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Celebrate Riesling!
I have to admit, I’m missing most of the grape holidays lately. While checking the Twitter feed today, I was surprised to find out that today we celebrate International Riesling Day. Considering the fact that I never wrote a post about Riesling Day, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to reminisce about my Riesling experiences.
Riesling is one of the 3 main white grape varieties – Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. Of course, there are lots more white grape varieties in the world, but in terms of plantings and production volumes, these three grapes are way ahead of all other white grapes. However, despite the “main variety” consideration, Riesling’s position in the wine world is rather peculiar.
Riesling is capable of a full range of expressions, from bone dry and acidic Rieslings of the Clare Valley in Australia to the dense and viscous late harvest Rieslings made in different parts of the world. Germany, which has about 38% of all Riesling plantings in the world, is typically associated with Riesling – however, there is hardly a wine-producing region in the world where Riesling wines are not made – Germany, Austria, Alsace, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, California, Washington, Oregon, New York – Riesling is literally produced everywhere. And yet walk into any wine store of your choosing – Riesling is typically relegated to the far corner of the store which almost nobody would visit. You can barely find any Riesling on the restaurant’s wine lists. And many consumers are often shy about their love for Riesling as it is almost shameful to be seen with a glass of Riesling in public.
I don’t fully understand the cause of this phenomenon. Germany’s overcomplicated labeling laws might play a role. The fact that it is very difficult to assess the level of sweetness of a bottle of Riesling also plays a role – put a few of the Kabinett Rieslings in the row and see how different the sweetness levels will be where you expect them all to be about the same.
But those of us who trust our own palate and are not afraid of being seen with a glass of Riesling in our hand are typically in for a treat. The everpresent hint of honey, maybe pears, white flowers, and honeysuckle, supported by the cleansing acidity, and hopefully my favorite, a hint of petrol make these wines an absolute delight in my book. Most of the Rieslings also age very well – to understand the pleasure of the 20-30 years old Riesling you simply need to taste one for yourself – the words are very limited in describing the pleasure.
Over the years, I had plenty of delicious Rieslings. And yet if you would ask about the most memorable ones, I would easily give you 3. First, Brooks Ara Riesling from Oregon, which I tasted during a few of the Wine Bloggers Conferences – a pure standout. My next choice would be Smith-Madrone Riesling, which is rather surprising coming from Spring Mountain District in Napa Valley in California – nobody would ever associate California with Riesling, and yet you have a live, delicious proof.
And then, of course, there are Clare Valley Rieslings from Australia. Grosset Polish Hill Riesling from Clare Valley might be a quintessential pleasure, with its high energy, brilliant acidity, intertwined with the fruit – another wine that needs to be tasted to believe it.
I have come across many other excellent renditions of Riesling, but the three I just mentioned are definitely my personal standouts.
What do you think of Rieslings? Do you have your favorite Rieslings which you care to share with everyone?
Happy Reisling Day!
Good When Young, Good With Age
It’s what you crave, people.
And right now, I’m craving Riesling.
Wine cravings are an interesting phenomenon. Or not. I guess food cravings work in exactly the same way. It appears to be all of a sudden, the desire for a certain food – french fries (oh wait, I always crave french fries), fried chicken, steak, scallops, lasagna, broccoli (really, you say? Yep, I can bet someone is craving broccoli right now). Is it really so unprovoked, so out of blue, or is it our subconscious at play here, collecting little cues here and there?
It is getting warm now, but that alone is not the reason to crave Riesling. But what if I read about other people enjoying the Riesling, with food and without – would that count as an invisible cue? I don’t know, but I can clearly imagine myself with a glass of cold Riesling in hand, don’t even need to close my eyes.
In the world of white wine, Riesling is unquestionably a part of “big three” – Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. At the same time, if you think about typical wine store, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc would take the prime real estate, the most central position on the shelves – and Riesling would be typically relegated to the far-most corner, with a little “Germany” sign next to it, or maybe in the “other whites” section. And it is a pity because scandalously delicious Riesling is produced practically everywhere – Alsace, Australia (Grosset would be an amazing example), New Zealand, Israel, California (how about some Smith-Madrone), Oregon (Brooks Rieslings are sublime), Washington (Chateau Ste. Michelle does an excellent job), and I’m not even talking about New York state or Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada.
It is not only the hedonistic pleasure that the glass of well-made Riesling readily delivers on its own. Riesling is one of the most versatile food wines – it pairs well with a wide range of dishes and cuisines. And then Riesling has an ability to age not just well, but extremely well. Let’s bring back again the big three. Yes, you can age many of the Chardonnay wines, but rarely for 30, 40, 50 years – I’m sure there are some exceptions, probably in Burgundy, but still, this is not common. Sauvignon Blanc would fare even worse than Chardonnay. But well-made Riesling? 30 years will not be even the age – it will be still youthful and vibrant, with ease.
