BACK.
After a 2-year interruption, Annette Schiller and Christian Schiller, with Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours, invited again for their traditional August Riesling Party. This is a casual wine tasting and socializing event taking place inside well as outside on our decks. Each guest has to bring a bottle of Riesling/ German wine. Annette prepares typical German food to enjoy with the wines.
Pictures: Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2019)
Riesling
Worldwide, there are about 34.000 hectares planted with Riesling. Germany – with 22.400 hectares – accounts for 2/3 of the total. The second largest Riesling producer is Australia, with 4500 hectares. But this is only about 1/10 of the total. Alsace follows with 3500 hectares. Austria, the US with Washington State and New York State as well as New Zealand make up the remainder. But overall, Riesling is really a niche wine, accounting for only less than 1 percent of total wine production in the world - but a very special niche wine.
Dry and Sweet Riesling
Many wine drinkers, in particular outside of Europe, when they see a Riesling in the shelves, have the association of a sweet-style wine. This is however misguided. Rieslings as a rule are dry wines. Of course, there are the famous sugar sweet Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein and Schilfwein wines from Austria and Germany, the Sélection de Grains Nobles from France, the icewines from Canada and other Rieslings, made from botrytized, dried or frozen grapes.
The grapes that go into these wines have such a high sugar content that there is nothing you can do to make dry wines out of these grapes. They inevitably produce nobly sweet wines. But apart from these specialty wine, which account for only a tiny share of total production, Riesling grapes in Germany, Austria, Alsace, the US and Australia have normal sugar content at the time of fermentation and tend to produce dry wines, when fully fermented.
However, modern cellar methods allow winemakers in Germany (and elsewhere) to produce wines with a bit of residual sugar with these grapes. These are exceptional wines, essentially made by not letting the fermentation going its full course so that natural sugar remains in the wine. Alternatively, German winemakers are allowed to add sweet-reserve (sterilized grape juice) to increase the sweetness level in the wine, but today, this is mostly done, if at all, for fine tuning the residual sweetness. These fruity-sweet wines are the wines that are so popular among the fans of German wine in the world. These sweet-style wines have lost popularity in Germany, although there appears to be a comeback, but in any case remain very popular outside of Germany, for example in the US.
Schiller's Riesling Party 2022
80 Bottles of Wine
This year, 80 Riesling/ German wine lovers followed the call and showed up with a bottle of wine, mostly, but not exclusively, Riesling, ranging from the popular entry level Loosen Brothers Dr. L to a number of quite spectacular wines, including a 50 years old Dom Perignon Champagne, which Donna Christenson brought. The center of the party was our lower deck, where I arranged the wines according to their sweetness level.
The most popular category were German Kabinett level wines from the Mosel, including from Weingut JJ Prüm, Weingut Dr. Loosen, Weingut, Weingut Forstmeister-Geltz Zilliken, Weingut Maximin Grünhaus - Weingut der Familie von Schubert and Weingut Willi Haag.
Interestingly, not a single guest brought a GG (Grosses Gewächs), the new ultra-premium dry wine category in Germany.
While there were about 50% dry and 50% sweeter-style wines, most of the dry wines were accounted for by Alsace, Austria and the Finger Lakes region, while all sweet-style wines were accounted for by Germany. This is in stark contrast to what you would experience for example in a restaurant in Frankfurt, where the list for German wines, except for noble-sweet wines, is essentially accounted for by dry wines.
The most exotic wine was a Riesling from Moldova.
At the noble-sweet level, we had an Eiswein, a Beerenauslese and a Trockenbeerenauslese.
Finger Lakes
Austria
Alsace
Washington State - Moldova - Canada
Non-Riesling
Germany: Entry-level
Germany: Entry-level
Gutswein Trocken
Kabinett
Spätlese + Auslese
Noble-sweet German: Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein
The Food
The food was served in our dining room.
The main dish was a home-made (by Annette) German Potato Salad with Frankfurter Sausage. In addition, there was:
French Brie Cheese, Italian Salami and German Bread
Raw vegetables with Middle Eastern Hummus and Greek Tzatziki
Italian Mozarella and Tomato Salad
Grapes and Dutch Cookies
Invitation
Dear wine friends,
Annette & Christian
Previous Riesling Parties at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Virginia
This was our seventh annual Riesling Party in McLean, Virginia:
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2019)
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2017)
Annette and Christian Schiller’s Summer of Riesling 2016 in McLean, Virginia, with German Star Winemaker Christian L. Stahl, German Wine Journalist Joachim A.J. Kaiser and Virginia Star Winemaker Chris Pearmund
Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2015)
Riesling Summer at the Schiller Residence in Washington DC, USA (2014)
Summer of Riesling with Annette and Christian Schiller in Washington DC, USA (2013)
2021
No Riesling Party (Covid)
2020
No Riesling Party (Covid)
2019
2018
No Annual Riesling Party
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
schiller-wine: Related Postings
Announcement: Ombiasy WineTours in 2022 Summer and Fall
Announcement: 3 Ombiasy Wine Tours in 2022 - Rhône Valley Tour: June 20 - June 29, Germany South - Alsace: July 01 - July 10, Bordeaux: September 20 - September 29
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One Room Available - Forthcoming Germany-South and Alsace Tour by ombiasy WineTours, July 01 - July 10, 2022
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The Wines of Germany: Presentation by Annette Schiller at the German Embassy in Washington DC/ Consular Conference December 2021
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