WINES & CHEESES with Liz Wheadon

Riesling – Changing Styles

Our monthly Channel Wines and Cheeses columnist is Liz Wheadon, General Manager of Glengarry Wines. Liz is also a passionate foodie. Weekends are often spent first planning the event and then entertaining friends and family with magnificent food and wine experiences.

If you are passionate about great wine chances are that you have already succumbed to the irresistible charms of Riesling, the most noble and expressive of white wine grape varieties.
The Riesling grape’s reputation has been sullied in the past here in New Zealand as it was often thought of as a cheap sweet quaffing wine. This was due largely to over cropping and probably a lack of understanding as to what this superb variety can deliver. Vineyard management is paramount in order for the Riesling grape to deliver it’s finest grapes. Over cropping was the biggest mistake that is made here and most wineries here in New Zealand have realised this and constantly crop thin in order for the grapes that are left to thrive. The other important factor is good old Mother Nature herself. In order for Riesling to ripen successfully warm days and cool nights are required at the end of the growing season this slows down the ripening somewhat and this is when the grape develops all of it’s lovely complex flavours whilst maintaining acidity which is necessary to give the wine structure.
Acidity. This is a word we throw around a lot when talking about Riesling. That’s because it’s the acid that gives a wine its structure and age ability. There are two types of acidity in Riesling: fruity, ripe tartaric and raw, unripe malic. It’s the balance of the two that determines if a wine is crisp and clean or just downright tart. Too little acidity makes for a wine that is soft and flabby
Riesling is grape that can also offer huge diversity in terms of style, this is largely up to the wine maker and whether the wine is fermented out to a dry style or left with some residual sugar. In lots of ways we have almost come full circle in regard to style, where we started with sweet Rieslings these were often quite watered down and didn’t have any structure, we then went off on a dry tangent and emulated the Grand Cru wines from Alsace these were very dry and austere wines and although they are capable of aging even decades in the bottle they were very unfriendly and hence difficult for the buying public to get their head around. Now we seem to have hit the perfect balance, Riesling are generally made in what we refer to as an “off dry” style. These wines are just lovely as they have a definite presence of fruit but are not too sweet and they have a backbone of acidity that gives the wine fantastic structure, and they often have a nice crisp dry finish. The other bonus here is that these wines are also capable of aging really gracefully and these are wines that will reward those who are patient enough to cellar them for ten years or so. It is thought that Riesling doesn’t even start its maturing process for five years. So it is not just a pretty face our Riesling grape it is a serious contender for your cellar, especially if you are just starting one. Most Rieslings that are produced here in New Zealand won’t be over the $30 mark and even some of the Grand Cru Alsation beauties can be had for $80 or less. Now the Germans on the other hand take this grape extremely seriously and they produce stunning examples that are low in alcohol usually 7% to 8% alc that are capable of aging decades in the bottle but these wines can set you back anywhere from $200 to $500 a bottle and that my friend is serious money.
The other style of wine that this grape is ideal for are dessert wines. They can be either a Late Harvest or a Noble Rot wines.
Late Harvest are wines that have been left on the vine longer if conditions allow. This enables more flavours to develop and more sugar therefore you end up with a wine that is sweeter than usual but not intensely so. These wines are great as an aperitif or at the end of a meal with a cheese course.
Noble Rot Then there are wines that have been affected by Botrytis. [bow-TRY-tiss] or Noble Rot as it is commonly called. This is the wonderful fungus (botrytis cinerea) that enables winemakers to produce astonishing dessert wines. It draws moisture from the grapes, thus concentrating the sugars and aromatic components that remain in the juice. Botrytis typically adds a rich, honeyed character to Riesling when they are young, becoming more complex with age.

New Zealand Goats Cheese

Cheese from Goats milk has been made for hundreds of years, in Greece Goats cheese has a very long history – originally Greek feta was made from 100% goat’s milk, it’s now common for Feta to be made from Cow and Goats milk. In France there are many amazing cheeses made from goat’s milk, particularly around the Loire region. The dominant white wine variety in the Loire is Sauvignon Blanc – made in two styles – Sancerre and Pouilly Fume. The most famous goat’s cheese from the Loire is Chevre, which matches perfectly with Sauvignon Blanc. Goat’s cheeses tend to have a tarter character to cows or sheep milk cheeses. Goat’s cheese goes soft when it’s exposed to heat, but does not melt in the same way that Cow or sheep milk cheeses do.
In New Zealand there are two top producers of Goats cheeses. Gruff Junction is located just half an hour from Christchurch and started making goats cheeses in 2006. They have 250 white Saanen goats and produce amazing cheeses which are hand crafted by the owner’s daughter Anna. My favorite Gruff Junction cheese is the Selwyn Farmhouse Mature Vintage Goats cheese. It’s a wonderful firm cheese that has delightful complexity from its extra ageing. Whilst a fresh goat’s cheese like a Chevre goes very well with Sauvignon Blanc, this aged style is a perfect match with Riesling.
Crescent Dairy Goats are located at the other end of New Zealand, just outside Auckland in Kumeu. Crescent Dairy Goats started farming goats in 1990, but did not start producing cheese until 2000. They started with just 7acres in Albany and were producing fantastic cheeses; we stocked these when we opened the first Didas site on Jervois Road in Herne Bay. With such a small site, the production was limited and we only occasionally had these wonderful cheeses in stock. In 2009 Crescent Diary goats moved to their current site in Kumeu, a larger property that allows them to make enough cheese that we can have it in stock all year round. My favourite Crescent Dairy Goats cheese is called Dirty Devil. It’s a washed rind goat’s cheese and is not for the faint hearted, this small washed rind cheese has a VERY strong aroma encouraged by frequent washings, the last few with Brandy. The pungent exterior hides a sweet, smooth, almost flowing interior. A connoisseur’s delight. It’s a wonderful match with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris.
Both Gruff Junction and Crescent Diary produce hand crafted cheeses, they are different and exciting and I just love that they taste different depending on the time of the year, the pasture, and the environment the goats are in and even how the goats are feeling. That’s the way cheese should be made.
Didas Food Stores stock Crescent Dairy Goats and Gruff Junction cheese, there are stores in Takapuna, Jervois Road and Victoria Park, you can also shop on line www.didas.co.nz and have your cheese delivered nationwide.
Check out Takapuna new night market on Thursday nights – Didas Takapuna will be there with a great cheese stand – we’d love to see you there.
Liz Wheadon - www.e-liz.co.nz