Riesling Trocken: what am I missing?

[Nathan_Smyth]

According to Wine-Searcher Professional, the greater “Pacific Northwest” [to include Idaho] is a veritable desert as far as Austrian wines are concerned.

Even San Francisco/NoCal isn’t showing all that much.

And UPS says that San Francisco is already two-day delivery to Portland.

According to W-S Pro, the really good action is down in LA/SoCal, but if you think that two-day delivery is still safe in May, and if you are willing to venture out towards Gruner Veltliner [rather than Riesling], then there are some very nice vintages of the Honivogl available in San Francisco at [by American standards] fairly reasonable prices:

[u]2001 Honivogl, $55[/u]

[u]2002 Honivogl, $53[/u]

[u]2002, Honivogl, $61[/u]

But, again, W-S Pro indicates that SoCal is the place to be for Austrian action, and UPS says that’s a three day shipment to Portland.

[Gerhard_P]

@M. M c C a l l

When I first started to enjoy German Riesling a few years ago, I quickly discovered that I really didn’t care for trockens. I stopped buying them early on, but during that brief period of experimentation, I didn’t find a single one that seemed balanced. I get that some people don’t like sweet wine, but pulling sugar out of a natural, balanced Riesling is like plucking the extraneous notes out of a Mozart concerto.

Am I being unfair? Did I not give trockens a fair chance? Are there any in particular I should try?

Melissa,
don´t argue with me about Mozart (BTW) !!!

Talking about Mosel Rieslings I can follow you, the natural acidity in this northern climat is usually so high than many wines need (a little bit!) residual sugar, how much is a topic.

But there are extraordinary dry Rieslings produced in mid and Southern Germany, Alsace and Austria (AUSTRIA !) … and if you tell me that a Clos St.Hune, a Keller G-Max, a F.X.Pichler Kellerberg or Hirtzberger Singerriedel is unbalanced without RS … (ok, guess what …)

Best
Gerhard