Riesling Impostors: Liebfraumilch
On a recent Riesling run I noticed several similar-looking bottles labeled Liebfraumilch, which means milk of our lady (literally, loved lady's milk). The bottles yielded precious little information about what this wine was and whether it had anything to do with Riesling, and if I was clueless about Liebfraumilch, some of you might be too. According to the Wine Lover's Companion:
So if you're drinking Liebfraumilch, you may or may not be drinking Riesling. It's not quite accurate to call it a Riesling impostor, but if you are looking for pure Riesling, you should look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you're looking for a simple, slightly sweet white wine, you might just find a Liebfraumilch that does the trick for you. If I come across one I like, I'll be sure to recommend it here.
Today, in order for a wine to be called Liebfraumilch, it must meet the following provisions: be a wine "of pleasant character"; contain a minimum of 18 grams of residual sugar (1.8 percent); be made only from müller-thurgau, sylvaner, kerner or riesling grapes; be of QbA quality; not be labeled with Prädikat designations such as spätlese or auslese; and come from one of the four German regions of rheinhessen, pfalz, rheingau and nahe (in practice, almost all of it comes from the Rheinhessen and the Pfalz). As with most wines, the quality of Liebfraumilch can vary dramatically from producer to producer.
So if you're drinking Liebfraumilch, you may or may not be drinking Riesling. It's not quite accurate to call it a Riesling impostor, but if you are looking for pure Riesling, you should look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you're looking for a simple, slightly sweet white wine, you might just find a Liebfraumilch that does the trick for you. If I come across one I like, I'll be sure to recommend it here.
