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Sweet, White Wine at High-Quality Restaurant in DC or Northern Virginia


Genevieve

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I'll be taking my visiting father to dinner for his birthday, and I'm looking at restaurants like Garrison and Convivial (and Rasika, which he loved when I took him there) -- top-notch food (better than he can get in the town where he lives, and which he would enjoy very much), with very good vegetable dishes/sides/components, and plenty of options that aren't too rich as he often doesn't want that.

He likes very sweet white wines, the kind most people think of as dessert wines. I know nothing about wine as I can't drink it, but I've heard him be happy about Auslese, Spatlese, and Eiswein, and be unhappy when offered a Zinfandel as the sweetest option.  Normally I would choose the restaurant by the food, but since it's his celebration, I'd like to find a place with wine he'd enjoy and which would put him in a good mood.

If you have any suggestions for a restaurant (DC or NoVa) that might have such wine available by the glass (as neither I nor my husband would be sharing it), I'd be grateful!  We would not want a place that only has a prix fixe menu, as all of us like to choose a la carte.

I see that Proof has a sweet/dessert wine section, but only listed by the bottle - I could call them and see if they sell it by the glass as well.  But Proof would not be my first choice in terms of the menu.

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Any German Riesling that isn't marked Trocken (dry) or Halbtrocken (semi-dry) will fit the bill, and they're all over the place.

Restaurants that have these tend *not* to be French, Spanish, or Italian, as these types of wines go best with foods without butter, cream, or tomatoes.

Why *not* Rasika?

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Rasika would be great - I just didn't know if the wines they listed included sweet wines, since I have zero expertise. Thank you!!

Yes, a Riesling or Gewurztraminer, or even a Muscat (the last two often being sweet in the bouquet more than the taste, lending a "perceived sweetness" rather than an "actual sweetness") will serve you well, and Rasika (and Rasika West End) does just fine with these. Just make sure to tell the bartender what you're looking for.

I haven't been to Zaytinya in awhile, but knowing ThinkFoodGroup's Wine Director, you shouldn't have any problem finding a Riesling on the menu there, either.

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Garrison lists a Riesling "Weingut Zilliken, Butterfly, Mosel, 2014", but when I google, it's called "off-dry". Does that mean not truly sweet?

(Rasika is a very strong possibility, but ideally I'd offer him a choice of two places.)

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