At present, the Riesling grape seems to be one of the world’s best kept secrets among wine aficionados as it seems to be quite unrecognized and underrated by a public who has gone Chardonnay crazy these past two decades.

Part of this has been the stigma of the '60s and '70s that has fallen unto the sweet, cloying, low alcohol styles of that phase of German vinification plus the crash of the Austrian wine industry in the seventies due to a scandal on propylene glycol.

This is not so now, as Germany has taken its stance in producing competitive wines and placing itself at the medium to upper bracket price point markets.

The limited hectarage and small parcels give many German vintners an enjoyment of boutique stature. Such are the wines of Fritz Haag, a vintner of limited size that focuses itself on the Riesling grape.

Recently, we were treated to these wines at a lunch organized by Professional du Vin, Jay Labrador at a joint Asian food and wine pairing that included members of Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs, the ladies' branch of the International Wine and Food Society and Wines and Spirits Club-Philippines.com.

Present during the lunch to explain his family’s style of wines was the winemaker and owner’s son, Oliver Haag. Certain characteristics that made these cold weather wines different from the Mediterranean styles are the long days that may be from 100 – 150 days before harvest and the slaty soil that give the balance of fruit and acidity to these fragrant grapes.

With appetizers such as Galloping Horse (Pineapple topped with Spicy Caramelized Pork and Onion), Shao Sing Drunken Crispy Shrimp dusted with seasoned salt, and Samosas with Tamarind and Green Chutney was a 2009 Fritz Haag Estate Riesling that had a young fresh acidity, musky green stone fruit, and tart cooking apples on the palate.

It certainly brought out the flowery attributes of the wine as it worked with the masala spices of the samosas.

The fruit flavors became quite upfront with the sweetness of the pineapple and caramelized topping as it also worked with the spices of the seasoned salt as we bit into the crisp shrimp with its lightly coated deep fried shells.

We then poured the second wine, a 2008 Fritz Haag Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer that had shades of semi-ripe mango pulp in this lightly colored wine with a pleasant balance of acidity and sweetness.

The 2008s are what Oliver Haag has described as very drinkable wines although 2009 would be a powerful vintage (so another year to look forward to…).

This wine paired very well with some crispy Thai style fish glazed with plum sauce and preserved radish which maintained its crunchy coating though it was glazed.

On the same plate was a fried shrimp cake that had a steaming hot interior with a crunchy Japanese bread crumb coating.

I did go back to the first wine and found both wines to be an excellent pairing to the next course as the acidity of the first wine cut the richness of the butter of the sauce on the scallops and pasta, while the second rounded out the flavors because of the wood spices infused in the butter.

Jay Labrador was all praises for this Vietnamese inspired dish of Than Long butter with Scallops and Noodles and its matrimonial union with the wines.

Most challenging for the wine pairing was a strong spiced and flavored Korean Army Soup made with a hearty mix of glass noodles, fermented bean pasta, tofu, Kim chi, sausages, luncheon meat, fish balls, and Odeng.

The strong flavors brought out the different levels of sweetness of the wines and some spicy characters such as sandalwood.

We had the last wine for our main course and dessert. This was a 2008 Fritz Haag Riesling Spatlese Braunberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr. It was rich, honey-like but only mildly cloying with a good balance of acidity, sweetness and forward fresh and syrup fruit-flavors. It complemented the richness of our oriental suckling pig with thin pancakes and Hoi sin Sauce and a curious teriyaki demiglace with rose petals. Rice cooked with jasmine tea, fried, and steamed in Lotus leaves was an accompaniment to this dish.

For dessert, a chilled mango soup with Mochi Balls stuffed with Adzuki bean paste and topped with coco cream brought out characters of lychee, loquats, and longans on the wine.

You can email me at chefgenegonzalez@yahoo.com Or login to www.winesandspiritsclub-philippines.com for more info.