Off-Dry Rieslings Are Winning Over American Drinkers

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In a world filled with doubt, Cristian Urbina is a believer. 

The head sommelier at The Dabney in Washington, D.C. is perfectly aware that a lot of people in the United States have knee-jerk reactions to off-dry Riesling. He understands why: Their teeth still ache from the sticky-sweet versions they tasted in previous decades. 

But he’s convinced that the tides are turning. Guests are increasingly receptive when he suggests pairing off-dry Rieslings with their meals. “There’s more openness,” he says. “As someone who’s witnessing a new wave of wine drinkers, there’s definitely a sense of curiosity when it comes to off-dry styles.” 

Julia Schwartz, the wine director of New York City’s Stars, agrees. “A couple of years ago, even the mention of ‘Riesling’ would cause trepidation,” she says. Recently, however, guests seem open to trying all types of Riesling, including versions with residual sugar. “There seems to be a growing awareness that all Rieslings are not alike.”

An array of factors contributes to off-dry Riesling’s contemporary reboot. Quality bottles abound at various price points. Millennial and Gen Z wine lovers don’t have the same Riesling baggage as many of their forebears. Crucially, American wine culture is evolving, as are the types of cuisines people pair with wine at bars and restaurants. 

Can enthusiasm for off-dry Riesling outpace the naysayers? Or is the anti-sweet hangover too powerful to overcome?

Understanding Off-Dry Wines

Generally, any wine referred to as “off-dry” will have perceptible residual sugar. In Germany, dry wines are classified as those with less than nine grams per liter of residual sugar, and off-dry bottles have nine to 18 grams. 

Riesling is particularly suited to off-dry winemaking because the grape maintains high levels of acid as it ripens. “I love Rieslings with a little residual sugar because it’s juxtaposed against all that great acidity, so it stays really balanced,” says Lance Tolaio, wine director of Sam’s Grill in San Francisco.

Another factor working in off-dry Riesling’s favor is its food-friendliness. Quality bottles combine residual sweetness with bright acidity, giving them the ability to complement spice, funk, buttery richness, and all sorts of other flavors. 

This versatility is increasingly important as the types of cuisines being paired with wines in bars and restaurants evolve, says Nikita Malhotra, the partner and wine director of Smithereens in New York City, and the head sommelier for La Paulée. 

“If we went back 30 years ago, the pairing situation was with continental European food,” she says. “We’re now in a place where tasting menus feature food from around the world.” 

Intergenerational Appeal

Analysts have spilled magnums of ink exploring how the wine-drinking habits of Millennials and Gen Z contrast with those of previous generations. One differentiator? A propensity for adventurousness.

 “Younger guests tend to be more willing to try something new and take risks,” says Schwartz. “It also doesn’t hurt that Riesling tends to be quite affordable.”

Stephen Bitterolf, founder of the importer Vom Boden, sees parallels between the ways that Millennials and Gen Z are embracing off-dry Rieslings and Beaujolais. “They have no experience of the DuBoeuf bubblegum Nouveau to sour their impression,” he says. “They just don’t have any of the memories of cheap sweet wine.”

Off-dry Rieslings are lower in alcohol than many dry white wines, and that could buoy their appeal to younger consumers, too, Bitterolf says. 

Evolving Wine Culture 

Others see off-dry Riesling’s growing popularity as an offshoot of the evolution of U.S. wine culture. In previous decades, some of the reticence to embrace off-dry Rieslings was due to people “viewing sweet as bad,” says Alex Cuper, the beverage director of El Che and Brasero in Chicago, IL. 

“Sweet meant the wine was cheap, sweet meant it tasted like candy, sweet meant it was artificial…,” he says. “Now, it’s turned a corner, in a very good way.”

Like understanding that all Chardonnays aren’t butter bombs—and that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying butter bombs—it’s all a sign of market maturation. 

”Sweetness was never really understood in the American public,” says Malhotra. “We didn’t have a lot of wine education because we were coming off of Prohibition, and we were known as the people who drink milk and soda. I think we were running away from the claim that we just like sweet stuff.”

Off-dry Riesling is still a niche corner of the beverage world. But, for those eager to spot good news as the wine business tackles one battle after another, it’s encouraging to see people rethink previous conceptions and reclaim once-maligned styles.

Besides, like rosé and Lambrusco before it, off-dry Riesling has potential to reach new audiences as tastes, trends, and access to quality bottles advance. 

Urbina is keeping the faith. “Just because it’s not people’s first choice doesn’t mean it can’t become people’s first choice,” he says. Change never sounded so sweet.

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Published: April 3, 2026