Riesling
Riot
There's a beautiful
aroma you find in old, well-cellared bottles of riesling, one that is
deliciously distinctive but hard to describe.
If you've ever stuck
your nose into a glass of good, 20-year-old Eden Valley riesling, or a mature
golden spätlese from the Mosel, you'll know the aroma I'm talking about. It's
sweet, like candied citrus peel or mandarin syrup, but savoury, too, like
buttered toast. It's a bit earthy, like button mushrooms. And oily and
evocative, like faded sandalwood. But … it's not really like any of these
things. It smells of itself: lovely old riesling perfume.
The Germans, of course,
have a word for this aroma: firne, pronounced "feer-neh". I first
heard the term used by energetic and entertaining Mosel winemaker Ernie Loosen
at one of the early biennial Frankland Estate International Riesling Tastings
in Sydney in the early 2000s. Loosen had poured one of his old spätlese
rieslings to match a dish of pheasant and mushrooms, and he used
"firne" to describe the deeply aromatic quality of the mature wine
and how this extra depth of savoury flavour made it such a good match for the
food.
One German dictionary
definition I've found for "firne" is "well-seasoned" and I
think that's a useful way to think of how wine changes as it ages in the
bottle.
"Seasoning"
evokes the addition of flavours, and that's what an older riesling, after, say,
a decade or two in the cellar, can taste like. It started life as nothing but
fermented grape juice, but now tastes as though someone has stuffed spices and
other fruits and toast into the bottle. "Seasoning" also evokes the
process of something maturing over time, ripening, becoming ready for use –
which, again, describes a great old riesling. Yes, it can be highly enjoyable
when it's young and fresh and eager to please, but cellaring allows it to reach
its peak of complexity, depth and satisfaction.
All aspects of this
wonderful grape and more will be explored at Riesling Downunder – the modern iteration
of the original Frankland Estate International Riesling Tastings – in Melbourne
and Sydney next month.Proceedings kick off at
Melbourne's Regent Theatre on Sunday, February 4, with a public tasting called
Riesling Riot: $60 buys you access to more than 80 riesling producers from
Australia and around the world – including Ernie Loosen and a dozen other great
makers from Germany all of whom will be pouring their wines.The Riot will then be repeated at Sydney's Town Hall on Wednesday, February 7th.
In between there are
two days of masterclasses and lunches at Melbourne's Arts Centre covering
topics such as the evolving styles of international riesling, and the relevance
of this classic grape in today's marketplace. Tickets are $495 for a pass
(including lunch) for both days, $330 for one day, $165 for a single session.
There will also be a pop-up riesling bar open to the public on the Arts Centre
terrace from Friday, February 2, to Tuesday, February 6.
For details and booking
information, see rieslingdownunder.com.au
All
aspects of riesling will be explored at Riesling Downunder next month.
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