I met Claus Burmeister (left) and Michael Mondavi (right) at the Destination Riesling Tasting in San Francisco.

It was a complimentary invitation-only event at the deYoung Museum. Claus’ wines were my favorite–structured and delicately handled. He is the winemaker for the 2nd largest winery in the Baden region of Germany. (40,000 cases; in California, it would be considered a small winery.)  He makes Riesling, Pinot Noir and Rosé. All of the wines were lovely.  His remark about making Pinot Noir…Pinot Noir is like a woman…sometimes you don’t know what you did wrong.

Michael Mondavi (lower pic with Rainer Lingenfelder) was a sweetheart. It was a pleasure meeting the man that I have heard so much about.

The Riesling World Tour started April 22 and ends September 21, 2009. The countries include Denmark, Norway, Canada, Japan, Finland, USA (SF and New York), Ireland & Netherlands. According to the brochure, …it is a 3 year campaign to highlight the best-in-class differentiators of Riesling and the unique terroirs of Germany as well as Austria and Alsace. It will contain both consumer and trade events.

I learned a lot in one short afternoon. If you have the opportunity to attend one of these events, it is a fantastic way to learn about a particular varietal in a sophisticated setting.