I have posted in the picture some of what I have already assembled, and i’m looking to add to it! Preferably the riesling would be from Germany or Austria, but I’m open to ideas (good wine is good). I know that it is impossible to judge a winemaker on one single bottle alone, but I want this to be a jumping off point for myself when I decide to invest in “higher quality” wines. (ex: GG, GL, TBA, BA, anything with significant age)
I don’t have any die-hard Riesling lovers in my life, and I couldn’t think of a better place to ask for advice or recommendations.
If you want to go deep on German riesling, definitely check out the Rheingau as well. JB Becker, Schloss Johannisberg, Eva Fricke, and Robert Weil are some of my favorites from the region.
As for Austria, Weingut Knoll is the benchmark. Also try Nikolaihof for something that won’t break the bank.
To really get the full picture on riesling as a grape, you should definitely venture to other countries as well. Look for Trimbach, Boxler, and Weinbach from Alsace. For domestic riesling, you’ll find the most high-quality examples from the finger lakes. Distrubution is sparse outside the northeast, but look for Apollo’s Praise, Hermann Wiemer, and Forge Cellars. Finally check out wines from the Clare Valley in Australia. I’m not as tuned into the producers, but you’ll love these if you enjoy petrol notes in your riesling.
Everything I mentioned above has pretty decent distribution. Have fun!
For me, the go to is Ulli Stein “Weihwasser.” It’s what helped me “get” riesling. Just slightly sweet, punishing acidity. Lauer’s “Barrel X” and Max Kilburg’s “Vertigo” are also great entry-level examples, also just off-dry. You can’t really go wrong with anything in the Vom Boden book but those are my faves.
A few domestic producers who do great riesling and might be accessible depending on your location: Desire Lines / Stirm / Ruth Lewandowski in CA, Nathan K. / Red Tail Ridge / Apollo’s Praise in NY, Teutonic / Ovum in OR.
J.J.Prüm and Willi Schaefer will be on anyone’s list of core riesling Avengers.
Branching out, you get to many of those you have pictured, and I’d add Dönnhoff, Falkenstein, Fritz Haag, Max. Ferd. Richter, Selbach-Oster, and Gunther Steinmetz.
Thank you so much. Good looks on the Alsace. I wont say I’ve ignored riesling from that area so far, but if the shoe fits lol
I live in LA so most of my wineshops having nothing from NY, but I will keep my eyes open for these producers. I also didn’t even know that Australia had riesling…I look forward to tasting!
Falkenstein is the one producer I don’t have pictured that I actually have been able to collect and enjoy many bottles of, but they were kind of my only frame of reference for a while in terms of riesling.
Do J.J. Prum and Willi Schaefer have estate bottllings, or are their “intro” wines more like young Kabinetts?
I have generally not bought “below” the kabinett level, but from what I can tell it looks like JJP has a “riesling kabinett” that is less expensive than their vineyard-designated kabinett wines, and that WS has a feinherb and a trocken that are village-desingated rather than vineyard-designated.
I looked at the photo, and thought it was an interesting sampling. Off the top of my head, and to fit with the Germans already selected, I have to recommend the Dönnhoff Riesling (the basic bottling) and perhaps a Kabinett Feinherb or Kabinett Halbtrocken to fit another gradation of residual sugar between the trocken and Kabinett bottlings. Selbach-Oster does a delicious Kabinett Halbtrocken from the Zeltinger Himmelreich that is around $20 and reasonably available. I am trying to avoid proposing wines that are difficult to source.
Regarding Austria, there’s plenty more benchmark wineries than Knoll, though in the Wachau region that’s a good option. Perhaps a Brundlmayer or Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling would be a good option. Maybe Hirsch.
For Alsace I have to pick Trimbach, at least while the focus seems to be on drier styles.
