Riesling

Is Riesling dry or sweet?

It's the only question that matters with Riesling, and the bottle usually answers it.

Dry Riesling is lime and green apple with nothing sweet behind it. Off-dry leaves a little sugar to round the edges, which is what makes it so good against heat. At the sweet end sit the late-harvest wines and icewine, where Riesling and Vidal do the heavy lifting.

Want certainty? Start from dry white wine or the sweet whites. Where a tasting note gives residual sugar in grams per litre, the lower the number, the drier the wine.

Why Niagara owns Canadian Riesling

Most of the Riesling here comes off the Niagara Peninsula, and that's no accident. It ripens late and hangs onto its acid, which suits a long cool autumn with a big lake holding off the frost.

Ontario is one of the few places in the New World where Riesling counts as a signature grape. The Okanagan grows good Riesling too, a touch riper, with a trickle from Lake Erie North Shore and Prince Edward County.

Almost none of it sees oak, which is the other reason it tastes so direct. Like that? Gewürztraminer is the next stop.

What Canadian Riesling costs

The cheap end of this page is unusually good. There's serious Riesling under $20 from producers you'd happily pay double for, and it doesn't thin out the way some grapes do.

Worth trying, if only to see for yourself. The rest of our Canadian white wine is there when you want it.