Drink This Now! Lesson 5: Dry vs. Sweet: A Sugar Showdown

This was a very interesting lesson in how sugars and acids in wine interact to create different styles and how the winemaker influences the process to achieve certain characteristics in the wine.  The first step in the process was to select a dry Riesling and a Sweet Riesling. I chose Washington State Rieslings as I had not had Rieslings outside of ones from Germany.

First, I poured a glass of dry and a glass of sweet and set it out for 1 hour. I chilled the bottles during this time. Afterwards, I poured another glass of dry and sweet.  I started with the chilled wine and recorded my impressions (see chart below). I followed this up with the warm wines.  I compared the dry chilled and warm and then the sweet chilled and warm. 

I was amazed at the taste difference between warm and chilled dry Riesling as well as the sweet warm and chilled Riesling.  I thought both were far better chilled, when the flavors mellowed in the dry of the mineral and metal. The sweet became less sweet when chilled, which I thought was much more refreshing. The warm sweet was overly sweet and not all to my liking.  I enjoyed the flavor profiles better when both were chilled. 

My selections of Rieslings for lesson are as follows:

Sweet Riesling:  Open Kimono Riesling 2014 from Washington

Dry Riesling:  Chateau Ste Michelle 2014 , Columbia Valley in Washington 2014

	Dry Riesling	Sweet Riesling
Chilled
Color:	Very pale yellow	Pale yellow
Bouquet:	Floral, honeysuckle	Floral, citrus, Peach
Taste:	Mineral, floral, lemon	Peach, lemon, honeysuckle
Body:	light	light
Other Comments:	Balanced acidity, Crisp & Refreshing, Mineral taste with citrus fruit prevailed in flavor	Balanced acidity, Peach flavor was very strong
Warm
Color:	Very pale straw color	Pale lemon color
Bouquet:	Gunmetal, mineral, floral	Citrus, floral, peach, honeysuckle,
Taste:	Mineral taste, floral, lemon	Peach, floral, honeysuckle, grapefruit, tropical fruit
Body:	light	light
Other Comments:	Acidic, Flavor was metal like and mineral, did not enjoy this as much as the chilled	Was too sweet and did not enjoy this warm