Let's Talk Riesling

Oregon Magazine ^ | November 1, 2002 | Fred Delkin

[WaterDragon]

Riesling was planted in Oregon vineyards as our industry developed at the end of the sixties. It was an easy grape to grow here, but the wines produced pleased the unsophisticated consumer and turned more worldly types away with their tendency to sweetness without the benefit of the acidity transmitted by rocky slopes as in Germany.

A majority of Oregon winemakers soon abandoned riesling production and moved to Chardonnay plantings. However, the Oregon industry has now realized that northern Oregon growing conditions are ideal for the white "cousins" of our popular Pinot Noir...Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. These varietals as produced in Oregon are reaching a "world class" status impossible to achieve anywhere else outside a narrow region in Germany, Alsace and Switzerland....(snip)

For Complete Article Please Click Here!

[uglybiker]

PING!

[WaterDragon]

A world class Riesling produced in our Pacific Northwest! No need to purchase from anti-American Germany!

[jellybean]

What are some of the brands? Are they available outside of Oregon?

Riesling bump!!

[WaterDragon]

Did you check the article? Yes, they're available anywhere in the country!

[NYpeanut]

New York contenders: Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera and Chateau LaFayette, yum. No Euro-trash wine in this house.

[WaterDragon]

Brands are listed a little further down in the article.

[Victor]

"....No Euro-trash wine in this house......"

Yup, same here. Home made wine from California (read USA) grapes.It's a beautiful thing....

[BlazingArizona]

Is it true that in Oregon you can't pour your own drinks?

[uglybiker]

The only northwest reisling I can find with any regularity around here is Chateau St. Michelle and it comes from Wahsington. Although produced in vast quantities, it's not too bad.

I like pinot gris, too, when I can find it. I need to find a decent wine shop.

[WaterDragon]

Blazing, I think that is true.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

In Indiana, you are not allowed to carry your drink from a bar to your dinner table (in a public place).

[sam_paine]

In Texas, there's dozens of different liquor licenses. If a place does not have a hard liquor license, you may bring in your own bottle...even if they serve beer and wine. And you can always bring your own wine...though most places will charge you an exhorbitant opening fee. However, the law and license mess is so complex and confusing (since there are dozens of different license levels...) that many times punk kids who aren't even old enough to drink will argue with you about what's legal and what's not.

[uglybiker]

No boxes.

No screw tops either.

[strela]

Is it true that in Oregon you can't pour your own drinks?

I know you can't pump your own gas there. Not sure about the drink thing though.

[Happygal]

I need to find a decent wine shop.

I'm on vacation in Canada at the moment, and I was just thinking the exact same thing :-)

[Clemenza]

I LOVE Oregon Pinot Noir. myself. The wine industry here in New York produces decent (though not outstanding) Cabernet Franc out on the North Fork of Long Island.

[Slyfox]

You can't pump your own gas in Oregon either. Imagine my surprise when I entered OR, stopped to get gas and the attendant, after I already had the nozzle in my tank, tells me that what I was doing was illegal.

On second thought I kinda like having someone elase pump my gas for me. But for it to be illegal. Geesh.

[Verginius Rufus]

George Radanovich, a conservative Republican Congressman from California, has a winery in Mariposa County, CA, Radanovich Winery, which produces merlot, chardonnay, zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, and sauvignon blanc. It's a pretty small operation (4,000 cases annually as of 1997) so I don't know if the wines are available outside the immediate area.