Germany's Dry Rieslings Go Down Sweetly

The dry rieslings Eric Asimov sampled a decade ago in Germany were “tart and shrill,” he writes in the New York Times. So "how did they get so good" since? Lower-quality wines aren’t shipped to America, hypothesizes one wine importer, who nevertheless concedes that the country's great dry rieslings are more plentiful than they were 10 years ago.

Asimov thinks the increase owes itself to more "thought and care" from winemakers and an extended growing season compliments of global warming. Most rieslings are dry (contrary to American thought), leaving some concern that in-vogue dry wines will cancel Germany's production of the sweet. "One can only hope that the world’s taste for German rieslings with residual sugar will keep those styles in business, even if Germany itself no longer cares." (More wine stories.)