40-year-old Riesling with sashimi - das ist goot!

This is a friendly eye-opener that German Riesling is fantastic with sashimi. The citrus fruit, bright acidity, minerality, and a slight sweetness component - complement the succulence of the raw fish with a splash of soy sauce and wasabi.



Recently, I attended the Wines of Germany Riesling & Co. trade tasting focusing primarily on the latest vintage of Riesling - 2009. Catalog can be found here. I generally focus on Kabinett and Spatlese, and on occasion Auslese level wines, as those are far more food friendly than the higher-sugar ones - beerenauslese, trockenbeerenauslese and eiswein - i.e. the "dessert wine" category. The recent vintages 2007 and 2008 were good. 2009 appears to be excellent. I particularly enjoyed Prinz von Hessen 2009 Johannisberger Klaus from Rheingau and Dr. Loosen 2009 Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese and Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese from Mosel. The Weingut Max Ferd. Richter lineup of 2009 was also reliable, with Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese being particularly tasty.




Finally I had the pleasure of sampling a selection of library wines, from over 10 to 40 years old. The 1971 Weingut Dr. Burklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Goldbachel Riesling Auslese was still sweet, deep in color and complex in flavor - delicious! The higher the original sweetness the longer it could age. 30-40 years for Auslese, BA, or TBA is no big deal. Das ist goot!