Riesling's Revenge

The misunderstood wine finally gets a place at the table

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Technology applied to wine tasting means an important advance for quality control

Willie Gluckstern is a man with a mission. As a New York restaurant consultant and the author of a guidebook called The Wine Avenger, Gluckstern has spent the better part of a decade crusading on behalf of Riesling, the dominant German varietal that has been cruelly stereotyped on American shores as tasting sweeter than Katie Couric dipped in caramel. "All grapes are not created equal," Gluckstern says. "There's an acid-sugar balance in great Riesling that you won't find in any other grape." Stubborn U.S. diners have mostly ignored him and gone on sipping their Chardonnay.

Things are finally changing. Riesling importers...

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