Woodinville, Wash. -- Sales of Riesling wines grew 29% last year according to supermarket data, and with this resurgence of interest, it was perhaps inevitable that Ste. Michelle Estates, by far the largest Riesling producer in North America, would arrange a meeting to discuss and promote the variety.

The inaugural Riesling Rendezvous was held primarily at Ste. Michelle's headquarters in Woodinville, Wash., June 24-26. Co-sponsor of the event was Dr. Ernst Loosen, the respected German producer who makes Eroica wine with Ste. Michelle in a joint venture. Loosen noted that he realized that Europe couldn't reverse the moribund market of the past. "The Riesling Renaissance had to come from the New World," he declared.

Attendees were primarily producers, either owners or winemakers (often the same person), with a good contingent of the media and some buyers and sommeliers.

The Riesling producers came from all over the world, and included many of the most famed wineries in Germany, but also wineries from Austria, Alsace and Australia as well as British Columbia, Ontario and many U.S. states.

Most of the producers were boutiques, though Ste. Michelle makes some 600,000 cases and its sister companies Columbia Crest and Snoqualmie make another 110,000.

Most other large producers other than Pacific Rim (120,000 cases) either weren't invited or chose not to attend, including Kendall-Jackson (180,000); Brown-Forman (125,000; Fetzer unit with 80,000 from California and 20,000 from Germany; and Jekel, 25,000); Hogue (79,000); Covey Run (80,000); and J. Lohr (30,000) (all estimates).

This left Ste. Michelle to bask in the association with top names, but blind tastings showed its wines-even the $7 basic Riesling-stand up very well to the competition. The Eroica, in particular, is given credit for helping spark the interest in Riesling among consumers.

One standout among the wines was the new Ste. Michelle Dry Riesling, which is being nationally distributed for the first time this year. The $10 wine was previously restricted to Washington state.

Allen Shoup, formerly chairman of Ste. Michelle Estates, returned to adulation to discuss his Long Shadows venture, which makes Poet's Leap Riesling with Armin Diel of Germany.

Howard Goldberg of The New York Times opened the conference by noting that if Sen. Hilary Clinton, who is very popular with New York vintners, becomes president, it would be a huge boost for the variety. "Riesling would become fashionable."

Underlying the whole conference was the specter of global warming, which is already affecting vineyards. Warm years are now the norm in places in Germany where it was traditionally difficult to ripen grapes.

Much of the discussion among the winemakers was about how dry a wine should be, especially since the high levels of acid in most of the wines masked a good bit of sugar. Most attendees agreed that there should be some indicator on the label so consumers would know whether they're getting dry wine (generally defined as under 7 or 8 grams of residual sugar per liter, or 0.7% to 0.8% sugar). They also detected a preference for drier wines. "Poet's Leap has gotten a little drier for each of its four vintages," Shoup noted, adding that he thinks the present level (14 grams per liter) is about right.

Another big discussion was closures, with the Australian and New Zealand contingent largely declaring screwcaps superior to natural corks. "The U.S. needs to get with it," chided Australian wine critic James Halliday. Nevertheless, some winemakers admitted they had to add copper sulfate to their wines to eliminate sulfides before bottling or they encountered reductive odors.

Some premium producers voiced a fear that the popularity of Riesling could result in a flood of low-quality wines, as has happened with Chardonnay, Merlot and more recently Pinot Noir. Others welcomed the expansion of the market, guessing that the interest will lead many consumers to move up in the market.

Perhaps the biggest discovery at the conference for most attendees was the excellence of the Michigan wines-and that Chateau Grand Traverse produces about 65,000 cases.

After tasting blind flights of about 16 each of dry, semi-dry and "fruity" (sweet) wines, and open seminars on North American and classic European wines-plus meals paired with Riesling-the event culminated with a gala tasting of 130 wines at the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park, which was open to consumers as well as the conference attendees, and attended by about 190 in total.

The sponsors plan an augmented follow-up in two years-and possible related events at other locations around the country.