Anyone have any favorites? Anyone have knowledge to share?
In the past I’ve tried, without success, to broaden my white wine horizons.
I don’t especially enjoy the big oaky Chardonnays, but Chard has been a favorite for a long time, despite my attempts at many other varietals.
Then a couple of weeks ago I tried a German Riesling, a Kabinett, dry, with a seafood dinner, and it was really tasty. I had another German Riesling, Polka Dot, with pasta, and it too was delicious.
I looked Riesling up on Wikipedia and the info is interesting if overwhelming.
Ice Wine looks interesting.
I sometimes enjoy sweet dessert wines after dinner.
Basic knowledge from a wine drinker, but non-wine snob.
Rieslings are pretty easy to find because the bottles tend to be shaped differently. Not quite sure why. They also tend toward being relatively reasonably priced wines. For the most part, they’re meant to be drank now, and not aged, but again, this varies.
They tend toward sweetness, though there is obviously some range, kabinett being at the less sweet range, but even that is relatively sweet as far as wine goes (at least to my taste). There is a range of sweetness in German that I memorized once, but have since forgotten.
Perfect wine for just popping open in the afternoon because it’s refreshing with or without food. Nice picnic wines as well. Goes with seafood, light pasta, light flavored chicken.
Also, if you can find them, the US makes nice rieslings in the finger lake region of New York. They’re usually pretty small wineries so they’re often difficult to find. Otherwise, the Germans make most of the rieslings.
I love Rielings! I am not an oeno-whatsit so I’m sure one may scoff at my favorite but I don’t care 'cause it’s my favorite. It’s Schmitt-Sohne, comes in a lovely blue bottle with a yellow sun. I orginally bought it because of the pretty bottle but I loved it and kept buying it. Recently I’ve been noticing that they are advertising. Weird little ads with a little German guy in ledehosen with the tagline “have a little German” or something like that. I like weird.
By the way, a male friend of mine called Rieslings “leg spreaders”.
I’m not anything like a wine expert, but I will say that Rieslings in general rank just below Eiswin (Ice Wine) as my favorite wines. I’m partial to sweeter wines, as you might guess.
Trader Joe’s sells a very reasonably priced (and tasty, to my palate) Riesling - it’s from Columbia Winery, I think. Try it paired with goat cheese broiled on baguette - heavenly.
My spousette hates Chards, too, but she really like Sauvignon Blancs - definitely not as sweet as most Rieslings, but not oaky at all either- the ones I like have grapefruit notes (tart, not bitter).
Our favourites include Gunderloch (German) and Cave Spring Off-Dry (Niagara-Canadian). Obviously the vintage makes a difference, but we haven’t been going through them recently so I can’t recommend one over another. Obviously we’re partial to the sweeter wines, although I find the Ice wines a little too sweet.
My wife got a wine diary for us to fill out, and I regret to say that we haven’t yet recorded anything. I would recommend that you do so you can keep track of the ones that you find that you like.
A little bit of trivia: Rieslings first became popular in the U.S. back in the sixties when CCR recorded their famous song.
Not sure what kind of specific knowledge you are looking for, but if you have questions, I can try to answer them.
Riesling is considered one of the great noble grapes of the world, and is definitely one of my favorites. The best I’ve ever tasted come from Germany,and specifically the Mittelmosel area, but there are fantastic Riesings from the Alsace (France), Wachau (Austria), and the US, specifically Washington and Oregon, but some cooler regions of California are producing some excellent wines. And Colorado is fast becoming known for producing top quality Rieslings. (You can see a theme there - the grape does well in cool climates.) It can range from bone dry to very sweet, and is one of the most interesting wines to me in terms of aromas and flavors.
Some of my favorites or regulars on the wine rack:
J.J. Prüm - Germany
Dr. Loosen - Germany (They also teamed up with Ch. St. Michelle out of WA for a very nice wine called Eroica. It’s a real bargain if you can find it.
Leitz - Germany - The Dragon Stone label is a favorite of mine.
Domaine Schoffit Riesling Rangen Clos Saint Theobald - Alsace - Really exotic, though usually hard for me to find.
Zind-Humbrecht - Alsace - A bt more reasonably priced and easier to find.
Schloss Gobelsburg - Austria - I’ve tried a few. Most are spicy and rich. Really delicious.
Navarro - CA, Mendocino - Probably the best Riesling I’ve tasted coming from CA.
Chateau St. Michelle - WA - Great bargain.
Not much to say except that my absolute favorite is called Saint M. So smooth, and the sweetness is not overwhelming, but not an afterthought, either.
Don’t confuse it with Chateau St. Michelle-- it’s probably an abbreviation for that or something like it, but it’s actually just spelled Saint M, in large letters.
It’s inexpensive (around $10, I think?), but in my area it’s hard to find. It’s on the menu at Carrabba’s, and they occasionally have it at World Market, but those are the only two places I’ve ever seen it, and I’ve done some looking.
Bloom is also great for the price. It won’t win any awards, but it’s certainly an easy drinker and a girl-pleaser for about $7-8 a bottle.
Here’s a link to the SDMB Wine Club* from a few months ago, choosing that same wine. There are some links within the thread that provide additional edumucation on German wines.
