Which Riesling to buy without the petrol/TDN?

Hello,

After reading this forum for a couple years I was convinced Riesling is a grape that I must love and appreciate. I’ve been trying different producers and vintages just about every time I return to my local wine store but with mixed results. Some I have really enjoyed (Trimbach) and others I couldn’t get past the first glass (Hugel, Albrecht). It really comes down to the petrol/gasoline/TDN aroma and taste. I don’t know if I am super sensitive to this compound or if it’s been overtly pronounced in some of my sampling but I can’t stand it. I know it’s not a flaw in the wine, but for me it is quite off-putting.

Which are the producers I should avoid? Which producers I should try? Is there another forum with this information already in it?
My examples above are all from Alsace. I’ve also tried some from Austria, Germany, finger lakes region, and Colorado west elks AVA (way to go Storm Cellars Winery!). I am seeking dry style Riesling under $50 per bottle. If I can find some producers in which I enjoy their style, I’d be willing to up that price range. Thanks for your help and all other contributions. This website and all its members has been so integral to my wine education and enjoyment. Thank you!

Check out these two websites. Great people and great wines…

I drink a lot of Mosel, Saar, and Nahe wines. There are so many. I recommend buying a mixed case and find what you like.

Great stores who ship to many states:

https://chambersstwines.com/

To name a few. Good luck!

Well, there are a lot of people on this board who have a lot more experience with riesling than I, so if any of them chime in here, please listen to them instead of me!

My first question for yo would be how old the various bottles. Cool climate riesling shouldn’t/often won’t have those aromas/tastes. In fact, Olivier Humbrecht of Zind-Humbrecht views petrol in young rieslings as a flaw:"Petrol" is a flaw in young Riesling: Olivier Humbrecht - Dr Vino's wine blog Dr Vino's wine blog (or at least did back in 2011). So, considering you are already drinking Alsace, Zind-Humbrecht might be a logical choice.

Otherwise, I would recommend German rieslings, three years or younger. Anything labeled “trocken” will be dry to most palates, despite what one or two people on this board feel.

This is all good advice. The main thing is to focus on Germany and Austria rather than Alsace. Alsace is warmer and sunnier than most parts of Germany, so there’s often more TDN in Alsatian wines. Mosel, Rheinhessen, and Nahe are particularly good places to look for as little petrol as possible, as long as the wines are young.

http://www.anneinvino.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nouveau-Prof-Dr-Fischer-on-Riesling-Research-Anne-Krebiehl-for-The-World-of-Fine-Wine-No-43-March-2014.pdf (the 3rd page)

This might be of interest to people who want to know more about TDN.

I also attended one masterclass once, close to 10 years ago, where one Alsatian researcher said how big of an impact the soil type has on the TDN precursors. I need to see if I can find out which soil types did what to the TDN concentrations, but he had some 10 different Alsace Grand Cru Rieslings from the same vintage, i.e. they all were of same age. First we sampled the wines, taking note on how much - if any - petrol aromas were in the wine, then he told which Grand Cru had which kind of soil. Sure enough, the amount of petrol seemed to match perfectly what he said about which soil type having what kind of influence.

There are also people who say that just excess sun exposure on the grapes raises TDN potential. That gets into vineyard management practices (e.g. leaf pulling). Just got power back after three days, so don’t have links right now, but will try to look.

Well, the two links I just posted talk about this.

Ah. Had not read them yet, as I am still catching up from the power loss.

Thank you for the links, I’ll have to try some of these.



Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post. I know more about TDN that I ever thought I would. It still doesn’t change my taste for it and I’m still in search of how to avoid it. I don’t normally look up leaf trimming practices of random $25 bottles of Riesling that I am testing out only to guess at amounts of sun exposure. I’ll turn my search to vineyards in cooler climates and drink them young. I do have a couple Zind-Humbrecht wines in the cellar I’ve been meaning to try. Nothing older than 2015. It’s challenging since most reviewers don’t include “hints of gasoline” in their description, although some do. And so it goes with first-world problems [thumbs-up.gif]

My sense is no matter what you do you are going to find a lot of Rieslings you will not like. Why “must” you like Riesling?

Howard, you are absolutely right. There’s no reason I ‘must’ like it. I have really enjoyed several Rieslings that I have tried and want to continue to do so. And I’m sure to find some I dislike along the way. Just trying to minimize those experiences while learning about various producers, their wines, and the corresponding geography.

I sympathize with you Jonathan - we should start a club where we continually, despite the advice and frustration from others, probe into Rieslings until we find the holy Graal! [cheers.gif] [wink.gif] [highfive.gif]

Not that the price point is favorable, but I just had my first Muller Scharzhof and there was absolutely no petrol. Super clean.

I have had many many bottles of Albert Boxler rieslings over the last 25 years. Never any petrol.

The producers you mention go out of their way to make their commericical product, which are essentially bone dry (or close). Nothing wrong with that . I had a wonderful (surprising) Civee Frederick Emile 1007 this weekend. Some hints of petrol, but…not prevalent.

I have a theory that the wines that start off with some r.s. generally age into honeyed, fruity , drier rieslings. Those that start out mostly dry develop the petrol aspects. Boxler has rarely made bone dry wines in these years. Have also liked Barmes Buecher rielslings for similar reasons…had a wonderful, grapefruity…Barmes riesling tradition 2006 last week. No petrol. Their grand crus have even less, paticularly the Steingrubler and the Hengst.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. The hunt will continue as soon as I quit buying these 2016 Barolos.

I snagged a 2010 cuvee Frederick a little while back on a good deal but have not tried it yet.

Doesn’t seem to hold much water, since I’ve had noticeably petrolly Mosel Spätlesen Rieslings with considerable amounts of residual sugar. Also some off-dry Alsatian Rieslingis with heavily petrolly nose.

I still think it’s about the combination of soil type and climatic conditions. On certain soils Riesling never develops any TDN, no matter how much sun the grapes get.