I didn’t have any 30 years old Rieslings recently, but I got two samples with 4 and 8 years of age, and both fared equally well – while even 8 years might be a stretch for many white wines. 2016 Leitz Eins-Zwei-Dry Riesling Trocken Rheingau (12% ABV) was produced by Weingut Leitz, where the family winemaking traditions go back to 1744; 2012 Müller-Catoir Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese Pfalz (9% ABV) was produced at the Weingut Müller-Catoir which, interestingly enough, was also founded in 1744.
It is interesting that both wines were produced at the wineries with the 9th generation of winemakers (duh – the wineries were founded in the same year, I know). Both wines are pure Riesling wines, both come from the hillside vineyards with some unimaginable slopes. 2016 Riesling is designated as dry, and 2012 is a Spätlese-level, which means that the grapes had a higher sugar content when harvested.
I’m sure you wonder how were the wines? Well, yes, both were delicious. Both were a characteristic Riesling, with honey, honeysuckle, and a touch of lemon on the nose. Of course, Spätlese was sweeter, but not by much. And it is always the acidity which makes or breaks Riesling – both wines showed perfectly balancing, fresh, vibrant acidity. Bottom line – both were equally delicious and ready to be enjoyed on their own or support any food. As for the age… what age? I will be happy to try both in 10 (or 20) years – and I’m sure I would enjoy them very much.
What is your take on Riesling? Do you have any favorites wines or regions? Do tell! Cheers!
Open That Bottle Night 2017 – What A Night!
Let’s say you have a bottle of an excellent wine. Do you know how to make it better than it is? I guarantee you this works every time, so listen carefully. You share it with a friend. Yes, that makes any excellent wine into an amazing one. Works like a charm.
Saturday, February 25th was Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) – the night when there is no bottle in your cellar which is off limits. If you are not familiar with OTBN, you can read more here. What made my OTBN twice as special was the visit by Oliver and his wife Nina.
For me, the decisions around wine are never easy. I typically buy wine in the single bottle quantities (okay, maybe four at the most, when I need to get a free shipping from WTSO) – thus any bottle can qualify as a special one. As an exception to my long and almost painful decision process, for this OTBN I had a very clear idea – 1982 Olga Raffault Chinon, of which I had a single bottle. The bottle out of the wine fridge and ready for the prime time.
This is what I was looking at after cutting the top foil:
As you can tell, this is not very encouraging. However, if you like older wines and get an opportunity to open them, you know that the state of the top of the cork is nothing to fret about. More often than not, behind most terrible looking mildew there is a delicious wine.
As this was 35 years old wine, I didn’t want to take any chances and used the two-prong opener to pull the cork out. This turned out to be an unnecessary precaution – while cork looked red throughout, it was perfectly firm and came out as a single piece without any crumbling – here is our OTBN corks collection, the red one is the one I’m talking about:
And for the wine… what can I tell you… This 1982 Olga Raffault “Les Picasses” Chinon, Loire looked perfectly fresh in the glass – not a sign of losing color. Here are the two glasses, one is with 1982 Cabernet Franc, the second one is with 2014 – care to guess which glass contains 1982?
Yes, the one on the left is with 1982 wine, but I believe you would agree that the color shows perfectly young. The nose and the palate were an incredible study in Cabernet Franc flavor profile 101. The wine opened full of bell pepper – both on the nose and the palate. In about 10 minutes, the bell pepper was gone – and what was left was pure, unadulterated black currant – stunning, full flavorful black currant, also known as cassis if we want to use traditional French terminology. The wine had perfect structure, firm, with fresh acidity, almost crisp – and loads and loads of black currant. This was truly a treat.
We followed with a beautiful rendition of Ruchè – 2012 Poggio Ridente Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG San Marziano (organic grapes). Ruchè is a little known red grape, cultivated in the Monferrato region in Piedmont, capable of making very concentrated wines. This particular bottle, brought by Oliver and Nina directly from Italy, was fresh and open, with nicely restrained palate with mostly herbal flavors, and a twist – dried mango undertones. Nina was the one to identify the dried mango, while I was desperately trying to figure out what that strange flavor was – but that was a spot-on descriptor. An outstanding wine by all means.
Our next wine was 1989 Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Auslese Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. No issues with the cork (makes me happy). Still fresh, clean light golden color (28-years old wine!). The nose and the palate were singing in unison here, and the music was simple – peaches and apricots. Slightly underripe peaches and fresh, plump apricots. The balance of sweetness and acidity was impeccable – the wine was fresh and alive, without any sign of age. Wow.
As an added bonus, the grapes for this wine were harvested in November of 1989 – the year and a month when Berlin Wall was demolished – and this is what the label of this wine commemorates.
