Great Wine Value: Clean Slate riesling

There's something about lightweight, off-dry white wines that seems to suit this shoulder season, when the line between winter and spring begins to blur.

This classy German Riesling is a perfect example of the style, featuring the sweet-tart zing of green apples and a mouthwatering resonance after each sip that piques the appetite and refreshes the senses.

Lightly sweet wines of this style are not made from the sweetest grapes, but rather from less-sweet grapes harvested before they are fully ripe and not fermented to completion.

That's why they are a specialty of some of the coldest regions, like Germany's Mosel valley near Cologne, why they are so low in alcohol, and why their flavors often feature a tinge of green herbs or white flowers.

Perhaps that's also why they come to mind in March, when spring shoots and blooms start to emerge.

Try this one with prosciutto and endive, or Vietnamese spring rolls.

Clean Slate Riesling, $9.99 (regularly $12.99, sale price through April 2);  PLCB Item #5964;  http://cleanslatewine.com/trade.php