Riesling Rules

My introduction to Washington wines in California was via Rieslings from Hogue and Riesling rulesSte. Michelle. My mom was fond of German and South African Rieslings, so they made a good place to start exploring Washington wine. After moving to Washington, I started trying a variety of Rieslings, and discovered a certain fondness for dry Rieslings. In particular, I liked the Pacific Rim Dry Riesling, and, a few moments on their Website, led me to an invitation; send Pacific Rim my postal address, and they'd send me a copy of their Riesling Rules booklet. I've only just now gotten around to sitting down and carefully reading the entire thing. "The entire thing," of course is not that big; it's about 6'' x 4'', and 40 pages in length. It's a rather elegant chap book. The complete contents are available online, with comment links, but it's a rather different reading experience to sit down with a glass of Riesling and a book.

Riesling Rules begins with a discussion of the origins of the Riesling grape in the late middle ages in Germany. To this day, the Mosel and Alsace regions are famed for their Riesling. The book includes intelligent, clear, and fun discussions of the arrival of Riesling in the new world, the varieties of Riesling wines, from very dry to dessert wines, even a brief wine geek technical discussion. There's an intelligent and fun section on matching various Rieslings to food, including desserts, and the first rational discussion of Rieslings and proper glassware I've ever seen. There are clever faux quotations from famous Riesling drinkers, bits of Riesling trivia, and charming Riesling anecdotes scattered throughout. These include lists of the best historic Rieslings, the top ten cities in which to enjoy Riesling (naturally, Seattle made the list). There's something to be said about someone who genuinely is a total Riesling geek having the tongue-in-cheek chutzpah to alter the famous Einstein quote to read "Curiosity is its own Riesling for being."

Even thorny issues like German classifications, clonal varieties, and viticulture methods are presented, albeit briefly, in very clear matter-of-fact language. In fact, none of Riesling Rules is written in the usual "I'm snootier than you" unbearably awful purple prose of most wine readers; this is the secure, comfortable knowledgeable voice of someone who knows wines, and loves Riesling. I'm well aware that the book is a super way to promote Pacific Rim wines, but this is not marketing speak; this is a fun but informative book by someone who genuinely loves Riesling, and not just Washington Riesling, or Northwest Rieslings, either; there are some lovely remarks on New Zealand Riesling that, given the frequency of wine writers (and wine makers) to sneer at "new world" wines, is more than refreshing; it's delightful. I note that the authorial "voice" is coherent throughout; this is a single writer, writing about something he or she truly loves, and it's more an effort to evangelize Riesling than Pacific Rim. In effect, for all that there's not a lot of Pacific Rim marketing-dweeb speak (in fact there's a total absence of the standard marketing dweeb approach) Riesling Rules serves as the best kind of marketing. It's true, it's specific, and it's absolutely genuine and personal.

If you'd like your own copy, click here and provide an email address, and a U.S. Postal address, and they'll send you your own copy within three weeks. Tell 'em I sent you.