The greatest white wine grape?

Riesling chardonnay has long been one of the favorite wines in the country. Despite the popularity of red wines in the last decade -- the growth in pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc, the high demand for pinot noir, and the popularity of merlot -- we buy more chardonnay than any other grape variety.

Wines labeled chardonnay still represent one bottle in every five varietal wines sold.

So it's curious to chat with winemakers who are all abuzz about riesling, which some consider to be the greatest white wine grape of them all.

You'll get no argument from German winemakers. Germany, the home of riesling, has increased its plantings of this superb variety over the last two decades, and more Riesling is now made in Germany than ever before.

Sadly, however, the same isn't true for the United States, where for decades through the 1970s, and even until recently, the mere mention of the name of the grape caused many people to assume that the wine was sweet, flat and lackluster. And they ignored it.

At this point, only 2 percent of all wine sales in the United States are of wines labeled riesling. And California has only 2,400 acres of the variety. Moreover, the vast majority of people who ask for wine suggestions usually tell me that they don't drink riesling because "it's sweet."

But the greatness of this grape is that the best table wines it makes are usually balanced by great acidity, making the wines not only a perfect entry-level wine for novices, but a great alternative for dry-wine lovers.

And in the last few years, many more buyers are discovering the excellence of the grape variety. Since 2005, U.S. sales of all wines labeled as riesling have risen 54 percent. That, however, is only from stores with scanners. It doesn't factor in sales of riesling at restaurants, in winery tasting rooms, or in hotels.

All this recent interest in riesling wasn't lost on those who make it. Trefethen in the Napa Valley, which makes a stunning dry riesling, is adding 12 acres of the grape, anticipating consumer demand.

Some 15 months ago in a Seattle suburb, eight riesling supporters got together to discuss starting a global support organization for the grape and its wines. Last November, the International Riesling Foundation was formed. Last week, the group released the Riesling Taste Profile, a system for identifying the sweetness in wines from member wineries. I helped create the profile, which helps to simplify what we say about how sweet a riesling really is. After months of discussion, the sweetness scale approved by the IRF board uses four basic terms -- "dry," "medium dry," "medium sweet" and "sweet" -- to define various levels of perceived sweetness.