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Wine Pairing Weekend Group (virtually) Visits Germany
Join our #WinePW group this month as we take a virtual visit to Germany. Thanks to the generosity of Winesellers, many of our group received samples of German wines for our posts. Let’s dig in to German wines and foods that pair with them. Take a look further down in this post to see all the great suggestions from our group!

Disclosure #1: I have never read any of the 50 shades books, nor have I seen the movie. Just trying to have a little fun! There is so much variety within German wine labeling, even within the sub-class of Kabinett Riesling, 50 shades may not be enough!

You might think all Kabinett Rieslings are sweet. Not so!

Confusing Wine Labeling
German wine classifications seem extremely confusing, but like many many things in Germany, they are very precise. You just need a guide to decipher the code.  Once you understand a few key principals, you can learn a lot from the label. There’s more to learn (we’re skipping VDP today), but this will be a good first step. First, a few key facts:

• It’s cold in Germany (for growing wine grapes). Consequently, the most successful grapes are early ripening, cool climate varieties, with Riesling being the most popular and the most common.
• German wines are labeled with the grape variety name, YAY!
• German wines have a classification pyramid, much like the rest of Europe.
• German wines are classified by grape, quality level, region, sub-region, vineyard, and dryness. You can learn all you need to know right from the label.
• Not all German wines are sweet. Especially in recent years, there has been more interest in dry-style and fully dry wines.

Let’s try our luck with three different Kabinett Rieslings to see what we can find out before we open the bottles and enjoy them at dinner. We’re going to look for the information for every single row in the table below to see what we can discern about each wine.

Please click on the photo to see the explanation in the caption, then hit “escape” to return for more fun!

OK, enough study, now let’s go taste the wines!

Disclosure: The wines for this post were provided as samples. No other compensation was involved. All opinions expressed are mine.

Exactly what I would usually expect from a Kabinett Riesling: off-dry with bracking acidity to balance the sweetness.

Bollig-Lehnert Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Kabinett 2015 (sample, $17 SRP or online here)
Weingut Bollig-Lehnert is located in the Mosel. Technical notes: 8.0% abv  59 g/l of residual sugar. About 15 teaspoons of sugar, or 3 teaspoons per glass. Wow, that seems sweet, but it’s balanced by high acidity in the wine. By the way, regular Coca-Cola runs 110 g/l sugar.

Eye: Clear, pale lemon. Very slightly, the most viscous of the three wines
Nose: Clean, medium+ intensity. Petrol, rubber hose, band-aid, lemons and tart green apples
Mouth: Off-dry. Medium+ intensity flavor. Medium+ body, viscous. High acidity. Flavors of bright lemon and tart green apple. Puckering tartness offset by lovely sweetness. Refreshing!

Here is where we see dry-style is somewhere between off-dry and bone-dry.

Dr. Heyden Oppenheimer Riesling Kabinett Dry-Style 2016 (sample, $18 SRP or online here)
Weingut Dr. Heyden is located in the Rheinhessen Anbaugebiet, alcohol 11.5% abv, 15 g/l residual sugar

Eye: Clear, pale lemon. Coats the glass, takes a long time to form legs
Nose: Clean, medium- intensity. Very slight petrol note. White flowers, gardenias.
Mouth: Dry, likely a touch of residual sugar to offset the bright acidity. Medium flavor intensity, medium body, high acidity. Floral flavors with underripe pear, lemon rind.

This wine shows how German wines can fool you, Kabinett Riesling that is bone dry. And delicious!

Georg Albrecht Schneider Niersteiner Riesling “vom Kalk” Kabinett trocken – dry 2015 (sample, $17 SRP or online here)
Weingut Georg Albrecht Schneider is located in the Rheinhessen, alcohol 13.0% abv, fermented to dryness

Eye: Clear, medium lemon (medium- if it would allowed by WSET). Mostly to distinguish this as the wine with a bit more color.
Nose: Clean, slate, gravel, merest hint of petrol far in the background.
Mouth: Dry, medium flavor intensity. High acidity, medium body, medium alcohol. Flavors of gravel, tart lemons, floral notes. Medium+ finish.

