What book or other reference do you guys prefer for learning about the different Riesling producing areas of Germany, the appellations, etc.?
Thanks!
Find an old copy of frank schoonmakerās Wines of Germany. It was revised in 1972. Itās great, cheap, and has remarkably vital information.
I found the Wine atlas of Germany to be fairly impenetrable and not organized in a way that helped me make sense of the region. Also would avoid that Riesling greatest grape of all time boom which is terrible.
I donāt think a very good book exists.
??
I think he means the Stuart Pigott book, which is not all that readable or useful.
There really isnāt a great book.
These are really good books, but they are old and I am not sure whether they are still in print.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Beyond-Liebfraumilch-Stuart-Piggott/dp/0283995807
For free (and recognize that this is advertising, read Terry Theiseās German wine catalogs http://www.skurnik.com/terry-theise/
One wine newsletter that does a good job reviewing German wines is John Gilmanās A View from the Cellar.
The Sichel book (revised version of Frank Schoonmakerās book) is the one to which I was referring above.
Love Thieseās prose but it is DEFINITELY marketing, so beware. Gilman and Vinous (David Schildknecht) both do a good job.
Mosel Fine Wines is great. But it wonāt help you understand different regions.
If I were you Iād just buy a load and drink them.
This is a great book. Highly recommended
A friend of mine, Kevin Goldberg, translated Wine Atlas of Germany. I reviewed the book a few years ago.
Go here:
and here:
and here:
http://www.skurnik.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SKURNIK_THEISE_Germany_2016_CATALOG.pdf
I recommend buy and drink, theyāre so affordable, youāll find your zone pretty quickly.
Also Cruch and Chambers in NYC will ship em right to your door and will give great advice, especially on your first ātriesā.
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I was going to suggest something similar. There are some wonderful wines that wonāt break the bank, and maybe Iāve been lucky, but Iāve had really good success buying older Auslese wines from producers Iād never heard of.
One area to focus on though, is distinguishing between genuine single vineyard wine names (e.g. Piesporter Goldtrƶpfchen) as against the āgrosslageā appropriation of a famous site to sell typically inferior wine (e.g. Piesporter Michelsberg that was ubiquitous in the mid-late 1980s).
I suppose it would also help to find an article covering the ānew waveā of trocken wines, compared against the more usual residual sugar styles.
Of course you may already know all the above already, so ignore if you do.
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I missed thisā¦ This is the best advice!!!
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there used to be an online magazine called the riesling report (the current website by same name appears to be entirely different). if you can find those PDFs somewhere, they were a great resource, albeit quite dated by now.
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I think youād learn more searching Riesling on this board, then Googling stuff you read about from peopleās posts, than you would learn from reading most books.
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Just a tiny sidenote:
there is great Riesling in Germany, FRANCE (Alsace) and AUSTRIA (Wachau and neighbours ā¦) -
so it would be foolish to limit yourself to Germany alone ā¦
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Just in case heās not already familiar with them - Charlie has a typo and means Crush and Chambers.
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But one on the Mosel will before very long. A definitive text.