Today’s suggested read comes from Stuart Pigott. I might have mentioned him before, he is an English wine writer and critic who has done huge things for German Riesling, on the producer side as well as the consumer side, over the last 20 years or so. His book “Wein spricht Deutsch” (Wine speaks German) although published in 2007 is still one of the bible’s of German wine making and the culture behind it. I once took part in a tasting of Stuart’s, back in the late 1990s in Trier, and he was as fun as he came across as eccentric…
Stuart is on a Riesling mission, and it is good to see him publish in English these days, because Riesling can take any help it can get. He is currently traveling the United States, promoting German Riesling but also trying American Rieslings. On his tour, he stopped in Michigan, and boy was he surprised by the quality! I have to agree. What I have tasted so far from up North (it is quite a bit from Ann Arbor) has been pretty good. But read for yourself…
Yay, Michigan!! And happy Sunday!
Stuart Pigott: On the Riesling Road Day 3 – And that was in Michigan???
the winegetter 
Thanks for sharing the article! You know how much I love my Michigan Rieslings, especially from Old Mission. I sometimes feel like a voice crying out in the wilderness of the internet but it’s great to see articles like that and the write up that Jancis did a while back on a Riesling from CGT. These are people who know good wine and know it’s being made in Northern Michigan. Nobody could dismiss them as regional partisans or locovore ideologues. He also brings up a great point about the West Coast emphasis in most American wine press coverage (no pun intended). I’ve noticed the same thing, but it’s nice to get confirmation that it’s not all in my imagination!
I agree with you. Having gone through the Wine Spectator several times I am definitely on to what he describes as that bias towards the West Coast. There is good stuff here in Michigan, and it deserves to be recognized!
I’m going to have to find his book. (as if I need to find anything else to add to my reading list. But, as you know, you have a fun way of distracting me from my agendas…)
I think it just takes time for some of the very serious wine makers here in Michigan, to get the respect that they deserve. When we are up North, we always make some time to try a few wineries and their new offerings.
the northern peninsulas here are rife with amazing rieslings, along with others – great climate, protected by lake effect, soil is rich from glacial history – all good )