The Edmonton Sun

The most food-friendly wines on the planet come from the Riesling grape. Put that grape in the hands of a German winemaker and you have the perfect recipe foa a profound culinary-wine experience.

I was reminded of this recently at a German winemakers dinner. Four wine producers matched their wines with an eclectic array of dishes.

The evening started with seared Angus beef carpaccio smothered in olive oil. This was matched by two very different German wines. The first was a Lingenfelder Ganymed Pinot Noir 2002 ($35) which was chock full of roasted cherries, herbs and smoky violets. But it was the second wine that won the piring, a Balthasar Ress Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Rielsing 2003. This was all about lime, grapefruit and minerals with crisp acidity and a note of sweet petrol. It worked beautifully with the carpacio.