The Riesling Revolution

The Riesling Revolution
by AnneLise Sorensen
(This article originally published on MSN/Microsoft Network.)

Ambivalent about Riesling? Terroir will change your mind. This gleefully nonconformist wine bar in New York City is Riesling’s most vocal cheerleader, calling it the “greatest grape.”

Terroir first launched its summer Riesling festival a few years ago, and it has since become one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., with participating wine bars and restaurants that include Momofuku, Per Se, Gramercy Tavern, and Bar Boulud.

Terroir is run by the creative duo of Paul Grieco and Marco Canor, who shook up New York’s wine scene when they opened the “elitist wine bar for everyone!” (Yes, the exclamation point is theirs.) This approach extends to the menu, which features a section titled “fried stuff,” like beet-gorgonzola risotto balls.

As for their love of Riesling: Grieco and Canor created the festival in part, “because we can and we must overcome this hackneyed belief that Riesling is always sweet.” The Terroir team pokes good-natured fun at wine snobs, describing Riesling as a “balance of sweetness and bone-crunching acidity” and explaining that German wine has “complexity, like a conversation with Jean-Paul Sartre.” And the wine’s bouquet? “Delicacy, as if Natalie Portman was dancing at the foot of your bed.”

Terroir: 24 Harrison St., 413 E. 12th St., and other locations, wineisterroir.com. Click the link to check out their hypnotically flashing website.