The Tasting Panel magazine

August 2013

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CROSS-COUNTRY Have Riesling, Will Travel PHOTO: ERICA BARTEL The mobile Riesling & Co. Road Trip "bar" is a retrofitted shipping container. WINES OF GERMANY'S RIESLING & CO. ROAD TRIP TAKES THE COUNTRY'S SIGNATURE VARIETAL ON THE ROAD "School's out; it's hot; and we've got crisp, light, low-alcohol wines that refresh the palate. It must be time for that classic rite of summer: the Great American Road Trip!" So said the team from Wines of Germany this past June 19, as they embarked on the Riesling & Co. Road Trip, a nine day sojourn from Los Angeles to New York with their "Mobile Wine Bar," a shipping container retrofitted with cocktail tables and an actual bar that featured vintage Rieslings dating as far back as 1981. The Road Trip was part of the Summer of Riesling 2013 campaign, and the wines were poured by self-proclaimed Riesling addicts Paul Grieco of NYC's Hearth and Terroir, Chris Miller, MS, of LA's Spago and Riesling Global's Stuart Pigott. The bar made stops in more than a dozen cities before pulling into Cedar Lake on Manhattan's West Side, where it was the centerpiece for the 2013 Wines of Germany Trade Tasting on June 27. "On-premise is our main target, so the focus of the trip was to reach sommeliers in the different cities we visited," said Michael Schemmel, U.S. Project Manager for Wines of Germany. "We hosted about 200 guests over the course of the trip, and were thrilled at the reception, and in particular, to see how people are identifying with the dry Riesling category." —David Ransom Imagine driving down ritzy Cañon Drive in Beverly Hills when you notice something going on outside Spago and you see . . . a trailer with the words "Riesling & Co. plastered along the side. If you're anything like the 20+ " pedestrians that stopped to ask what was going on at the June 19 event, you would probably think, "That sounds like a road trip I want to go on!" "I think this trip is great!" Wines of Germany's Michael Schemmel goes on to explain as we pop in for a taste of German Riesling. "It really gives us the opportunity to see the middle of the country and discover what's going on there. The coasts get so much attention normally, so this gives us a chance to show off to the rest of the country what this grape really can do. " And as Riesling spokesperson (and Spago's Sommelier) Chris Miller, MS, puts it, this grape can do a whole lot: "The diversity is just amazing. It's shocking how much you can do with Riesling—and it is good from one end of the spectrum to the other. —Breanne DeMore " M Y CM MY CY CMY K PHOTO: ERICA BARTEL A Hubbub at Spago C Riesling advocate Chris Miller, MS, who is Sommelier at Spago Beverly Hills, engages guests in the Mobile Wine Bar. 46  /  the tasting panel  /  august 2013 TP0813_034-65.indd 46 7/24/13 9:47 PM

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