 I have no idea why people don't love Riesling, especially German Riesling as much as I do. Ah, so refreshing. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel, the show that helps you drink adventurously so you can expand your palate and expand your mind. I am your host, Matthew Horky. It's a hot summer day here in Del Mesa, Croatia, and what a better way to chill yourself down, refresh yourself than a glass of well-made Riesling, a grape that I love very much, but I just don't understand why people don't love it as much as I do. There are a lot of real obvious reasons that we're gonna get into all that, but last year we spent two months in Germany, just visiting producers, tasting wines, got to taste some of the wines from some of the greatest German producers, got to see all the vineyards from a lot of the wine regions, and it was a magical trip. You know, I don't understand, if you want small production, tradition, beautiful vineyards, Riesling, and especially German Riesling has all of that. You know, when I think of steep slope vineyards, a lot of the times I think of Italy, hillside vineyards in Italy, but in Germany, since it's a little bit of a cooler climate, all the vineyard sites have to be precisely positioned, and some of these vineyards are incredibly steep. I remember walking up some of them and just losing my breath everywhere from, and don't just think of the Mosul, which has super steep vineyards. They're steep vineyards, and the Rheinhessen, Wurttemberg, the Naha has really, really steep slopes as well, and also the Rheingau. Riesling's a refreshing high acid grape that can be found, you know, planted in many different parts of the world. I think the country is that you think of when you associate Riesling, you associate with Riesling is Germany, of course, Austria, you think of also a little bit in South Africa, Australia, and in Washington State in the USA, but it's planted really all over the world, including this producer I found recently. This is a Czech Riesling from Moravia, Darnutis, Riesling 2019. You know, a funny story about this Riesling. This Riesling helped me break some preconceptions of people. These producers were actually, the owners of this vineyard were actually on holiday in Croatia, and they messaged me and wanted to meet up, see if I wanted to taste their wine. And it's so funny, a few days earlier, some Croatian people were complaining, saying, you know, people from Central, Eastern Europe, they're coming here to Croatia, they're packing their car with food, their own wines from different countries, they don't want to try local stuff. And I was thinking when I went to visit them, you know, why are they bringing their own, their own wines to enjoy during, into, why are they bringing them into a wine country? When I met them, they were the nicest people. And they told me, oh, we just brought these Rieslings along, our own wine to give as a gift, but we haven't even opened a wine yet. We're too, just too busy exploring all the local wines, visiting all local producers. That's why you've got to get past preconceptions. So this is often considered, especially by critics as the king of wine grapes, the greatest grape in the world. But why don't people enjoy it? There are a couple of reasons. I don't like Riesling because I don't like sweet wines. Yes, there are plenty of sweet Rieslings available on the market. However, we're thinking, you know, blue none, kind of bottom shelf, real low end table wines. If you're watching the show, you're drinking some finer wines, some better wines. Most of the top quality producers in Germany know it's difficult to sell sweet Riesling. It's difficult to make great sweet Riesling and most of the production is centered on dry Riesling. On a side note, some of the sweet Rieslings, the Rieslings with terms that are confusing for people, Auschlesi, Spatlesi, Berenauschlesi, Truckin' Berenauschlesi, ice wine, these sweet Rieslings are some of the greatest wines in the world. So don't make this as an excuse. There are plenty of dry Rieslings and they're incredibly exciting wines. Riesling's a bit too sour for me. This one is a valid point. To like dry Riesling, you have to be an acid freak. You know, sometimes acidity wines with too high acidity can be too sharp, too sour for people and more kind of casual wine drinkers don't really like that. So I, you know, I appreciate that. But people like me, you know, I was sucking on lemons, drinking lemonade as a kid. So that's why I'm probably hooked on dry Riesling. German wine labels are impossible to understand. This point's valid too. The labels are incredibly confusing. But luckily, luckily, the new system by the VDP, the VDP is a group of quality-minded producers. I think they're about up to 196 members. That group contains most of the best producers in Germany. I say most, because there are a lot of good producers that are not in the VDP. Anyways, they organize their dry wines off the Burgundian system. So at the bottom, you're gonna have Gützwein or just maybe the Hauswein, the Hausstahl. Next up, we're gonna have Ortswein, which is a village-level, village-level wine, if you're thinking about Burgundy. Next up is Ersterlager, premier crew, better vineyards, better fruit. And the top level is Grossesgewachs, which is Grand Crew wines. Well, collectors really love Grossesgewachs. And I think some of those wines are incredible and very age-worthy. The best values are in the Ersterlager and the Ortswein category. Like this baby from, I have this from Guck Hermannsburg. This is the von Wolken 2019 from Schlossbecklheim. So it's a Schlossbecklheim, or from Schlossbecklheim. This is an Ortswein from 2019. And the cool thing about the VDP, a lot of times you'll see Gutswein or Ortswein, as you can see it right here. I'll flash that up on the screen. A lot of times with great producers, this is just my opinion. You'll see similar flavors, but just as you go up the pyramid, you'll have more concentration, more structure, more length. But you know, some of the Grossesgewachs wines are designed to be aged. So what if I want to trick them right now? Head down to Ersterlager or Ortswein. That's what I always do. So why is it that I actually love German Riesling? You know, there's a big misconception about Riesling should have petrol notes. And Germans see that as a fault. Petrol notes should come with age. A lot of times that means that the grapes are sunburned. So a lot of people are quite shocked when they taste fresh Rieslings. You don't get petrol notes. Instead you get just amazing aroma as a white flour, lemon, pineapple, white peach type notes. I always get a little bit of white pepper in them as well. These wines have incredible acidity, tension, length. It's like a bunch of electricity in your mouth. Ooh, I really like it. Good, good, good stuff. And if you're just getting into Riesling, especially German Riesling, you're in luck because the last three vintages, 2017, 18, and 19 have all been outstanding vintages in Germany. So cheers to that. I hope you drink a little bit more Riesling. As the weather stays warm, I sure as heck am going to be enjoying. Cheers. Hello, thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click the bell so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page where you get some behind the scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers. Cheers.