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September 2016 WINES&VINES 19 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS S eattle, Wash.—Riesling is the darling of sommeliers and many other wine pro- fessionals, but it remains confusing to some consumers and can be a tough sell. Overcoming that ob- stacle was a topic of discussion at the Riesling Rendezvous, which was held July 17-19 in Seattle and sponsored by Chateau Ste. Mi- chelle and Dr. Loosen estate. At the first Riesling Rendez- vous held nine years ago, partici- pants spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to promote Ries- ling, said Ted Baseler, president and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Still, Riesling remains a mys- tery to many consumers. The No. 1 misconception is that all Riesling is sweet. "The simple truth about Riesling is it's com- plicated," said Ernst Loosen of Dr. Loosen estate in Germany's Mosel region (and also Ste. Michelle's partner in the Eroica Riesling project). "The first step is to get consum- ers to try Riesling at all," he said. Retail sales of Riesling, by dol- lar amount and volume, have been down slightly every year since 2014, according to the mar- ket-research firm Nielsen Co. Offering good value for the price is one key to selling Riesling, according to Annette Alvarez-Pe- ters, head wine buyer for Costco, which is responsible for $1.7 bil- lion in global wine sales annually. Out of 150 wine SKUs at the typical Costco outlet, three to five are Ries- ling, she estimated. The consumer she calls the "value member" tends to like sweeter styles; Alvarez-Pe- ters said the Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling, which is off-dry, is a big seller at $5.99 per bottle. In the above-$12 segment, she added, Costco sells a lot of Dr. Loosen wine. Jason Smith is a master som- melier and corporate wine direc- tor for the MGM Resorts, which has 405 food and beverage out- lets. In Las Vegas, for example, he said customers prefer the off-dry, fruity styles of Riesling. He added that just having one or two Ries- lings on the list won't increase sales. "You want to have five, 10, 15, depending on what fits your (restaurant's) style," Smith said. Boosting Riesling's fortunes has also been the goal of the nonprofit International Riesling Foundation, which grew out of informal discus- sions at the first Riesling Rendez- vous. One of the foundation's early initiatives was creation of the Ries- ling Taste Profile, a scale that ap- pears on the back labels of some Rieslings. The foundation's website (drinkriesling.com) has suggested parameters, but it's ultimately up to the winemaker to determine where the wine falls on the Ries- ling Taste Profile. Building on the success of the scale, the foundation is revamping its website to include videos and guest bloggers, and it's increasing its presence on social media, spe- cifically Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Taylor Field III, who runs the beverage program for Morton's Steakhouses, said his customers have requested Riesling but added that the trade needs to en- tice the younger generation to try the varietal. "We have a real opportunity now to get the millennials and turn Riesling into what Chardon- nay was for my mom," Field said. —Laurie Daniel Wine Merchants Discuss How to Sell Riesling "We have a real opportunity now to get the millennials and turn Riesling into what Chardon- nay was for my mom." —Taylor Field III, Morton's Steakhouses