Had I Been Ripped-off Or What?

You are really mixing, apples and oranges here, IMHO. The only thing in common between Alsace and Germany is the riesling grape. Almost all Alsatian wines are dry as opposed to QMP wines from Germany which try to reach a balance between sweetness and acidity. Wines with riesling and chenin blanc are not bad just because they are sweet. Thunderbird and Manishevitz Cream Concord has given sweet wines a bad rep. JJPrum is one of the best wineries in Germany, while Hugal's regular bottling are very good but not at the highest levels. The Germans have tried to readjust their image, putting trocken(dry) and haltrocken on labels to penetrate the American market.

The best wine I've ever tasted was a 1959 TBA by Schloss Vollrads and I've had 45 Latour, 82 Petrus and countless d'Yquems. There is nothing like eating an apple with a favourite from the Moselle.

Plenty of sweet wines are expensive. For example, Sauternes. One of my favorite wines is Kracher Beerenauslese, which is very sweet. Whether you've been ripped off or not is up to you. I had a 2000 Latour and I felt ripped off, too.

Dimitri

Some random thoughts:

First of all, sure there's plenty of lousy expensive wine (in my opinion).

Are these restaurant prices or in Australian dollars or something(I think of Hugel Riesling as $10-12US, JJ Prum generic Kabinett as $12-15, and JJ Prum single vineyard kabs as $15-20)?

I do not personally shun off-dry to sweet Riesling, nor do many of my friends. They can be some of the great wines of the world.

Among the great Riesling producers of the Middle Mosel, JJ Prüm is a standout. But I will say that the wines are often difficult young (especially if you are not especially sulphur-tolerant).

Are you saying France or Hugel is world's most renowned wine producer? If former, much as I love Alsace wines, Germany is probably most renowned (and Austria could challenge Alsace in quality in dry wines). Hugel makes some good wines, but in some ways is the Gallo of Alsace.

Everyone has different tastes, and your impressions are valid for you. But I just would caution against making large generalizations about the quality level of the wines of 2 countries based on your impressions of

best, Dale

Taste is very subjective and varies quite a bit from person to person. For example, consider lemon juice and sugar. Most people do not like pure lemon juice and find it much too sour for their taste even when considerably diluted with water. Most people do not like pure sugar, even when it is diluted with water. However many will like a mixture of sugar and lemon juice, but the best balance of each component will vary from person to person. Some grapes grown in rather cold climates produce wines with much acid. Some Rieslings and Chenin Blancs can be quite acid. If there is no sugar to balance the acidity, many will find them too sour for their taste. However if a little sugar remains in the wine, many more people will enjoy them. At the other extreme, Riesling and some other grapes can become extremely ripe under certain conditions. The wines they make can contain very high sugar levels. However they also have enough acidity to balance the sweetness. Such wines are rare and can be extremely expensive. Often a vineyard can produce only a very few cases of such wines in a very few years. Louis XIV of France was one of the most powerful kings Europe ever had and could have any wine in France he wanted. However he called Tokaji Essencia the king of wines and wine for kings. This is a very rich Hungarian wne that can contain well over 50% residual sugar, but is well balanced with acidity. It can last hundreds of years. Catherine the Great of Russia sent troops to Hungary to escort her wine back to Russia. A recent example is Egon Müller's Scharzhofberger Eiswein 1983. In the US the very small amount of this wine availble came on the market for about $US 700 a bottle. Such top wines do not need any advertising. Little is available, and there are people who can afford to snap them up very rapidly when they are available.

Reply to snipped-for-privacy@cwdjr.net .

"Almost everyone shuns mildly sweet Riesling, particularly the sophisticated drinkers."

"Sophisticated" drinkers, maybe... but sophisticated drinkers as a group do no such thing IMO. Agreed that they don't sell well in Amurrica, but that is our loss.

Andy

"Agreed that they don't sell well in Amurrica, but that is our loss."

And of course you've heard the saying that Americans TALK dry but DRINK sweet. But that's another generalization!

e.

I might be the only American to buy exclusively semi-sweet to very sweet wines, but hey- I'm a trendsetter. I just found a Schoffit Pinot Gris sgn with only 4.5% alc and 450+ grams R.S.! Woo Hoo!