Our OTBN night didn’t finish there. You would expect us to go to something nice and sweets after such a beautiful Riesling, right? In the conversation, it came out that Oliver doesn’t like Tempranillo wines. Being a Spanish wine buff, I had to fix that immediately, so I had to pull out the big guns. 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Rioja Reserva Especial was absolutely beautiful from the get-go – cedar box and eucalyptus on the nose, soft and gentle cherries on the palate, fresh, round. I hope I made Oliver a convert – but will see about that the next time we will meet.
There you are, my friends. A stunning OTBN with great wines and great company. Hope you enjoyed your OTBN as much as we did – feel free to share your OTBN stories below. Cheers!
Remembering Last Summer – Fero Vineyards in Pennsylvania
Does it make sense to write about a winery visit a year after? Well, I will leave you to ponder at that question, and will just go ahead with my post.
We have a tradition which we keep going for many years now – adults getaway. One weekend in August, we all get together for the two days of food, wines, laughter and simply enjoying each other’s company. These trips usually take place within reasonable driving distance (3 hours or less) for all people in the group (we all live in a close proximity to the New York city), and winery is always a good choice for the first stop.
Lucky for us, oenophiles, the wine bug caught up everywhere in the US, so there is no shortage of interesting wineries to visit along the East Coast of the United States. Our choice last year was the winery in Central Pennsylvania, called Fero Vineyards and Winery. The choice was not random – one of the grapes they use in the wine production is Saperavi. This is definitely not a common choice – however, a rapidly (I think) growing trend among Eastern USA winemakers, in Finger lakes and other regions. Having been exposed to many amazing Georgian wines, where Saperavi is a king, I was very intrigued at a perspective of tasting the local rendition of such wines.
Had all the arrangements made to meet with Chuck Zaleski, a winery owner and winemaker at Fero. Chuck was taking time for this off his busy schedule, as he was participating in the town fair where he was pouring his wines.
Just curious – do you think everything is going boringly well, or do you expect a twist in this story?
So yes, the twist happened – in the form of a flat tire. About 70 miles down the road, the familiar sound appeared – anyone who had a flat tire knows what I’m talking about; if you never had one – keep it this way. Not a problem, I thought – while the spare tire is very awkwardly located in Toyota Sienna, under the cabin floor, right in a middle – at least I knew where it was. Next ten minutes of jumping around the car ended up in a grim realization – the spare tire was not there. Angry call to the dealer (luckily, it was Saturday) lead to a discovery – all wheel drive Toyota Sienna cars don’t have a spare tire as there is no space for it – instead, they are equipped with run-flats. To make long story short, after arriving with the smoldering tire to the closest dealership and waiting for about 3 hours, we were able to get on our way (of course I fully realize this was still a very lucky outcome).
As we were at least 3 hours behind the schedule, the decision had to be made – should we visit Fero (Chuck, of course, was not there) or forget it all together, just drive to our B&B and relax after such an ordeal. I’m glad the love of wine prevailed and we decided to stop by the Fero Vineyards first.
If you will look at the line up of the Fero Vineyards wines, you would find the closest match in Germany or Austria – of course with the addition of Saperavi. Despite the fact that we didn’t manage to meet with Chuck, he still took care of us, by leaving a bottle of Saperavi for us to taste, as the winery was sold out of their last vintage. We tasted through almost a complete portfolio of Fero wines, so here are the highlights for what I liked the most (as usual, there were too many wines, too little time):
2013 Fero Vineyards Grüner Veltliner Pennsylvania – dry, crisp
2013 Fero Vineyards Dry Riesling Pennsylvania – German style, nice minerality, good fruit
2013 Fero Vineyards Pint Noir Pennsylvania – dry, classic nose, crisp, very nice
2013 Fero Vineyards 1812 Lemberger Pennsylvania – crisp, crushed red fruit, pepper
2012 Fero Vineyards Pinot Gris Pennsylvania – nice, simple
2014 Fero Vineyards Pinot Noir Rosé Pennsylvania – residual sweetness, light, balanced, excellent overall
2014 Fero Vineyards Semi-dry Riesling Pennsylvania – excellent, nice touch of sweetness
Fero Vineyards Concord Pennsylvania Table Wine – yes, this is rather sweet, but if you like Concord, this was a classic, restrained and delicious
2013 Fero Vineyards Pinot Gris Pennsylvania – crisp, minerality, excellent
2013 Fero Vineyards Estate Lemberger Pennsylvania – roasted fruit, good concentration, excellent
Fero Vineyards Late Harvest Riesling Pennsylvania – nice touch of petrol, good touch of sweetness, excellent overall
2013 Fero Vineyards Saperavi Pennsylvania – excellent, nice concentration, tannins, crushed blackberries, pepper notes
I’m definitely intrigued by this Saperavi wine. Fero Saperavi has a character of its own, as you can see from my tasting notes above. I would love to taste it side by side with its Georgian counterparts, of course blind. And let’s keep in mind that Saperavi grows in the Balkans (never tasted it), Finger Lakes (also never tasted it), and probably some other places I can’t even think of. Can someone please put together an exciting blind tasting? Or this might be a great subject for the #winestudio session…
Well, I still have a few bottles of Fero wines left, including 2013 Saperavi (courtesy of Chuck, yes) – but I want to give it at least a few more years. See, this is how oenophiles build their excitement…
And we are done here. If you are looking for the great East Coast wines, Fero Vineyards must be on your short list. And who knows, may be you will be lucky enough to taste their Saperavi. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Transportation Challenge Round Up, Cabernet Day, Can We Resurrect #WBW?
