As I was packing recently to leave on a tour of the vineyards and wineries of the Rhine in Germany, I struggled to decide what shoes to bring. Sandals? No, not sandals, not to efficient, practical Germany, I thought; pack sensible shoes for Germany -- that sturdy hand-made Canadian pair -- and save the sexy man sandals for Spain, France or Italy.
And then it hit me: my ideas about the people I was about to meet, the wines and the food, even down to the choices of what I was going to wear carried within them a distinction between sophisticated worldly Roman Europe -- Italy, France and Spain -- and Germania, the untamed eastern part of Europe the ancient Romans never managed to subdue.
The Rhine is the geographical boundary between these two historical worlds, and the river represents the furthest reach of the conquering Roman empire. Even though it's been more than 2,000 years, wine life on both sides of the river is still very different. West of the Rhine, France and Spain make many different white, pink and red wines from dozens of different grapes, as do the Italians. On the other side of the river, the Germans make 99% white wine 99% from the riesling grape.
After it descends from its source high in the Alps, the mighty Rhine river flows relentlessly northward almost a thousand miles in a straight line, through France and Germany, past Luxembourg and Belgium until it reaches The Netherlands and the North Sea. Right in the middle however, just west of Frankfurt, the river meets the Taunus Mountains and takes one dramatic left turn for 20 miles, then another dramatic right turn back north to the sea.
This region is called the Rheingau, the bend in the river where the Rhine slows a bit, grows both turbulent and shallow, and makes its way through steep hillsides until it can resume its course. The Rheingau gets its name from "aue," the ancient Germanic name for the long channel islands that divide the river at this point into almost parallel lanes.
Over the millennia, the Rhine has both deposited rich soils in the Rheingau and exposed ancient geology by carving away the hillsides. Since the river runs east to west here, the land's southern exposure to the sun is unique along the otherwise northerly river. Many of Germany's most famous rieslings come from this region, and the Rheingau's steep hills and fertile soils are famous for growing rich ripe grapes that are full of flavor.
In the US today, the image of German food and wine is where Italian cuisine was 20 or 30 years ago. Back in the day, Italian wine was thought to be sweet, like German wine, and in the American consumer's mind, sweet still equals cheap. In a world gone mad for red wine, great white wines often find themselves under-appreciated while they wait for the pendulum to swing back their way.
Rheingau Rieslings
2004 Leitz "Dragonstone" Riesling (about $13)
Dragonstone is the literal translation of the vineyard name -- Drachenstein -- where this wine grows, which itself was named for the footprint of an ancient dinosaur discovered on the estate years ago. The packaging and labeling are very modern, clearly designed to appeal to an international market, and the wine's flavor profile is easy and accessible too.
Dragonstone is a semi-dry/semi-sweet riesling with great flowery aromas and flavors of pear and white peach. Leitz makes about 9,000 cases a year, and as with all their wines, 90% of it goes to the export market. It's a great starting point for discovering the rest of the Rheingau.
2004 Leitz Ruedesheimer Klosterlay Riesling (about $20)
A fantastic and delicious example of thoroughly modern riesling from the Klosterlay vineyard, this wine is full of tropical fruit and creamy marshmallow aromas with exciting zippy acidity that you normally don't expect in a riesling. For only $4 a glass, it's a winner.
2004 Leitz Ruedesheimer Berg Rottland (about $50)
When people think riesling, they almost always think fresh happy fruit and plenty of sugar. This example is strong on white fruit flavors like apples and pears, but the most striking thing is the texture: on one level, it's big and oily, but the deeper you go, the harder and stonier it tastes, like wet slate, or how a sidewalk smells after it rains. Sugar is subdued here, and I think that allows the underlying mineral flavors to shine through.
2004 Leitz Ruedesheimer Berg Roseneck Spaetlese/Late Harvest (about $45)
Golden sunny color, delicious fruit aromas like pineapple, banana, apricot and super-ripe pears. There's a hint of fresh bread and butter here, and something about it reminds me of the sugar-cinnamon toast my grandmother used to make us when I was a child. Wine maker Johannes Leitz calls this wine the "big brother" of the more available Dragonstone.
2004 Spreitzer "303" Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Spaetlese/Late Harvest (about $50)
303 is an industry number that refers to the sugar content of the grapes when they were harvested. The bigger the number, the riper the grapes, and in potential at least, the bigger, better and more flavorful the wine. Needless to say, 303 is a pretty hefty number or they'd never put it front and center on the label in the first place. Still, it's all a little arbitrary -- like Spinal Tap's guitar amps that go up to 11 instead of 10. There's no way for a normal wine lover to know if we shouldn't have held out a little while longer for the cuvee 310.
In this wine, Spreitzer has achieved an amazing balance between hugely ripe fruit on the one hand and bright zingy citrus acidity on the other, not exactly an easy thing to do. 303 smells like honey and tastes like flowers.
2004 Robert Weil Kiedrich Graefenberg Erstes Gewaechs/First Growth (price unknown, but the 2003 Auslese/Harvest Select is selling for about $100 today)
First of all, a $100 bottle of wine comes out to about $20 a glass. This is a topic for another entire column, but the other night at a restaurant, I paid $14 for a so-so glass of wine (that's $80 a bottle) without thinking twice. $100 is still a lot or money for a bottle of wine, but it clearly isn't completely out of the question.
Weil is responsible for about 20% of the First Growth designate wines produced in Germany. First Growth wine is not a new idea, but it is limited to the Rheingau. The same designation was used early in the 20th century but was abandoned; the current usage began anew in 1992, and today it denotes a wine of verifiably stellar quality and character.
Graefenberg vineyards are a unique soil combination of loam -- something like topsoil -- that grows grapes with intensely profound fruit, and slate, which contributes deep aromatic mineral flavors to the riesling. This wine is absolutely super, round and ripe with delicious flavors of candied banana, orange peel, and fresh coconut. The crisp acidity is refreshing and tangy, bracing and a little formal.
You'll rarely hear me say that a big price tag is a bargain, but compared with a bad Hollywood movie for $9, a glass of one of the best white wines on the planet for $20 qualifies.
AVAILABILITY: Leitz and Spreitzer are both available nationally from Terry Theise Estate Selections, 516-677-9300. Robert Weil is sold by Zachys online at www.zachys.com and imported by Rudi Wiest Selections, 760-566-0499.
