 It's Riesling Face of Time! We're gonna taste a German Riesling next to one from Czech Republic. Find out the result in this video. Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horkey. Hi, I'm Shereen Tan. We are gonna be drinking some Riesling today. A grape that we both love very much, right? Yeah, it's a grape that we like very much, so much so. The last year, during summer, we spent one whole month discovering the Riesling from Germany. Well, I really like Riesling because of the acidity. And on top of that, it's got tremendous balance. Because even when the Riesling is a dry wine, right, they tend to have a little bit of its juice sugar to balance out the acidity. It's got amazing quality as well in terms of the flavor. You know, usually I do, I like my Riesling with a little bit of this floral jasmine-node mineral, for sure. I think a lot of people like that Patronode. I'm okay with it. I don't want it to have to be too much. But basically, Riesling is just really complex. And it's something that it's a, I think it's a good example of what people call like wines with tension. Because of this completely stretched out, everything is pushed to the edge, solid quality. What about you? Yeah, Riesling, so Riesling's a grape that, it's a grape that everybody writes about, talks about, but nobody drinks. Sure, to a large extent, you're right. But so, I love it. I felt after we spent a couple months in Germany last year, visited all the major wine regions, tasted from some of the best producers. And I just had, I liked Riesling already. My Riesling went into a love affair. After that trip, I love it. I'm obsessed with it. And we're going to taste it too tonight. We've got a classic, like a classic very good producer from Germany, from the Naha, my favorite region for Riesling, versus one up and coming producer from the Czech Republic. You ready to get started? Very exciting. What are we expecting to get out of this? So I think it's not really like a phase off thing where you compare each other in terms of quality. I think it's more interesting to discuss where this Czech Riesling is at in terms of, in terms of the whole Riesling scale. And I'm, okay, let's be honest. I don't think anyone makes Riesling like the Germans, not even the Austrian. Yes, Austrians make Riesling too, but it's a very different style. So I think it's more interesting to talk about like, stylistically, where is this Czech Riesling at? And on top of that, I think we'll just use this kind of as a bench knock as well for other countries. Because just like you said, not a ton of people drink Riesling. Not every single producer, like obviously not every single producer grows Riesling as well, but every single country that we go to, they all make Riesling. Think about it, right? Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia. Well, Central, Eastern Europe, you know, just Canada, the region. Riesling is a great though, that actually hasn't traveled as much as Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc. You think of it, the Germanic speaking countries. Germany, Austria, Alsace and France kind of do it best. Maybe in the New World, you know, Washington State, Australia. But besides that, you don't think of anybody other country as top, top flight Riesling, right? Yeah, and also there's a reason why a lot of people don't drink Riesling, right? I mean, the typical of our friends like casual wine drinkers often say it's too sour, or it is too sweet because they expect like, Riesling to always be sweet because of this honey aroma and they're both are not true. And I think it's interesting to taste a Riesling where it's not quite different from the conventional Riesling and see, hey, maybe someone else might say that I don't like German Riesling, but I kind of like Chad Riesling. That's a good point, actually. So let's get started here. We're going to, I actually made a video, I'll link it up about why people don't drink more Riesling, something that's not passionate about. We have the Seven Terroirs from Gut Hermannsburg 2019. This is the second vintage of this wine. This is a blend of their grand crew, their grossest lager estates. I'm really excited. We love the first vintage of this. Just a hot tip for those of you that are looking, you know, in terms of German wines, if you see wines from the VVP, it's a group of pretty premium producers. Most people go straight for the grossest give-offs, the grand crew wines. I think there's tremendous value to be had in the wines below, especially Ortswine, which is the village wine, or so like a premier crew. This is the Gutzwein, so it's just supposed to be representative of the estate. Very inexpensive. I think if you're getting this at the estate, we're talking about 11 euros, ridiculous value for money. We're tasting it next to the Donatus Riesling 2019 same vintage from Moravia. I met this producer while we were in Croatia. They were on holiday. They stopped and said, hey, you want to taste our wine? So we met by a roadside and I tasted the wine. So let's see how these match up together. Which one do you want to go with first? You're going to Donatus? I think always start with the classic first, since it has to be a benchmark. So I love the 18 of this. I