BE honest, now. How many times, through last year's balmy summer, did you slake your thirst with a light, refreshing bottle of Riesling? The answer will be more revealing than you think, for no other wine divides the drinking world so sharply into two opposing and unequal camps.
On the one side are the fans a handful of wine merchants and wine fanatics, nurturing a secret passion mainly among themselves. On the other are the massed ranks of everyday drinkers, fearful that anything calling itself Riesling may turn out to be like the sickly sweet German stuff they had at teenage parties and are happy to have left far, far behind.
It has been this way for decades one lot swirling their glasses in ecstasy, the other lot sniffing in suspicion. But now, in time for this year's warm weather, there are signs that what Jancis Robinson describes as the world's most misunderstood and most mispronounced grape variety" is positioning itself to win new friends. The mighty Australian which is Ireland's biggest, selling wined brand has just launched Jacob's Creek Riesling 1995 (widely available, £5.29) a sign, if ever there was one, that the noble, neglected grape has been plucked from semi obscurity to be pressed upon the mass market.
Another recent arrival here is even more intriguing evidence of a Riesling resurgence. St Ursula Devil's Rock Riesling 1994 (widely available, about £5.99) is a German kitted out in New World clothes. It is made in the Rheinpfalz, but you would never guess that from the simple English,, name, the absence of baffling gothic script or the Burgundy shaped bottle that is used instead of the traditional tall, slender one.
These wines are but two examples among many, pointing in, a new direction. "Riesling is coming on by leaps and bounds," says Neil Cassidy, importer of the enticing Heggies Riesling 1994 which is Bottle of the Week. "It's something different a change from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. People are beginning to talk about Riesling for the first time in years.
The Jacob's Creek and many other Australian Rieslings are in Bordeaux shaped bottles again indication of a widely perceived need to revamp this wine's image, and indeed stick to a size and shape that conforms to supermarket shelves. I think this is a pity a sad loss of identity in a shrinking, drinking world. On the other hand, we would be mad not to welcome the new Rieslings. They are bound, let us hope, to redirect attention towards a delicious, subtle and shockingly undervalued grape variety. With luck, millions of people will eventually venture beyond the easy, New World styles to the classics dazzling German Rieslings and their cousins in Alsace.
Michael Gramsch of the Wine Barrel in Sligo, who has been importing an impressive lineup of wines from his native Rheinpfalz for almost three years, feels the market here for German Riesling is definitely opening up. "If .the better hotels and restaurants "have begun to accept that German Riesling can offer superb quality at a fair price. That's a sure sign that people are rejecting the negative image of German wine as sweet, white and nasty."
So, whether from Germany, Alsace, Australia or other corners of the New World, new hope is being pinned on Riesling. What's so wonderful about the R word? In its dry form (which is what concerns us here) it's racy, refreshing, reviving, refined ... "Good Riesling is a tightrope wine," says an article on German Riesling Kabinetts in the current issue of Decanter referring to the delicate balancing act required for it to be fruity and resoundingly dry at the same time. "Hopefully we'll have a nice, hot summer ... and with its light alcohol, sometimes only 7.5 toe 8 per cent, it is ideal summer drinking.
Should you happen, for once, to drink less than you expect, take consolation from the fact that good Riesling is famous for its ability to age magnificently in bottle. If you don't believe me and, feel the need, some day soon, for a special treat, hunt down an ageing beauty like the Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Kronenberg Kabinett 1983 described below. What the name lacks in pronounceability the wine makes up for with superb flavours and all for much less than you would have to spend on a white Burgundy of comparable distinction. Not much wonder Riesling was prized, 100 years ago or less, alongside the greatest wines of France.
It's a rewarding grape variety to explore for two other reasons. First, because the range of styles varies so greatly, from steely to appley to opulently honeyed. Secondly, because dry Riesling is so versatile mouthwatering, as an, aperitif, excellent with fish, chicken and spicy foods, and pretty well unbeatable for all those times when you feel like opening a bottle of wine just to keep yourself company.
"This is the wine to drink while, writing or reading," Jancis Robinson says. "It refreshes the palate that's what it feels like)." That's the best excuse I've heard so far apart, of course, from the warm, weather.