Riesling is a wine with many detractors, but often these detractions are unfounded, based more on perceived qualities than actual experience. The main criticism: Riesling is too sweet. Blame the 1970s, mass production, and Blue Nun, an incredibly popular wine that was syrupy sweet. And due to that popularity, for a long time the American market was flooded with Riesling that was cloyingly sweet.
But times have changed and over the past 20 years, the American market has started to import incredible Rieslings that have been made for centuries that aren’t sweet at all. Rather, they’re dry and acidic, aromatic and incredibly balanced. And nowhere will those looking to get into Riesling find more accessible bottles than in Austria. This Leth 2014 Felser Weinberge Riesling is a prime example.
In the glass the wine pours a light yellow and gives off an aroma of flowers and citrus. This wine is bracingly acidic, not what you might expect from a riesling if you came into this with preconceived notions of sweetness, but this is the beauty of Austrian Riesling, it often defies expectations.
This wine, truly a stunner, is great for anyone who loves white wine.
