Glassware

A Bergstraße Riesling lives on two things: a fine, almost citrus-like acidity, and a bouquet that dissipates quickly if you don't contain it. That's why this wine needs a slender glass that tapers slightly toward the rim – a classic Riesling glass, not the wide, ballooning bowl used for heavy reds.

The slender glass directs the wine to the tip of the tongue first when drinking. There, sweetness and fruit arrive before the acidity follows along the sides. A glass that's too wide does the opposite. It lets the acidity push forward too dominantly, making the wine seem sharper than it really is. With a dry Steinkopf Riesling, whose acidity is already robust, that can quickly become unpleasant.

Temperature plays at least as important a role. Eight to ten degrees Celsius suits a simple, fruity Riesling; for a matured Spätlese, ten to twelve degrees is better. Colder than that all but seals off the bouquet. Warmer than twelve degrees, and alcohol and sweetness push too far forward. Half an hour in the fridge is usually enough – straight from the cellar, the wine is almost always too cold.

A small exception applies to Roter Riesling. It brings more extract and texture than its white namesake, almost substantial on the palate. For that reason, it can handle a slightly rounder glass, giving it a bit more room to breathe. Poured into too narrow a glass, it can come across as austere and closed, even though it isn't at all in the glass itself.

And then there's the pour: never fill beyond the widest point of the bowl – for a standard Riesling glass, that's about one hundred milliliters. Filling it to the brim robs the wine of exactly the space its aroma needs to unfold – and for a wine that lives on its bouquet, that's no small loss.