Give Riesling A Chance

Eric Asimov published this in the NYT yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/dining/drinks/dry-riesling.html

Kind of wish he waited until after the 2019 offers have come through before putting this out

Horrible article. And he does not sell wine.

One of the biggest wine stores in NYC told me they get more requests when a wine is mentioned on daily candy that in the NY Times.

that’s an odd thing for a wine store to say since daily candy closed years ago. given the number of emails i get referencing his articles, i presume he sells a lot of wine. (personally, most of his articles don’t resonate with me, but i’m not the target audience).

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the article, and it’s good for a general audience. But Brian: he’s been writing the same article for 10 years. It does not move Riesling markets.

Considering how many people came into the store where I worked in Massachusetts, not even one of the top stores, asking for wines from his articles, I am confident that this is not true.

How does this work, Brian? Are there “offers” made to individuals, prior to these wines appearing at retail?

Pre-arrival offers from certain retailers.

Cynical, know-it-all wine geeks are not Asimov’s core audience.

I am glad to hear that. I have heard from multiple sources (winemakers, wine stores in NYC) over the years that it is not as influential as one would think.

In fairness, and somewhat paradoxically, I think the NYC audience isn’t really his target.

It may not be influential in NYC…but I think that newspaper is sold in a few other places.

So what’s the problem with Riesling…does it need to hire a publicist?

I think it’s the fact that it’s impossible to know what you’re buying as a consumer. For one of the most classified varieties in the world, they are useless classifications for the average consumer. It’s aimed at the terminally initiated/snobs and makes fools of everyday buyers - and nobody wants to be made a fool. So they buy something where they can get a sense that they know what they’re getting.

It’s fixable. Highest on the agenda should be to get a bone dry classification going. It’s nuts that there’s no way of knowing if you’re gonna get 0.1g/l RS or 9g/l RS in the same classification.

I think riesling has a fair number of publicists working pro bono, even beyond this board

To me I think there are several things holding it back from gaining more attention (this is with a U.S. focus):

1. Persistent stereotype that all riesling is sweet, which goes back to a generation of wine consumers having initial experiences with riesling being Blue Nun and other liebframilch.
2. Multiple styles (dry, off-dry, sweet) and a complicated wine label. If you’re buying wine off the shelf and don’t have a knowledgeable retailer, I think you’re more likely to go with another white grape.
3. We already have chardonnay domestically, which in several cases has beaten Old World producers in blind tastings. I think for riesling to gain true momentum in the U.S. it needs a Judgment of Paris-like moment.
4. Lack of motivation to bring these wines to the market except by those who are passionate about it (the mark-up through the three-tier system is not as enticing as for wines from other regions).

It had a great one until the idiots at Skurnik fired him.

I agree.

Where I live, wine stores are full of Riesling and they sell tons of it. But that’s because we’re adjacent to a wine producing area that’s very closely associated with this particular grape. They label it simply as “dry,” “off dry,” or “sweet,” and no one seems to have a problem. Drinking Riesling has become part of the regional identity, and purchasing it can have a locavore-ish appeal. Some fraction of these folks—undoubtedly small, but still—graduate to Rieslings from elsewhere.

Absent this kind of local identity, what would increase Riesling consumption? I think it would take a big publicity effort, but not the kind that focuses on Grosse Gewachs from Rheinhessen and the like. Rather, it would be one that was built around decent quality, very inexpensive wine. Riesling-in-a-box, etc.—something that would tempt people to pass up the Toasted Head Chardonnay.

Eric Asimov typically recommends wines that cost about $25. Who makes purchases based on these recommendations? I’m just guessing, but I suspect it’s people who drink the same type of wine at lower price points. That’s who would buy the $25 German qba he extols—fans of $12 Riesling or Riesling-in-a-box. Except those people don’t really exist in this country, outside a few small pockets.

Why as a fellow winemaker do you keep harping on this. You even went so far as to put a dumb comment like this on a offline thread I was organizing. As a winemaker you should know RS without Acid numbers don’t mean much.

Actually, this describes a lot of suburban wine drinkers in this country.

That would be true if you were getting a wine in a restaurant with no help. Who are you being made a fool in front of for home consumption? I think this is actually a wine snob criticism, not at all an ordinary person criticism.

To me, it’s a combination of a mostly German wine (not as “sexy” as French varieties, less history in the US for various reasons), historically less focus from some of the more high end importers for various reasons and there’s a fair amount of people who just really don’t like Riesling. An ex girlfriend could definitely tell a wine was riesling and she hated every one. I have friends whose significant others feel the same, and I very rarely encounter that with Chardonnay, for example.