Musings
on Riesling From Chairman Grieco
Let’s begin with the obvious
or maybe not so obvious…RIESLING
IS NOT AN INHERENTLY SWEET WINE. Okay, so
that is out of the way. Next up.
What needs to be made abundantly clear
is that when the Riesling grape is grown in the perfect terroir,
it can produce some of the most sublime, well-balanced wines
on the planet Earth. And yes, there may be some residual sugar
in some of those German examples. But who cares! In America,
we talk dry but we drink sweet. Don’t deny it; other
than New York City school kids, someone is drinking all that
Coke and Dr. Pepper and Snapple. What you need to understand,
accept, and embrace is when one does encounter a little residual
sugar in a riesling, it is counterbalanced by a
high level of tartaric acid. When a wine rides
this razor’s edge of balance,
it is the most thrilling beverage possible.
This next fact may be even harder to
accept but you’ve come this far: wine
does not have to be super-spoofulated to be considered great.
Greatness should be defined by the following criteria:
-the terroir of the grape resonates through the wine like
a summer thunder clap
-the fruit of the grape enlivens the wine like a perfect Georgia
peach
-the sense of man’s involvement in these expressions
of the grape should mirror the sound of Mark Sanford’s
reception back into his wife’s home...silence
-the penetration of the wine on the palate invokes memories
of our first encounter with Mom’s milk…super fricken’
yummy (and you never want to stop drinking)
Let’s be honest for a moment, if God had wanted us to
drink those Frankenstein wines, he would have given us the
neuro complexity of an amoeba.
Rudolf Steiner urged us to become aware of one’s humanity.
By drinking Riesling, you become a better person.
And now a poem penned by my 4-year-old son Henry:
I love Riesling.
Lindsay Lohan savors it
Mel Gibson abhors it
Spain celebrated a massive victory with a gulp
Holland found succor in its floral bosom
Lady Gaga finds inspiration there
Justin Bieber has no clue where
The glory of this grape resides, now in my belly I am aware.
To Chardonnay we say so long.
To Gruner Veltliner we bid adieu
To Zierfandler we shout who are you
For this Riesling grape is our saving grace.
I love Riesling.
Follow
us on Twitter @terroirNY
for live updates.
|
