Over and Over

It is a very busy time of year. Right now I’ve got about twenty million different things coming at me, and it’s time to make hard decisions (by hard decisions I mean having to say no to things I really want to say yes to). It’s the holiday season and this is the time where business really picks up, and we certainly sell more high-end wine now than any other time of year. It’s tempting to justify buying stuff I personally like because “we’re getting busy.” The hard part is staying disciplined and only bringing in the things that make sense for the store.

So, that’s a very long way of saying I’ve had a hard time deciding on a topic for tonight. It’s the perfect time for a bullet point column, but I’ve done too many of those and I’m sure as I get busier there are more on the horizon. So instead I’m going to talk about…Riesling.

This Saturday I’m not pouring a Riesling at my wine tasting, but from then on I will probably have one open every weekend through the New Year. There are plenty of reasons for this, but I’m saving the best for last. I’m sure over the next two months I’ll annoy a couple of tasters who will want to know why I insist on pouring “one of those sweet wines” every week. They need to get over it.

First, awesome Riesling doesn’t have to be expensive. There are some knockout German Rieslings for under $15. At $25 you can find special wines. It’s a chance to let people taste some outstanding representations of a grape they can actually buy a bottle of.

Next, Riesling is such a broad category. I can do QBA, Kabinett, and Auslese. I can do varying degrees of sweetness. I can go Mosel, Rhinegau, and Pfaltz. In short, I can show something different every weekend.

Perhaps this next point will sound foolish, but so be it. Riesling appeals to a very wide audience. People who are just starting to get into wine can enjoy them because the of the sweetness, and experience wine connoisseurs know they are some of the greatest wines in the world. It’s the time of year where I’ve got the highest customer traffic, and it would be foolish not to play to the widest audience. I’m not pouring generic swill, sweetened alcoholic grape juice that offers nothing but sugar and a buzz. I’m offering up really good stuff that hopefully a variety of people will enjoy.

Finally, and this is probably the biggest reason, but Riesling goes with everything. Spicy chicken? Riesling. Soups and sauces? Riesling. Thanksgiving turkey? Riesling. Holiday ham? Riesling. It is the most versatile food pairing wine you can find. Six people (or more) coming to your place for dinner? I guarantee there is a place for a Riesling.

We’ll see how it all goes over. The reality is I honestly believe these wines should be a slam-dunk week-in and week-out. Whether or not that actually happens, I’m not so sure. If nothing else, I imagine in three weeks I’ll have had enough experiences to motivate me for another entry bemoaning the snobs and fools who say “I don’t drink sweet wine” or even worse, the person who begrudgingly takes one sip and before they even have time to taste the wine makes a horrible face and shakes their head. In the end, I take comfort in the fact that they are the ones missing out.