from her extensive experience, and everyone was invited to express their preference  for Chenin Blanc or Riesling in each flight. It appeared to me that Riesling won out overall, not too surprisingly given that we are the German Wine Society, though there were many votes for the Chenin Blancs too.  Because of the differences in the ways that the sweeter Rieslings and the French wines are produced, with the German wines having their fermentation stopped to retain natural sugar while the French wines complete their fermentation and a sugar reserve is later added, the French wines could have a notably higher alcohol content even if they also are on the sweeter side, as Annette explained.  I think that the audience came to appreciate the significant variations and contrasts in the Rieslings and Chenin Blancs from this tasting experience. 

The Wines

Flight 1 Sparkling, Methode Traditionelle:

NV Riesling Brut, Dr. Wagner, Mosel, Germany

NV Chenin-Blanc/Chardonnay Brut, Chidaine, Montlouis, Loire Valley, France

Flight 2:

2022 Riesling Qvinterra, Kühlung-Gillot, Rheinhessen, Germany

2022 Chenin-Blanc, Château d’Épiré, Savennières, Loire Valley, France

Flight 3:

2023 Riesling, Estate, Rebholz, Pfalz, Germany

2022 Chenin-Blanc, Champalou, Vouvray, Loire Valley, France

Flight 4:

2022 Riesling, Hermann Ludes, ’Thörnicher Ritsch, Kabinett ‘Monster’, Mosel, Germany

2022 Chenin-Blanc, Domaine Huët, Demi-Sec, ‘Clos du Bourg, Vouvray, Loire Valley, France

Flight 5:

2017 Riesling, Crescentia, Steinberger, Spätlese, Kloster Eberbach, Rheingau, Germany

2022 Chenin-Blanc, Domaine Huët, Le mont moelleux, Vouvray, Loire Valley, France

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