Wine Wednesday: 2009 Josef Rosch Riesling Trocken

Repeat after me. "Not all Rieslings are sweet. Not all German wines are sweet. I will not dismiss all German wine or all Riesling because I don't like sweet wine."

This seems like a silly exercise, I know. But next to rosé, I don't think there's a more misunderstood wine than Riesling. People dismiss Riesling outright, swatting bottles away like they were an irritating housefly instead of fine wine from a noble grape. And while I also don't think anyone should assume that all wines with residual sugar are bad (see last week's post about pairing a Kabinett-style Riesling with spicy Indian-style chickpeas), I'm not going to attempt to get anyone to embrace Auslese here. No, what I'm talking about this Wine Wednesday is racy, aromatic, spicy, DRY Riesling. Let me repeat: D-R-Y dry Riesling.

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Can You Pair Tequila With Food?

When the Spanish Conquistadors came to Jalisco, Mexico, they experienced a bit of gastronomic culture shock. In a letter back to the Spanish king, Nuño de Guzmán, a particularly ferocious conquistador, wrote, "This land has no bread nor wine nor oil, vingar or cattle." They may not have had wine from grapes, but the indigenous people did have a fermented beverage from the nectar of the agave. When this pulque-like drink met the Moorish invention of the pot still, Tequila (and history) were made.

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Cheese Happens

K&L Personal Sommelier Online: September 2010

 "Un dessert sans fromage est une belle à qui il manque un oeil."  

 (A dessert without cheese is like a one-eyed beauty.)

 —Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

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