With respect to psycat90’s recommendation, the Dr. Loosen Riesling Kabinett Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Bernkasteler Lay was a Wine Advocate 90+ wine for under $20 awhile ago; not sure if it’s still on the list.
If you like the taste of Riesling, but not necessarily the sweetness, there are some very nice dry Rieslings coming out of Australia at a reasonable price. I’ve had the Jacob’s Creek Reserve Riesling, and liked it. Don’t be afraid of the screw-top cap.
*Always looking for new members and suggestions… 
Look for the next wine pick, which should be announced shortly.
For those of you who like white wine but don’t like big oaky Chardonnays, you might want to try some Chardonnays from Australia. They don’t tend to go for the big, oaky, buttery style there. Lindemans is a good, inexpensive, widely available non-oaky Australian Chardonnay to try.
I’ll second this recommendation.
There are also good US Rieslings from the Central Coast in California, and from Washington State.
I like Jekel and Mirassou Rieslings from the Central Coast, though Mirassou has been hard to find the last few years.
My ideal death involves drowning in a vat of Alsatian Riesling. Or maybe Gewürztraminer. But since I’m in the Riesling thread, I’ll stick to Riesling.
I don’t have a whole lot to add other than if you only try one bottle of Riesling, make it Alsatian. The others are good, but I’ve yet to find any other Rielsings that are so lovingly earthy, flowerly, and just so yummy as those made in Alsace.
Yes, I’m biased.
In addition to the ones PsyCat90 lists (Zind-Humbrecht, Schoffit ), keep an eye out for Paul Blanck, Marc Tempe, and Weinbach.
I’m gonna have to track down that Schoffit that PsyCat mentions… I haven’t had it, but I’ve stood in Rangen, eating grapes off the vine and drinking a glass of wine at 10 in the morning. So now I need that wine.
Wow, thanks for the wealth of Riesling info, everyone. Each post really is helpful, and I like that “leg spreader” nickname. 
And thank you so much, Plynck, for the SDMB wine club invite. Didn’t mean to hijack that theme–sorry.
I don’t know much about wine, but it has been an enjoyable exploration over the years. My wine diary failed, too, though. Maybe I will try it again.
It’s funny, I used to eagerly quaff those big oaky Chards from California, and scoff at criticism of them, but I guess I finally OD’d.
Anne, I’ve certainly had my share of Lindeman’s. 
The Rieslings I tasted just seemed so refreshing, but there was that spicy tang, as well.
Athena, years ago after my mom died my brothers and I found a couple bottles of something from Alsace, white, that had been sitting around for quite awhile. We opened one bottle and it was delicious, but I can’t remember much more than that, I don’t even know if it was a Riesling.
Well, I’ve only tasted two, now, but it will be fun searching out the ones mentioned here–thanks again, Dopers.
I’ll second psycat90’s Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica recommendation as one of the best Rieslings at a reasonable price.
Another name to look for, hard to find, is Hermann J Wiemer, from the Finger Lakes region of New York. They make an exceptional Dry Riesling for (just) under $20.
I think the best Finger Lakes Reislings come from Standing Stone , Red Newt , Heron Hill , and Dr. Konstantin Frank .
Lots of medal winners in this bunch, and they produce both semi-dry and dry Rieslings.
The dry Riesling from Standing Stone, along with Standing Stone’s Gewurtzxtraminer, are my current very favorite wines.
BTW, three of these wineries are also mentioned in Lettie Teague’s Educating Peter , a very readable introduction to wines.
The dry summer in Upstate New York has made local winemakers very happy, so I’m looking forward to next year’s wines.
May I join the wine club, too? I’ve seen the thread, but thought I’d be out of place as a latecomer/newcomer.
Will any Canadians step in to say a word or two for Canadian Reislings? I’ve had one or two…not fruity or flowery, but very minerally.
I will add that, in general, Chateau Ste. Michelle wines aren’t as good as other small local wineries (Erioca being the exception), even at the same price point. Their wines are inexpensive, and sometimes that’s not a plus.
I’ve taken a great liking to Oregon’s Nehalem Bay Winery’s White Riesling/Niagra/Gewürztraminer wines. Excellent flavor and price.
As mentioned, Washington State has many exceptional Rieslings. Most tend towards sweet (which I prefer), but some are relatively dry.
For a very good cost/taste ratio German wine, try Relax from your local Target. Very good for the price! 
Are you sure that was what she was recommending? CSM has a dry Riesling that sells for about $10, but that is not sold under the “Erocia” label. I don’t know that I’d consider $20 to be a great bargain for a Riesling.
I think both the Ch. St. Michelle labels and the Eroica labels are good bargains.
Their Ch. St. Michelle is really easy to find, and is usually less than $10 a bottle or so. Definitely a bargain.
While the Eroica is more at around $20 a bottle, it’s still a bargain to me because it’s got really intense flavor and is just a really lovely wine. It is comparable to some of the German Rieslings I’ve had that are twice its price.
Just pick one off the Rhine and you can’t go wrong. It’s the Champagne Region of Riesling.
Reasonable as well, Halbtrocken (Half dry) for any meal of pork, Chicken, Veal, or Fish.