A low-sugar riesling that manages to taste like fresh fruit salad

As spring tempts us to dine outdoors, day drinking season has officially begun. Few wines are as ideally suited for enjoying in the sun as the rieslings of Germany’s Mosel region, thanks to their uncommonly low alcohol content and vibrant sweet-tart flavors reminiscent of fresh fruit salad.

German rieslings were considered the world’s finest white wines until fairly recently, commanding higher prices than French Chardonnays from Burgundy until the early 1900s. These wines were knocked off their pedestal after Germany lost both world wars, suffering both from reputational damage and market collapse. Then came further degradation as decades of postwar agriculture shifted focus away from making prestige wines and toward boosting the cheap and cheerful German white wines that became popular in the ‘60s and ’70s.

German viticulture has survived those dark days and its vintners are recapturing the attention of wine drinkers, particularly in regions like the Mosel where vineyard land is steep, stony, and can’t be cultivated mechanically. Mosel is the world’s coldest wine region of global significance, where fruit is harvested at low ripeness with very low sugar content. To preserve a touch of sweetness, not all the sugar in riesling is converted to alcohol during fermentation. The results are delicate and ethereal wines like this one, which contains almost a third less alcohol per glass than the norm while keeping a kiss of sweetness you’d sooner associate with iced tea.

At only 10% ABV, and with flavors of lemon, green apple, and orange blossoms, it’s hard to beat this riesling as a brunch wine for impromptu picnics or garden parties.

Mosel, Germany; 10% ABV

PLCB Item #97571 — on sale for $12.49 through April 5 (regularly $13.49)

Also available at: Wine Warehouse in Mantua ($13.98; mantua.winewarehousenj.com); Canal’s of Berlin Discount Liquor Mart ($16.99; canalsofberlin.com)