Meritage Time!
Let’s start with the answers for the wine quiz #64, Grape Trivia – Riesling. In that quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions regarding Riesling grape.
Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Riesling is a very popular grape in US and Canada, growing in many regions. Considering the plantings of the Riesling in the regions, can you sort the list below from the biggest area plantings to the smallest?
a. California, b. New York, c. Ontario, Canada, d. State of Washington
A1:correct sequence is Washington, California, Ontario, New York
Q2: Have you heard the term “noble rot”, which is often associated with certain types of Riesling? Can you explain what this term means and to which Riesling wines it is typically applicable (at least in Germany)?
A2: Noble Rot is actually a grape fungus, officially called Botrytis Cinerea, which affects a number of different grapes and leads to subsequent shriveling (drying) of the grapes while on the vine. This drying of the grapes tremendously concentrates sugars, which allows for the grapes to be used in production of the sweetest of all Rieslings – Trockenberenauslese.
Q3: Riesling is known for sometimes developing a specific aroma which has typically nothing to do with the wine – but it is not a fault. Do you know what aroma is that?
A3: Petrol. Believe it or not, but many Riesling wines (in some rare cases, even Riesling wines outside of Germany) can develop this petrol aroma. It is usually perceived only on the nose, and it doesn’t give you a feeling of being at the gas station – it is just a light hint, but when it is present, you can safely guess your wine being Riesling even in the blind tasting.
Q4: Name one major(!) wine producing country which doesn’t produce any Riesling wines.
A4: Spain. Spain is a home to the plenty of wonderful white grapes – but it doesn’t produce any Rieslings at all.
Q5: If you look at the bottle of German Riesling, you will typically see the word such as Kabinett or Spatlese written on the label. Such words typically indicate the level of sweetness you should expect from wine – even though this is not a precise definition, as these words only indicate sugar amount in the freshly pressed grape juice – the level of sugar in the resulting wine can be quite different depending on the way the fermentation is done. Can you sort the following list of these key indicators from the lowest sugar content to the highest?
a. Auslese, b. Berenauslese, c. Eiswein, d. Kabinett, e. Spatlese, f. Trockenberenauslese
A5:The correct line up is Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Berenauslese/Eiswein, Trockenberenauslese (if you need full level of details, you can always go to Wikipedia).
It seems that the first question proved to be most challenging of all, as nobody was able to provide the right answer – as the result, we don’t have a winner this week. At the same time, The Wine Getter and Foxress both get an honorable mention with 4 correct answers out of 5.
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and web!
First of all, I want to bring to your attention a roundup of a Monthly Wine Blogging Challenge started by Jeff (a.k.a. The Drunken Cyclist). About a month or so ago, Jeff announced a wine blogging challenge based on the theme, similar to the challenges which are popular among photography bloggers. The first theme was Transportation, and the idea was to write the wine blog post which would relate to the designated theme. 10 wine bloggers participated in this challenge, and you can find links to all the blogs posts in this round up. I think this is a great idea and I hope more wine bloggers will participate next time.
Who remembers the Wine Blogging Wednesdays (#WBW)? Similar to the challenge I mentioned above, the WBW events had a theme, which in the most cases was a grape, a type of wine or a wine region, and they also had a host. The host was typically the one who suggested the original theme, and also it was the host’s job to provide a roundup of all the submitted blog posts. These #WBW events had a very good run of almost 8 years, and there was a dedicated web site which is still somewhat accessible. I think it might be cool to bring the #WBW events back – in case you experienced any of them, feel free to comment – do you think Wine Blogging Wednesday events should be resurrected?
Last but not least – the Cabernet Day is coming! Well, not tomorrow – but August 29th is the day. And you know how it works – the summer will be over in a blink, so it is never to early to prepare for celebration of such a noble grape as Cabernet. Here is the link to the invitation I received for the this Cabernet Day – join the festivities!
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is is empty – but more Meritage is coming. Cheers!