When we moved to the US from riesling heaven at the Mosel, we were quite worried how to cope. Nina went on a mission to force a minimum of 6 bottles on each person visiting us or friends going to the US. They had to deposit the wine at friends’ and we later collected it. So, we now have a nice stash with some amazing wines at our disposal…
However, it does not solve what I like to call our “bread and butter dilemma”: While amazing wines are…well, amazing, one also needs wines that one can drink at every occasion. You can call them everyday wines, I call the bread and butter wines, because a German dinner usually consists of bread and butter (and sausage and cheese…), so the term refers to wines that I can have with my everyday dinner. Easy, enjoyable, not expensive.
In Germany, one of our go-to rieslings was H Riesling (a photo can be seen on the US importer’s website) by Dr. Hermann winery. While this wine is readily available in the US (although I have not been able to unearth it in Ann Arbor), it is still significantly more expensive here than in Germany (duh, one might say).
However, we have found a wine that is a decent enough substitute (to be clear: it can never be a replacement, it is just a substitute). Nothing fancy, actually, in Germany I probably would brush it off as not even worth trying. But here, and for the moment, it is working. It is a Dr. Beckermann’s (a huge mass-producer) Piesporter Michelsberg (some might recognize the village name of Piesport from the wine I talked about yesterday). Michelsberg is a huge vineyard, covering the area opposite the Goldtroepfchen, not on the steep slopes, but on the flat lands on the other side of the Mosel river. The wine sells at Trader Joe’s for $4.99 or $5.99, and I’d say it is worth its money.
Our friend Alex came to town last night for a weekend from DC, and we opened a bottle, and talked about the great wines we enjoyed while she visited us in Germany…and we also enjoyed what we currently have. Nothing like friends and wine…
This one has hints of what I am looking for in a riesling: it is fruity and fun, not high in alcohol (therefore well suited for an extra glass or two), and the sweetness does not overpower some acidity, which makes it quite refreshing and just right for summer.
Also, check out what this blogger, who seems quite focused on TJ’s wines, had to say about it.
Ann Arborites or fellow US residents: Any other suggestions?
the winegetter 
[…] Read more… 116 more words I have heard some good things about this wine. Anyone else have given it a try? Seems like a reasonably priced bread and butter wine…:) […]
While I can not help you all that much with your Riesling dilemma, I am curious which Kroger you go to in A^2. I used to live there a while ago and most of my family still does. I am now in the Black hole for wine: Pennsylvania. Nice blog, I’ll be back!
I live really close to the South Industrial Kroger, and that is a very unappealing one…I went to the one off Plymouth the other day, and that was great! My wife studied at UPenn, so I’ve been to the black hole. At least Philly has a great BYO culture! Thanks for your words on my blog.
[…] It was well worth our 8 bucks (Kroger had a nice sale going on, and their additional 10% off when you buy four or more bottles…which we easily topped)! That is what I have in mind when I am thinking bread and butter. […]
My new favorite Riesling available here is 50-degree Riesling from G.H. von Mumm, Rheingau, bottled in Johannisberg. Sorry I can’t figure out how to type the superscript zero in 50 degree. I don’t remember for sure, but I think we paid about $10 a bottle.
When we were in Bensheim in November, we drank plenty of Rheingau wine with our friends (Peter’s from Mainz), although that was mostly halbtrocken, while this one I’ve bought here is trocken. I definitely remember ending a day of tramping around in cool rain drinking halbtrocken Riesling in the restaurant at Kloster Eberbach.
It’ll be fun to sample Oregon and California wines when we’re all in Gearhart. You will like getting to know Jim McCamant and talking with him about wine.
Thanks for sharing, Margaret! I will definitely be on the lookout for that 50 degree wine…which would also have a special meaning, because the 50 degree latitude goes right through my hometown Mainz…$10 would be a pretty good price!
I am super excited about getting to sample the Oregon and California wines at the reunion…just a couple of weeks.
The 50th parallel also goes right through the vineyard, I understand. My hometown of Minneapolis is on the 45th, whereas Chicago is at the same latitude as Rome. We were in Iceland in September, where we saw an outdoor clothing store called 65 degrees. It took me a minute to realize that that was how far north we were!