Comments on: Riesling: How Sweet It Is?

By: NicoRiesling

NicoRiesling — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:31:33 +0000

Frank,

Thank you for giving our wines a try. Our Chenin Blanc has the taste scale as well (thinking Vouvray/Chenin). As a matter of fact all our wines do.

By: NicoRiesling

NicoRiesling — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:29:25 +0000

Mike,

Not sure I am that good, but would be a pleasure to help out.

By: Christian Miller

Christian Miller — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:27:53 +0000

Sweetness as a supposed consumer turn-off is a complicated issue. Perception of and appreciation of sweetness vary widely among consumers and don’t necessarily correlate. FWIW, the terms used in the sweetness scale were tested for relative positioning on a representative sample of core wine consumers. Then there’s the problem that many writers and trade members have been telling consumers for decades that sweet wines don’t go with food (another canard). But which is “worse”: telling people the wine is sweet and losing some customers who don’t want that taste, or not telling them and having them try it and dislike the wine AND distrust its producer or purveyor?

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:50:41 +0000

OK, great. We recently opened a bottle of Pacific Rim with some slightly spicy food, and it went very well – just what the label said.

Now, can someone please do the same thing with Vouvray?

By: Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:41:14 +0000

I think this is very interesting. My first reaction is that the PG drinker is a different creature from a Riesling drinker, especially at the introductory level.

My second thought is that as a NZ producer your customers are coming to PG from Sauvignon Blanc whereas here in the US they are probably going to Riesling from Chardonnay, with its typical oak. I am thinking that the SB/PG transition is friendlier than the C/R move. But I’m an economist not a sommelier, so no one should pay much attention to my ideas on taste transitions, I suppose.

By: kirk bray

kirk bray — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:53 +0000

poor Riesling, this problem doesnt seem to have affected Pinot Gris nearly as much whose sugar levels are equally all over the place.
at Sandihurst, we use the IRF scale here but are possilby the only winery in New Zealand to do so. the customers like it but critics argue that labelling your wine as ‘sweet’ is a real turn-off.
any thoughts?

By: Christian G.E. Schiller

Christian G.E. Schiller — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:24:50 +0000

There is a lot of confusion among wine consumers about the sweetness of grapes and the sweetness of finished wine. Typically, the sugar in the grape disappears during fermentation and turns into alcohol. To make a Riesling wine sweet, requires additional efforts, in the cellar or by mother nature. See more about it here:

http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2010/01/german-wine-basics-sugar-in-grape.html

By: Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:24:23 +0000

I may take you up on your offer, Nicolas. I am the worst proof-reader of my own work.

By: NicoRiesling

NicoRiesling — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:07:55 +0000

Dear Mike,

Love the picture. Thank you for the post that I have enjoyed (of course thanks for the reference to Pacific Rim). Looking forward to read your book. Let m eknow if you need a proof rider, I love wine and economics.

Nicolas
Pacific Rim

By: John D. Ayer

John D. Ayer — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:21:48 +0000

Interesting concept. An actual NIST traceable method for qualifying an aspect of the taste of wine. If someone could develop a similar method for quantifying other aspects of taste you might eventually get the control group you were looking for in a past blog.