Bottles and Cans
Subheading: On Riesling and that New Tennis Ball Smell
India Mandelkern (a sommelier)
Section / Genre: Reviews / Wine
Have you seen the movie Somm (2012)––the documentary about four bros trying to pass the Master Sommelier Exam and join an elite coterie of 150 or so people on the planet? In one of the movie’s most well-known (and ridiculed) scenes, one of the bros tastes a mystery wine and declares that it smells like a freshly opened can of tennis balls.
The scene is neither overt fictionalization nor mere sommelier pretension. An aromatic compound known as 1,1,6-Trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) is commonly found in riesling grapes––making it easy to pick riesling wines out of a lineup. In low concentrations, the chemical might pass for the citrine scents of lemons and limes. In higher concentrations, its personality takes a turn toward artifice: gasoline, rubber hose, and yes, that new tennis ball smell.
Yet yearning to recall that fated can of Wilson US Open balls that took your USTA team to sectionals isn’t the only reason why you should give riesling, this most tennis-y of grapes, a second look. Riesling is versatile. It can be unctuously sweet or bone dry (contrary to popular belief!). It is scorchingly high in acid, making it suitable for session quaffing. It pairs with pretty much anything edible, from a cheese plate to a salad to leftover Chinese food. And it tastes a heck of a lot better than tennis cocktails such as the tired Pimm’s Cup or, worse, the cloying Honey Deuce.
Consider these rieslings for your pregame, changeover or après match.
2023 Pewsey Vale Dry Riesling
Eden Valley, Australia ($18)
Looking to pummel your salivary glands with lime pith and battery acid? Look no further than South Australia’s beloved Eden Valley, a high elevation rocky plateau where riesling has been cultivated for over a century. Just a cursory whiff is enough to regale you with notes of rubber and extra-duty fluff. Nervous and tensile, the flavor flies off your strings with undiluted energy. There used to be a woman on my USTA team who downed a Coors Light before every doubles match to rev herself up for competition. This may be a worthy substitution.
Ball pairing: Dunlop Australian Open
2022 Weingut Hexamer Riesling Trocken
Nahe, Germany ($18)
Germany is riesling’s Heimat and place of genetic origin. Grown on steep slopes speckled with quartz and loam, the Hexamer Trocken from the storied Nahe region is an excellent value. It’s blindingly bright to the eye when you pour it, like serving into the sun. It is easy to mistake this wine for alcoholic pineapple juice (imbued with notes of clean polyester, ruby grapefruit and pro shop). Your teeth and salivary glands may ache after drinking this riesling, but boy, do they hurt so good.
Ball pairing: Technifibre X-One
2020 Robert Weil Riesling Tradition
Rheingau, Germany ($25)
The ‘Tradition’ is a bit of a Goldilocks wine, as the so-called “traditional” style is neither sweet nor dry. Dr. Weil knows a thing or two about tradition––he started this winery in 1875. Hailing from the Rheingau, named after the river that traverses it, this riesling is popular on restaurant tasting menus because of its versatility; it goes just as well with a goat cheese salad as it does with an octopus leg. Pleasing aromas of honeysuckle, lime, and apricot lift off a helipad of polished river stones and fly into your palate. Suitable for mid-match shot-making and shot-taking. Drink now.
Ball pairing: Penn Championship (bought in bulk from Costco)
2022 Domaine Weinbach Riesling
Alsace, France ($34)
Alsace is that part of France that’s kind of German, so its wines are a remarkable blend of éclat and fine-tuned mechanics. Next door, in Lorraine, is one of the wettest places in Europe. But Alsace, nestled between the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains and the western bank of the Rhine, enjoys luxuriant hours of sunlight and a long growing season, resulting in deeply concentrated wines rich in dusky floral flavors. Treat yourself to a salad of nectarines and honeydew melons sprinkled with lavender notes. Denser and heavier than its Teutonic neighbors, it doesn’t quite bounce like the others. Drink now or hold.
Ball pairing: Wilson Triniti
2022 Schloss Johannisberg Grünlack Riesling Spätlese
Rheingau, Germany ($49)
This incandescent, siren-like wine from an ancient estate lures you in with a sumptuous symphony of pear compote, pineapple and passionfruit. It dazzles your palate with razor-sharp precision, like the aluminum edge of a Diadem can. Known as a Spätlese––meaning “late harvest,” when the grapes are riper and flavor more intense––this riesling transports you to an ethereal realm of tension and pressure. But for all its wonders, it’s tinged with a bleak aftertaste, like finding out that the guy you just started seeing is an impotent pickleball enthusiast (but I repeat myself).
Ball pairing: Slazenger Wimbledon Ball
This story originally appeared in the Portland Tennis Courterly’s Wet Issue. To purchase a copy, visit our online store.