They’re not what you’d call similar varietals, and rats have powerful olfaction. It’s not surprising in itself, unless you’re in the habit of thinking of animals as being essentially lesser than humans.
They’re at opposite sides of the sweetness spectrum, they should be distinguishable by sugar content alone.
Riesling can be anywhere in the sweetness scale, both can be equally dry.
Even Trocken is still sweeter than I’d associate with a Sauvignon Blanc, and if they’re just calling it “Riesling” it’s probably a Spatlese or something.
Any Riesling from Alsace will be XD.
But, do they know what to pair them with?
A good Ig Nobel contender here
surprised the rats don’t just have one sniff and bite the researchers in the finger, wine smells offensive to my dinky-ass sense of smell, i can only imagine what a punch it must be to a rat