mean, I gave it 90 points, the 2018, 90 points. Remember, we had it on New Year's actually. I enjoyed it, but 90 points? Wow. So first of all, get the classic Nahasta. Oh, you like it, right? Lemon, apple blossom, maybe a little pineapple. Definitely a little bit of that reductive mineral quality to it. So but in a very attractive way. Oh, it's like somebody squeezed a lemon in it. That's really, you know, a lot of people are confused. You know, fresh German, fresh German Rieslings don't have petrol notes. They actually see it as a fault. You know, they see this sunburn on the grapes. Really attractive nose. Kristen, what else do you pick up? There's still a bit of Jasmine. And I think, I think that's why I like this producer because most all of his wines, they retain this Jasmine quality, which is not often found in some other Riesling. Well, I don't expect it from Mosul Riesling, but I like it in my Riesling. Let's give this a taste, sir. I'm not spitting that. I like that. What do you think? You want to show it to you. This Maxi's coffee keeps me busy until it is acceptable to drink wine. But I guess that's your coffee. So what do you think of this coffee? Very classic Riesling. Again, let's doubt more doubt back on the flavor. But what's most exciting is this tingling sensation in the mouth. It's refreshing. Yeah, it's like really acidic. But at the same time, there's this sweet quality to it as well, this fruity quality to it. I really, really enjoy it. I was like, this is not a difficult Riesling for most people. For what you call tension, I call this nice interplay in the back end between acidity and fruit. And to me, good German Riesling. I talk about the time kind of reminds me of these, you know, artisanal sodas I used to drink when I was in the U.S. Small production sodas because they have this perfect amount of sweetness. Acidity, sourness and fruit, even though this is a dry one. I think you can look at risk. You can look at tension in the sense of like a rubber band. I mean, when you stretch a rubber band, you feel that tension. This is exactly what tension to me. This is exactly what tension is in wine. So whether the acidity, the phenolic, the fruit and sometimes even the barrel as well as stretch the very edge. I'm at least 99, maybe even 90 points to considering this up to the price point on this. And I think these for a goods wine for these entry level wines actually age really nice too. You know, if I was in German, if I was living in Germany full time, I'd be stocking up on goods wine or it's going especially from a great vintage like 19. Germany's had three great vintages a row, 17, 18 and 19 of Riesling. So let's move on to the challenger, the up and coming guy, the dentist Riesling 2019. This is a brand new producer. So let's give this a go. Would you, you're ahead of me. Would you pick up on the nose? It's much more fruity. It's more dialback on the acidity, of course. You don't get as much of the tension and it focuses more on the purity of the fruit. Yeah. I think actually I would say a lot of people who don't like a classic German Riesling would like the style of wine because it's fruity. It's not as aromatic. It's more baked apple-y. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, it's not that fresh Christmas. It's not as like higher intensity on the nose, but it is much more accessible. I think this, I thought this would blow this out of the water, but it's, it's, it's not, let's give this a go for me. Not as much acid, not as much explosiveness, but just, just a nice drink actually pretty, pretty decent, right? I would say this is more like, so the Czech Riesling is more like the fruity high acid white wine that people would like, whereas the German Riesling is much more seriously like more redacted, more mineral, more of everything sort of Riesling. And it's not easy to drink wine. Like for me, I love it, but I think I don't think that it's not the easiest wine to drink for a lot of people. I think the German Riesling, if it compared to people, the German Riesling is a little bit more chiseled. Somebody that's more in shape, that's working out hardcore. But overall, you know, strong showing. We've been to Moravia once before in the Czech Republic. I'm hoping to go back. There are a lot of minimal intervention producers, a lot going on. So, so what did you learn? What did you take away from this tasting? What's important is don't dismiss a grape, I think. I mean, even if you don't like Riesling, you should always do give it a shot because really every country can make a very different style and can teach you something new. It doesn't necessarily have to be the best, but sometimes the best may not be up your alley and sometimes something easier, sometimes something more accessible is more interesting to you. Who knows? And always pair it with the local food because you never know what a local cuisine would bring to the wine. So anyways, check out Riesling, drink more Riesling because it's such a fantastic grape. And guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel as all at one travel. And we will see you in the next episode. 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. 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