Riesling’s Word Origin
A map from 1348 of Kintzheim, a village in Alsace, contains the text “zu dem Russelinge” (translation: to the Russelinge)… but it’s not certain that this reference is to Riesling. In Austria, a small stream and a small vineyard are both called Ritzling, and they are claimed locally to have given Riesling its name. But there is no empirical evidence to suggest that either of these mentions is a link to Riesling’s word origin. Finally in 1477, Riesling was documented in Alsace under the spelling Rissling.
