Gregg SegalGetty Images
When New York’s Le Bernardin reopened for indoor dining, all too briefly, this past fall, sommelier Aldo Sohm returned from a monthslong sojourn in Austria and Germany, where he had reacquainted himself with the pleasures of riesling, a white wine made from the eponymous grape. “People are so passionate about it there,” the World’s Best Sommelier of 2008 told me. The same cannot be said of Americans, however, who have been resistant to the charms of rieslings, especially those from Germany.
But not long after his return, Sohm hosted a dinner for the Commanderie de Bordeaux. Instead of white Bordeaux—the logical choice for a society dedicated to promoting the wines of that French region—the group chose a German riesling to accompany the first course. Then, the following week, a group of Burgundy collectors dined at Le Bernardin, and they also ordered a German riesling. “I thought, What’s going on here? This would never have happened a year or two ago,” Sohm said.