SBR: "Best White Wine On Earth" by StuartPigott

WINE TALK
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Just received my copy of this new book: The Riesling Story: Best White Wine On Earth by StuartPigott. $28.00
I started to just thumb thru it and, afore I knew it, I’d spent over an hour hop-scotching around the book.
For anyone interested in Riesling, StuartPigott is probably the go-to guy for information about those wines.
StuartPigottBlog

The book has a chapter on the basics of the Riesling grape, then proceeds in the next 5 Chapters to travel around the World of Riesling. I expected the book to focus mostly on German Riesling. But he’s pretty democratic in his coverage of the World. Even a chapter extolling the virtues of Riesling in Italy & Eastern Europe.

His opening statement: “This story begins with the simple observation that if you remove the prejudices, then Riesling tastes better than other white wines” tells you where his passions lie.

Scattered throughout the book are “First Base” highlights…several paragraphs of interesting facts on Riesling pertinent to the Chapter/Region being discussed.
He finishes up w/ the usual lists of Rieslings he particularly likes.
I was impressed…even included GrahamTatomer in his coverage.
The book is packed w/ facts… but his irrevent writing style keeps you engaged and is not a dry recitation of Riesling facts.

Anyway…if you have any interest in Riesling (does anybody not??), this looks to be your book.
Tom

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Sold! [cheers.gif]

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In for 1!

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He also did an interview with Levi Dalton on the I’ll Drink to That podcast. He sounds ever so slightly insane.

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Sorry, Germanophiles, but this oft-repeated (in cork dork circles) line is just bullshit. Nobody can make a convincing case to me that any one grape is inherently superior, any more than any religion or sports team. I haven’t read the book, and don’t plan to, but I cannot imagine a line of reasoning that would render the title even remotely true.

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Most people will cut an author some slack for such literary overstatements. “Most Pedestrian White Wine On Earth” would probably not be
a very catchy title if you wanted to sell your book.
Agreed, this is probably not a book that you’d wanta read, Nate.
Tom

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But of course Pigott is correct.

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Been looking for a new wine book to read. Thanks!

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I appreciate the hyperbole and on any given day agree with with him. But my absolute greatest dry white wine experiences have been chardonnay. The shear ubiquity of high quality chard makes it hard to argue. It also depends on the metrics one is using to support the point. End of the day a case can be made for Reisling without a scoff.

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Some of the best white wines I have ever tasted were made largely from Pinot Noir! Of course the bubbles helped.

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My spider sense starts tingling whenever anyone claims that anything German is superior to everything else.

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Pigott attended one of the very few professional tastings which I have ever been kinda envious of - a retrospective of the greatest vintages of the 20th Century for Trockenbeerenauslese at JJ Prum.

He wrote it up for Marvin Shanken, at Cigar Aficionado, back in the day.

Until you’ve attended a tasting like that, you probably aren’t qualified to have an opinion as to whether the greatest Rieslings are greater than the greatest whatever-else-is-out-there.

I’ll just have to take his word for it [which I am inclined to do].

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Where did the only German thing come from. World class riesling also comes from Alsace, Austria, Australia, and even Northern Italy.

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When it comes to sweet wines, IMHO, no argument, though y’quem fans might have one, albeit one producer. But with dry wines if you exclude Burgundy, the argument is very strong.

All of this is relative to hedonistic pleasure in many ways. As to utilization with food, hands down Reisling wins. Again a matter of metrics.

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Id maybe go a bit further and say that BAs/TBAs from the best producers can be the best wines on earth of any color.

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There’s no doubt that there’s more great Riesling than great Chenin Blanc, but a great Chenin Blanc is easily the equal of a great Riesling (or a great Chardonnay, or…).

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While there can be sensible disagreement over the relative merits of Riesling, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and others, can there be any real disagreement that Riesling, for example, has the capacity, at least based on all reasonably known examples, to produce superior wines than Picpoul? I love Albariño, but there is zero evidence that it can produce a wine as fine as the best Les Clos. I guess what I’m saying is that one does not have to be a varietal relativist to recognize that there are other varietals than Riesling that produce utterly profound white wine. For the record, I do believe that Riesling makes the best white wines, given my tastes.

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Looks like I’m getting a new book. Love Riesling!

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If he had only called it 2nd best he’d be onto something. [whistle.gif]

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And those two grapes produce what are easily the longest lived white wines on earth -

How many people can say they’ve recently had a white Burgundy from the 1950s that was in superb shape? But there is a slew of great German Rieslings and French Chenin Blancs from the 1950s that are still in prime shape -