How sweet is that Riesling?

The most interesting session I took part in at last month's International Cool Climate Symposium in Tasmania was a blind tasting of dozens of different Rieslings with residual sugar levels that varied from under one to over 200 g/l. Our job was to pinpoint where on the International Riesling Foundation's Riesling Taste Profile, from Dry through gradations of Medium Dry and Medium Sweet to Sweet, we thought each wine lay.

The exercise was devised and led by Julian Alcorso, who makes a significant proportion of all of Tasmania's wine at his contract winery Winemaking Tasmania in the south of...