Food & drink | Queen of Riesling

Oliver Weber, Executive Chef at MGM Macau (left), German wine queen Janina Huhn (center) and Holger Deh, Executive Pastry Chef (right)

It’s always been every little girl’s dream to become a princess, but in Germany things are done slightly differently. Instead of wanting to be a regular old fairytale princess, aspiring little German girls dream of becoming the “Wine Queen”. Elected every year by the country’s winemaking provinces, the Wine Queen is the worldwide face of its most celebrated grape variety, the light and fruity Riesling. And as this year’s elected Queen, flaxen-haired Janina Huhn has been travelling the world promoting the versatile vintage, taking her all the way to Hong Kong and Macau where she spoke at a Riesling wine tasting lunch held last week at MGM Macau.
“It’s a tradition which is 66 years old, and I’m the 66th German Wine Queen”, explained 25-year-old Janina over lunch at MGM’s Grand Imperial Court. “The Wine Queen is an official ambassador for German Wines. It’s really hard to become the Wine Queen, you have to do a competition with other girls; you have to answer a lot of questions about wines, you have to show your wine knowledge, you have to do improvised speeches and things like that”, she added. “And in the end a jury of 70 people elect the new Wine Queen. And last year in September I was the lucky one”.
As part of her royal duties, Janina is now an expert in all matters Riesling-related, and sharing her knowledge about her country’s wine industry and its star grape is all part and parcel of the job description. “The Riesling grape has a very versatile character”, the Wine Queen explained to a roomful of media gathered for the wine tasting. “It includes lemon – this would be the very refreshing type of Riesling; then you see something like peach and apple, which is kind of in between, a little bit more body; and when it comes to ripe Riesling or the noble sweet Riesling, you will also have some hints of honey and also some tropical notes”, she illustrated. “So there’s a big diversity in Riesling”.
Germany has 13 wine growing regions located primarily in the East and South West of the country, all with their own special character. “We are not a country of very big producers on hectares and hectares of land but small producers who do very characteristic products”, Janina stated. “It may be a surprise to some people but Germany produces almost 40% red wine. This is quite large compared to the image Germany has worldwide as a white wine country”.
A light and refreshing white wine, Riesling is praised for its versatility with food, pairing excellently with French gastronomy while also matching remarkably well with Chinese and other Asian cuisines. Often mistakenly thought of as just a sweet wine, the grape’s differing degrees of complimentary acidity and varying degrees of dryness and sweetness also help to bring out the idiosyncratic flavors of many Asian culinary dishes, including the spicy Sichuan squid prepared with bell peppers and Crispy fried Yunnan ham marinated with honey that were served from Imperial Court’s menu. Out of MGM’s featured selection of wines, the “Balthasar Ress, Hattenheimer Schutzenhaus Kabinett” had an off dry, fruity and floral aroma that paired excellently with both dishes.
“Besides being known as a white wine country, most people think that German wine is mainly sweet. This is the wrong image”, revealed Janina. “Over 60% of our production is dry or off-dry. So dry wines are very important for our country. There’s been a change in the last 20 to 30 years in the minds of the wine growers; they have an international experience, they had an education in other wine countries and they came back with the knowledge that dry wine is very good, so we are producing a lot more dry wine than sweet wine today”, she explained.
Consequently, to promote the wine to local audiences, this June, for the second consecutive year MGM Macau is participating in Deutsche Riesling Weeks by presenting an assortment of Riesling wines across its eateries. French bistro Aux Beaux Arts, ABA Bar, Chinese Imperial Court and Grand Imperial Court are all creating special Riesling-matched dishes, while the Pastry Bar and Grande Praça Café both have a selection of Riesling-paired sweet treats.
Moreover, according to Hong Kong-based wine consultant and marketer Tersina Shieh, the yearly campaign currently ongoing in both Hong Kong and Macau to promote Riesling was “initiated by wineries, importers, F&B outlets and retailers to form a whole chain to allow the consumer to celebrate the diversity of Riesling”, and of course, most importantly “to enjoy the wine”. Previously running for two weeks, the occasion was extended to a month-long event last year and is now set to last the whole of June. 30 F&B outlets in HK and Macau are participating, with 1/3 of those being Asian, including Cantonese, Sichuan, Japanese, Shanghainese, Thai and Indian.
Returning to lunch, the next wine featured on the tasting menu, the “Donnhoff Horheimer Kirschheck Spätlese” a fruity, medium sweet wine with a bit of tart acidity and very ripe sweetness matched perfectly with the freshness of the two main courses of Shrimp and Cod from the a-la-carte menu of Aux Beaux Arts. It also brings out the best in the restaurant’s other rich and creamy French seafood dishes such as Baked Maine lobster mornay. Finally, when dessert was served, the “Dr. Lossen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese” – which has a dense, intense flavor that offers up a rich sweetness with crisp acidity, revealing hints of saffron-like botrytis – paired perfectly with an innovative creation of White chocolate ganache with Riesling vinegar ice cream, plus a second sweet course of indulgent individual dark chocolate cakes infused with Riesling.
The assorted selection of Riesling wines are available throughout the month of June, and Riesling lovers can try them all out at any of MGM’s a-la-carte restaurants, as well as by taking advantage of a full tasting array of three Riesling glasses at ABA Bar.