Throughout the year in New York City wine events and trade tastings promoting wines from the well-known and unknown wine regions of the world are held on a daily basis. At the height of the spring and fall season, there can be three or more in a day. It’s easy for people here in the wine trade to become jaded, complacent, or at least tired. So, who cares about this? Apparently, the world’s wine producers do, as New York is arguably the largest and the most competitive wine market in the world. In one day recently, I attended a lunch with a California producer, a tasting of wines from the Finger Lakes of New York State and a large tasting of Albariño producers from Rias Biaxas in Spain. A day in the previous week was spent tasting wines from Spain, which was followed by a dash to a nearby restaurant hosting a trade tasting of wines from Brazil.

Wine producers, importers, and distributors desire to have their wines on the lists of New York restaurants, which is often seen as a herald of success, although I know of no quantifiable evidence to support this.

In general terms, New York wine consumers are thought to be more sophisticated than wine consumers in other areas of the country; they seem to be more knowledgeable about the choices of grape variety, style, and quality of wine, probably due to the wide availability of almost any wine imaginable in New York wine shops, restaurants, and wine bars. This is most likely the result of the wide international influence in New York City.

Is it possible to detect trends in the wine world by looking though this prism? Wine producers worldwide, judging from the efforts they put into the New York market, seem to believe that New York is a reflection of trends in the overall US wine market, a market serving a growing population of over 300 million people, which has seen continual growth for thirteen consecutive years. Which brings me to Riesling and the pleasant little tasting sponsored by Wines of Germany in New York on May 14, 2007.

Riesling and Co. Tasting May 14, 2007, Puck Building, New York City

The German Wine Institute thinks Americans are taking to Riesling. I asked Ulrike Bahm, who is in charge of export marketing for the organization, “What do you worry about in the U.S. market? She said, “that they don’t have enough Riesling. The U.S. market [for German Riesling] is up 29% in value and 21% in volume in the first 5 months of 2007.”

Germany isn’t the only Riesling producing region to be showcasing their products in New York City. New York State’s Finger Lakes wine region sponsored a Riesling-only blind tasting comparing their Riesling to some German examples at the Cornell Club in New York City on April 17, 2007. They called the event the “Finger Lakes Wine Country Riesling Summit.” Production is growing, quality is improving, and Riesling is increasingly seen as the signature grape of this region.

On the west coast of the U.S., Randal Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards is betting on the positive Riesling trend. Since 1992 Grahm has purchased fruit from Washington state, which he blended with 20 percent imported German Riesling for his Pacific Rim Riesling label. Grahm recently pushed all his chips to the center of the table with the formation of Pacific Rim Winemakers, a Riesling-only winery in Washington state that plans to make 120,000 cases of Riesling a year, eventually producing 300,000 cases a year by 2012. The San Francisco Chronicle reported recently that Grahm hopes that his new winery can “satisfy Americans' thirst for this food-friendly grape. With U.S. sales of Riesling up more than 25 percent in the past year, according to the Nielsen Co., there's certainly potential.” The article added that this planned production is “dwarfed by [Washington state producer, Chateau] Ste. Michelle, which makes 868,000 cases of Washington Riesling a year.”

If this surge of interest in Riesling in the U.S. is a reliable trend, it probably didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t come from the end of the rainbow. There is German influence. Carol Sullivan, former U.S. representative for the German Wine Institute, organized the first Wines of Germany tasting in NYC in February of 1985, to showcase the 1983 vintage. Her idea at the time was to promote Riesling as opposed to generic German wine. It was apparently a diminutive affair, held in the conference room of a public relations firm at 99 Park Avenue only for the press; no producers were present. The tastings grew annually, and in the 1990s they were opened to producers to show their wines. “At that time German wines were not getting much attention because smaller specialty houses handled them,” she told me.

Carol Sullivan, formerly of Wines of Germany, U.S.A., now representing Weingut St. Urbans-Hof

How do German producers see the new appeal of Riesling by the American consumer?

Saar producer Andrea Ebert of Schloss Saarstein said, “People [of the U.S.] are open to German wine; the time is just right to be here. The market is so big - you could sell all your wine in NY alone, and it’s becoming a culture to have good wine with food.” But she adds, “People are getting pickier about prices - people know that they can get a good wine at the QBA level and it’s a challenge to sell auslese.”

Andrea Ebert of Schloss Saarstein

Rainer Lingenfelder of Weingut Lingenfelder in the Pfalz has recently left his American importer, but seems unconcerned as apparently he has a selection of others, and he will be making a choice soon. “It’s a fascinating and growing market for us. There is so much interest by consumers. Americans have an open mind with regard to wine – grape variety, country of origin – they are prepared to try anything.”

Bruce Schnieder (left) Director, Wines of Germany, U.S.A., (right) Rainer Lingenfelder, of Weingut Leingenfelder

From Germany, new ventures are opening up. T&T Premium Brands, founded by U.S. ex-patriot Tom Lipton and German partner Torben Weber have almost completed the rigorous bureaucratic requirements necessary to import a range of German wines to the US market through New York.

Well-known German wine importer Rudi Wiest was represented at the German tasting by Christine Warner. She reported that there is more “on premise” demand for German wine. “In some cases the smaller markets (surrounding NYC) are (becoming) a little more adventurous. The old perceived notion that German wines are “sugar-water” is disappearing,” she said.

Christine Warner representing American importer Rudi Weist

Bruce Schnieder, Director, Wines of Germany U.S.A. believes, “(American) consumers are discovering Riesling as a food friendly grape variety, and Germany is the source. Riesling is stronger in the U.S. than it’s ever been – there is double-digit growth. Cleaning up the labels has been a good move. Stylistically, Germany is rounding out its portfolio, adding dry wines in addition to (the better known) off-dry styles.” He noted that the large promotional event, Riesling week, will be held June 10-17. In six cities, sixty top restaurants will pour three or more German Rieslings by the glass.

(From left) Ulrike Bahm, German Wine Institute, Steve Miller, Lauber Imports, NY, Howard Goldberg, the New York Times

I asked Howard Goldberg, long time wine writer for the New York Times what he thought about this anecdotal evidence of a Riesling awakening? He said, “The rise of German Riesling has been long in coming, the way a tidal wave is long in coming, but being engulfed in a wave of German Riesling is infinitely better than being engulfed in a wave of salt water.”