One of the most interesting blind tastings undertaken recently in the bowels of Buckingham Palace by those of us on the Royal Household Wine Committee was of about two dozen wines from Alsace and Germany. These had been submitted as candidates for royal entertaining and the Rieslings which made up the bulk of them had been thoroughly mixed up by the organiser of the tasting. As we all know, it is a nightmare to put Rieslings in a sensible tasting order since at least three factors can vary enormously: residual sugar, alcohol and age. To make matters more confusing, this range included wines from Alsace as well as Germany and some...