Glassware

A glass for Mittelrhein Riesling has one main job: preserving the delicate, cool aromas before they reach the nose. A glass that's too wide lets the citrus scent and slaty spice dissipate almost instantly. That's why a slender, tall glass with a tapering rim has become the standard for most German Rieslings.

A bowl-shaped Burgundy glass would be the wrong choice here. It directs the wine toward the middle of the tongue and amplifies the acidity, which is already high in a taut Bopparder or Bacharach Riesling. The narrower rim of the Riesling glass instead channels the aroma into a focused stream, aimed right at the tip of the nose, where sweetness and fruit are first perceived.

Many people pour Riesling either too cold or too warm, and both ruin the wine in their own way. Eight to ten degrees Celsius suits a young, dry Kabinett — fridge-cold, in other words — while a mature Riesling labeled Spätlese reveals its full range of aromas better at ten to twelve degrees. Served too cold, any Riesling tastes of nothing but acidity.

A young Mittelrhein Riesling practically never needs decanting, unlike a young red wine from warmer countries. Its aromas lie wide open, barely closed off by tannin or oak. Only with a twenty- or thirty-year-old wine from one of the steep Bacharach sites is a brief airing worthwhile, since with age reductive, slightly musty notes can develop that fresh air quickly blows away.

Pour sparingly. Filling a glass to its widest point is plenty, since anything beyond that just wastes the aroma you'd otherwise capture. Anyone hiking the Rheinsteig above the vineyards and stopping at a wine tavern in the evening will usually be served exactly this slender glass. It's not a fashion statement — it's decades of experience with a grape variety that rewards restraint far more than grand gestures.