Johannes Selbach

Each of these un-wooded wines with piercingly fresh fruit flavours can shock your palate the first time around but the more you taste them the more you will come to appreciate their subtlety, layers of flavours, and amazingly low alcohol levels.

In many cases the average alcohol level found in German riesling is five or six percent less than what you would find in other white wines. Even better, they're devoid of the heavy smoky, toasted butterscotch and buttered popcorn flavours found in most commercial oak-aged wines.

The Selbach wines are well known to the folks at C Restaurant (located at the foot of Howe Street at False Creek) and today sommelier Tom Doughty joins me to provide you with some extravagant pairing ideas they have experimented with in the restaurant. I don't expect you to whip these up at home but they are meant to inspire you to be more creative and to push you to think more about the possibilities of riesling with food instead of just another aperitif to be served before dinner. Here's what we came up with.

J & H Selbach 2000 Bereich Bernkastel Riesling is the perfect patio sipper with its green apple skin nose and mineral -- Vaseline highlights. The flavours are similar to the nose with perhaps an elevated nectarine component. It's a fresh, fun, low-alcohol wine that is perfect for lunch. At C Restaurant Doughty suggests pairing it with Szechuan albacore tuna sashimi with ahi tuna tartare, pickled kumquats and daikon sprouts. The fresh crisp textures of the wine work well with the richness of the ahi tuna tartare while the lower alcohol helps suppress the heat of the Szechuan spice.

Wet cement, slate and apple skin aromas mark the nose of the Detzemer Maximiner Klosterlay Spatlese. In the mouth it is rounder and softer (more commercial) than the estate wines with strong underlying flavours of mineral, lemon skin and lime rind. Doughty likes the apple cured wild salmon belly with celeriac salad, brown mustard seed emulsion and quince jelly with the Detzemer. He reasons, "its touch of residual sugar pairs well with the sweetness of the apple and quince while the wines' firm acidity cuts through the rich, salmon belly flavours."

Johannes Selbach is the man from Zeltinger and the Selbach-Oster Riesling QBA has the fruit to prove it. Look for mineral/floral/green apple aromas to waft out of your glass followed by a whiff of petroleum jelly. A classic summer sipper with addictive nectarine and green apple fruit flavours. Doughty's menu match is "five-spice crusted Fanny Bay oysters, shrimp and pineapple spring roll, sweet and sour plum sauce, crispy fried ginger threads. The five spice and ginger pair well with the mouth-watering riesling that cuts through the oily, crunchy fried oysters and spring roll. The plum and pineapple mesh well with the nectarine fruit flavours in the wine."

The Zeltinger Schlossberg Kabinett will seduce you with its fresh, bright, zippy nose reminiscent of spicy, mineral peach fruit and baked apples. Similar mineral citrus slate and lemony flavours hop off the palate. It is deliciously light and fruity. Doughty recommends, "the birch syrup glazed Pacific sardines, caramelized onion brioche, double-smoked bacon and potato hash with grainy mustard," again reasoning that the ripe fruit flavours pair well with the birch syrup while the minerality of the wine cuts through rich, oily sardines.

The Zeltinger Schlossberg Spatlese has a mature smoky/diesel mineral/slate nose, fine weight and firm apple/citrus rind flavours in the finish. It's rich and round with softer acidity. It remains elegant but showing more terroir and slate flavours than fruit. Doughty likes the Ducca rubbed Tai snapper, striped shrimp and almond cous cous, spicy eggplant chutney and orange fig vinaigrette. "It plays to the wines rich full flavours, stands up to the texture of the almonds and cuts down the spiciness of the eggplant chutney."

The late picked Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese has a rich honey/apple/mineral nose with a floral/slate fruit finish. It has wonderful lift and balance in the mouth with fine acidity and a sophisticated citrus/mineral/apricot aftertaste. It's unusually light and delicate for an Auslese. Doughty picked up on the elegance and suggests "baked halibut, sweet pea puree, smoked salmon chip and gorgonzola walnut gratin. The acidity cuts through the cream, cheese and nuts in the gratin and the sweet wine is a perfect pairing for a sweet pea puree."