Trying a New Riesling

At this point, we are pretty confident about Riesling. We've tried traditional German Rieslings, a whole slew of Rieslings from New York, and some amazing ones from California. So upon discovering a Riesling from Chile, we jumped at the chance to do some comparison.

Going with what we know, we poured a glass to go along with Friday night take-out from the local Indian restaurant. Riesling does well with spicy dishes. Even the lightest and driest version usually have a thickness and sweet flavors that cool the tongue. Of course, with a truly hot vindaloo, you can't really expect any wine to stand up to the searing heat. But with a milder Malai Kofta (vegetable balls in a lightly spicy tomato cream sauce), a nice crisp Riesling can cut through the richness of the cream and soothe the tongue after the hot chilies kick in.

This is what we would expect from any Riesling. So, what did we get from the Chilean Riesling? For the most part, it matched up to what we know: it was crisp, with citrus and apple flavors. What was different and unexpected was some strong savory herbal notes that reminded us of sauvignon blanc... in a good way.