Most of you probably never heard of Terry Theise (although I reblogged a piece by him on aged Rieslings in August last year). He is THE importer of high quality German Rieslings and also introduced the American market to Grüner Veltliner, the hallmark Austrian white grape. He is now paired with Michael Skurnik Wines and his Riesling portfolio is like a who is who of great German Riesling wineries: A.J. Adam, Willi Schaefer, Selbach-Oster, Alfred Merkelbach, Müller-Catoir, Dönnhoff, Kruger-Rumpf, Weingart and others (including Reuscher-Haart). Everyone who is interested in Riesling in the United States has heard of him. He is verbose and sometimes I find his wine descriptions incredibly over the top, but there are so many instances where he is dead on right, e.g.:
“The eclecticism of cuisine in the U.S. requires a wine like German Riesling. The sweetness echoes the sweetness found so often on the plate and the acidity keeps the palate refreshed, while the low alcohol helps keep your senses sharp. If we start with a tabula rasa and the gods could design a wine for the way we eat now, it would be German Riesling.”
Or
“”I remain unconvinced that a mass-market breakthrough for Riesling is possible, but we can grow the niche. If there was a breakthrough, there would be a disequilibrium between supply and demand.”
He just published an hommage film to German Rieslings which I will try to find…
With that, fellow Riesling lovers (or not), enjoy this Sunday and my Sunday Read. (Warning: Language in this post can be quite graphic!)
Wall Street Journal: A Weaver of Words on Wine
Great article. Thanks for posting this.
I really enjoyed reading A Weaver on Words thanks for the link – Terry Theise sounds like a real character! Would love to see his film Leading Between the Vines – where will I be able to find it?
I also want to see it. The trailer looks awesome. Lots of personalities. I guess we’ll have to wait a bit and see when and how it comes out on DVD or through Amazon Prime…:(
Yeah, I know it looks beautiful. You can get it on USA Amazon. Guess I’ll have to wait for it over here…
Have you read his book Reading between the wines? I think I’m going to get it.
No, I haven’t but definitely put it on the list of books to read…
My fondest memory of visiting Austria is the trip to wine country. A little winery right on the border with Slovenia. I bought some nice “Veltliner” , enjoyed the scenery and the stories about the Slovenians.
It is gorgeous there, isn’t it? And I can only imagine what stories they told about those Slovenians…:)
I agree with this:
“at its best, wine appreciation is ‘the cultivation of the mystic,’ yielding the kind of aesthetic experience that brings us in touch with the spiritual realm. He approvingly quotes art critic John Berger: ‘The aesthetic moment offers hope that we are less alone, we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would leave us to believe.’ “
That is so lovely. The more we realise we are connected to nature the better; it is the healthiest philosophy.