Riesling flourishes worldwide, but nowhere does it inspire as fervent focus as in Germany, its birthplace. Cultivated throughout the country’s 13 wine regions, it mirrors the fascinating diversity of local terroir. Bottlings can range from bone dry, or trocken, to delicately or even lusciously sweet, and can be featherlight or buxom, still or sparkling.
The Mosel is best known for slim, spine-tingling expressions, wafting of blossoms and apple, yet anchored by slate and steel. In the Rheingau, Riesling is often a bit richer, offering pristine apricot and white-peach flavors with a firm, stony undertone.
Kabinett and the intensely aromatic, honeyed late-harvest wines designated by degree of sweetness such as spätlese, auslese, beerenauslese or trockenbeerenauslese are historic to both the Mosel and Rheingau regions. Increasingly warm climates, however, have made…
