IVAS 2022 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 IVAS 9 IVAS 2022 9 Significance of factors making Riesling an iconic grape variety

Significance of factors making Riesling an iconic grape variety

Abstract

Riesling is the iconic grape variety of Germany and accounts for 23% of the German viticulture acreage, which comprises 45% of the worldwide Riesling plantings. Riesling wines offer a wide array of styles from crisp sparkling wines to highly concentrated and sweet Trockenbeerenauslese or Icewines. However, its thin berry skin makes Riesling more vulnerable to detrimental environmental threats than other white wine varieties.

Trying to adapt Riesling to climate change we investigate how to mitigate premature Botrytis infections, the loss of quality and yield due to sunburn or increasing levels of TDN, which causes the unique petrol off-flavor. Weather variation from year to year necessitates an active acidity management, either diminishing acidity by skin maceration or use of lactic acid bacteria but also more recently lowering pH by ion exchange resins or malic acid producing yeast. A strong focus is to enhance intensity and diversity of Riesling aroma by viticultural and oenological measures, which are controlled by sophisticated chemical analysis including a measure of odorless precursors.

 Riesling is a highly transparent variety in respect to terroir, deviating strongly in odor and taste due to different bed rocks and soil types, micro climates and inclination of individual vineyards. Applying comprehensive stable isotope dilution analysis of volatiles and sensory evaluation we could demonstrate not only the sensory relevance of terroir, but also how stable these patterns were over five vintages and even individual winemaking measures. Using next generation gen- sequencing techniques to study spontaneous fermentations, we could also reveal the significant impact of site specific microbiomes.

 Riesling wines are highly acclaimed for their longevity due to their exciting balance of acidity and sweetness. Re-tasting terroir defined Riesling wines again after four years revealed the expected modification in sensory terms due to aging, but prove that the general differences among the specific terroir expressions were conserved through the maturation process.

 Many of these scientific puzzle pieces were successfully implemented by the Riesling producers over the last two decades and they succeeded to improve Riesling wines in each of its multitude of stylistic facets. However, it will be a challenge to preserve their unique and diverse characters in the course of progressive climate change

DOI:

Publication date: June 22, 2022

Issue: IVAS 2022

Type: Article

Authors

Ulrich Fischer¹*
¹Institute for Viticulture and Oenology, DLR Rheinpfalz, Breitenweg 71, 67435 Neustadt, Germany

Contact the author

Keywords

Riesling, aroma compounds and precursors, sensory evaluation, terroir, acidity management, ageing of wine

Tags

IVAS 2022 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Sélection génétique des variétés originelles d’Arménie, berceau de la viticulture mondiale

Armenia, a small country in the South of the Caucasus, has been rediscovering its wine-growing past since the discovery in 2007 of archaeological wine-growing remains dating back around 8,000 years. They are among the oldest in the world. Despite a great diversity of grape varieties, Armenian winegrowers did not have sufficiently organized genetic collections to produce plants and satisfy the growing demand for planting.

Climate change impacts on European grapevine yields through a dynamic crop modelling approach

Climate has a predominant role on growth and development of grapevines. Therefore, climate change represents an important challenge to the winemaking sector.

The« Sigales’ method »

Le comportement de la vigne est étroitement lié aux propriétés hydriques des sols surtout dans leurs parties profondes.

Aspect juridiques des terroirs

Le “terroir” est dans tous les discours, les articles, les étiquettes et les publicités. Le voca­ble est en situation d’utilisation euphorique. Indiscutablement l’emploi historique est agri­cole, puis viticole, mais il n’est jamais juridique.

Volatile composition of base wines to obtain sparkling wines from seven autochthonous grape varieties from Castilla y León (Spain)

The aim of this work was to characterize the aromatic profile of white and rosé base wines for the elaboration of sparkling wines from seven autochthonous grape varieties of Castilla y León. The ‘Albarín’, ‘Godello’ and ‘Verdejo’ white grape cultivars contribute with more fruity notes than the ‘Viura’ and ‘Malvasía’ cultivars; and ‘Prieto picudo’ coloured grape cultivar has more fruity character than ‘Garnacha’.