Italian Rieslings? Piedmont stands out!
Last Friday (27th June) a Civiltà del bere wine-tasting panel met in Milan to taste 24 foreign and Italian Rieslings. Nothing too in-depth, just a few samples, but we chose good ones with excellent reputations, more to appreciate the expression of the territory of this splendid variety than to create a league table of the best ones. Certainly many of enormous value were missing. The results of the tasting will be published in the next issue of our magazine in mid-July. In all honesty, I have to say that we will find the Alsatian, German and Austrian wines at the top, but to give a preview to satisfy the curiosity of our friends all over the world, we are going to reveal the Italian podium… The surprise is that, although only 5 Italian regions renowned for their Rieslings were present, such as Trentino, Alto Adige, Oltrepò Pavese… most agreed on Piedmont, and the first and second places went to wines produced in the Langhe area (among the Italian wines):
Our selection of Italian Rieslings
1st Italian – Piedmont – Germano Ettore – Hérzu, Riesling Langhe DOC 2012 Yellow-fleshed fruit, grapefruit, lingering, fresh. Well-balanced, great potential. Hints of petrol are just beginning to emerge. 91/100
2nd Italian – Piedmont – Langhe – Vajra G.D. – Pétracine, Riesling Langhe DOC 2013 Hints of pear, yellow flowers, cream, rich, intense, lingering, mineral. With Italian balance, well-structured, not exuberant, with notable richness on the palate and excellent acidity. Restrained for the present, but promises to be interesting in time. 90/100
3rd Italian – Lombardy – Oltrepò Pavese – Monsupello – Riesling, Provincia di Pavia IGT 2013 Aromas of yellow-fleshed fruit, wild flowers, petrol with volcanic overtones, rich on the palate, meaty, rather lingering. Young and vibrant with good acidity. 88/100
3rd Italian – Alto Adige – Falkenstein – Riesling Alto Adige Val Venosta DOC 2012 Composed on the nose, a bit restrained but elegant. Fleshy mouthfeel, rich, with substance. 88/100
We tasted different years, in order of vintage, region and country of origin
At the end, the six-member panel (two journalist, two sommeliers, a winemaker and a wine shop manager) agreed on a mark out of one hundred, taking into account the expression of the variety and the territory of origin. They will be classified in order of appreciation.
Out of curiosity, these are the Rieslings tasted from the rest of the world: Schlumberger (Alsace), Schueller (Alsace), Zind-Humbrecht (Alsace), Weingut Brundlmayer (Austria), Weingut Emmerich Knoll (Austria), Kunstler (Germany), Weingut Molitor (Germany), Long Shadows (USA).
Who will be the overall winner? Find out in the next issue of Civiltà del bere!
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