Note: After the meal, these wines rested, capped in our refrigerator for almost a week. At the end of that time, they were still fresh and delicious.  I think I liked the Georg Albrecht Schneider even better on day 7!

German Riesling with Food
Finally, enough study and tasting, let’s eat! Riesling is one of my go-to wines for spicy foods. Off-dry with high acidity is a great way to balance spiciness on the palate. We’re going to test the various levels of dryness in our wines with a spicy dish. All the wines offer plenty of freshness and acidity, but will a bit of sweetness help offset the heat of the dish? To test the theory, I went in search of a fun, spicy dish to try.

Rieslings are great partners to spicy food, like Crying Tiger Lamb!

Kabinett Riesling with Crying Tiger Lamb
I thought Julie was going to be gone for dinner, so I pulled lamb chops out of the freezer (Julie is not a lamb fan). I searched for a “spicy Thai lamb” dish and came up with Crying Tiger Lamb excerpted from Everyday Thai Cooking. As it turns out, Julie returned from her outing in time for dinner. I subbed in shrimp in lieu of lamb for her meal. The spicy shrimp were a hit as well.

I have a characteristically wimpy Minnesota palate, so I was a little concerned about the Serious Eats write-up saying this recipe pulled no punches. It certainly didn’t spare the fish sauce! Anyway, the Thai peppers at my grocery store were a little more tame than most, as I found the dish spicy but not overly so.

Our Riesling test was fun. The Bollig-Lehnart with plenty of sweetness could have easily handled more spice. The “Dry-Style” Dr. Lehnart was super nice with the food, showing just enough sweetness to balance the spice in the dish. The Georg Albert Schneider Trocken Riesling was good, it squeaked by with it’s brilliant acidity and freshness, even though the spicy lamb was a bit much for it.

Wine Pairing Weekend Group Links to German Wines
Winesellers provided a variety of wines to our group, so you’re sure to find many good ideas to try with the German wine you’ll surely want to buy! Don’t forget to join our chat on Twitter if you see this on time. We’ll be discussing our findings on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 10am CST on Twitter at the hashtag: #WinePW.

• • Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla will be tempting us with “Feasting for Sankt Nikolaus Tag: German Sips, Schweineschnitzel, Spätzle, and Sauerkraut”
  • Kat from Bacchus Travel & Tours will share “A German Holiday Celebration #winePW“
  • Sarah from Curious Cuisinière is pairing “Chicken Schnitzel and German Riesling“
  • Deanna of Asian Test Kitchen will discuss “German Riesling: The Default Asian Food Pairing #winePW“
  • Jade of TastingPour will tempt us with “Coq Au Riesling #winePW“
  • Jeff from FoodWineClick discusses “50 Shades of Kabinett Riesling“
  • Michelle of Rockin Red Blog will share “German Wines: Expect The Unexpected #WinePW“
  • Jill from L’Occasion will “Outfit Your Holiday Table With German Wines“
  • Jane from Always Ravenous will share “Food Pairings with German Riesling #winepw“
  • David from Cooking Chat will share “Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl with German Riesling“
  • Gwendolyn from wine predator will enjoy “German Riesling and Fun Fondue With Friends for #WinePW“
  • Cindy of Grape Experiences has you covered with “Your Party Planning Checklist: Must-Have German Rieslings“
  • Rupal from Journeys of A Syrah Queen will share “Rieslings For The Holidays“
  • Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm will be “Celebrating St. Nicholas Day”
  • Jennifer of Vino Travels – An Italian Wine Blog will share “Everyday Pairings with German Riesling”
  • Nancy at Pull That Cork will share “Two Styles of German Wine and a Meal for Both #winePW“