Lorraine – wine worthy of the chase

 

The Moselle River in Lorraine

As many of you will know, I enjoy trying unusual wines, so take every chance I get to taste the odd, different and rare.

To that end I have a sort of mental list of things to keep my eye open for and for a long time I have wanted to try something from Lorraine, other than quiche. As a keen amateur historian I wanted to compare them to Alsace wines – after all the two regions get lumped together rather a lot.

I also wanted to compare them to the wines that I have tasted from Luxembourg recently – added to which I do tend to like wines made from this part of the world – in theory anyway.

Riesling – a world tour

Riesling growing on the banks of the Moselle in Luxembourg

Riesling is a bit like Marmite – you either love it or hate it. Most of us in the wine business love Riesling, indeed many of us would class it as one of our favourite grapes, right up there with Pinot Noir.

Ask most consumers to list their favourite grapes, however and it is pretty unusual for Riesling to feature at all.

Personally I love Riesling, I find it a grape that I can get passionate about. What is more I seem to like all styles of Riesling, whether steely dry, off-dry, medium-dry or richly sweet – all can be wonderful in their place and make refreshing Summer wines.