Earlier this week, my wife and I had the pleasure of dining with fellow wine-geek and wine-blogger David McDuff and his wife at the center of my Asian-fusion culinary universe, Teikoku.

Aside from generally enjoying each other’s collective company, our get-together had another purpose, which was to (finally, yes, finally) sample some of the wines sent to us via fellow wine-geek and wine-blogger (and fellow currently-suffering-Steelers-fan) Lenn Thompson as part of the Taste NY program.  On deck were six NY Finger Lakes Rieslings, all from different producers, to be evaluated in the only real way that Rieslings can be truly evaluated – in the company of excellent food.  The wines:

• Fox Run Vineyards Riesling 2008 (most surprising value of the night)
• Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling 2007 (worst wine of the night)
• Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling 2007 (best wine of the night)
• Red Newt Cellars Riesling "Reserve" 2006
• Sheldrake Point Vineyard Riesling "Reserve" 2006
• Heron Hill Winery Riesling "Old Vines" 2005

David consistently offers up amazing tasting notes and wine evaluations on his blog, and this event was no exception – earlier this week he posted his thoughts on the six sample bottles that we tasted.  His notes are lucid and entertaining, and he nailed our collective perceptions of the wines that night (the only change I’d make to his observations would be in my personal order of preference, which would have put the Dr. Frank dead last because I’ve had previous vintages of this wine that were excellent, and thus my disappointment level on tasting the `07 was quite high).

What David didn’t mention in his write-up was that he’d kindly brought along a different Riesling for comparison.  Not from the Finger Lakes, at $18 that mystery wine was priced at the lower end of he spectrum of the NY wines on our evaluation list that evening, and it had me rethinking the entire QPR proposition of FLX Rieslings…

The mystery wine was an entry-level offering from Keller, the venerable Rheinhessen producer.  It was clearly a young wine, but with potential to age due to its strong acidity structure, and it positively exploded from the glass with elegant floral characteristics that the Finger Lakes wines lacked.  On the palate, it deftly – almost ‘hand-held’ – guided me through its quince, citrus and acid qualities into a finish that lasted nearly 30 seconds.  In comparison, it made the palate profiles of even the better FLX offerings on the table seem like clumsy grocery clerks spilling their entire grocery bags full of flavors all over the floor of your tongue.

What surprised me the most was how much my ‘QPR meter’ was reset after tasting the Keller.  It’s not that the FLX wines were bad, thought they were certainly different.  But, as David hinted in his recap, it underscored the need for balance.  If you’re going to offer a Riesling wine that is $10 more expensive than that Keller, then you need to deliver the goods.

I’m not questioning the general price-points of Finger Lakes wines, as many of them are of small enough production (taking place under difficult conditions) that a certain price points are needed just to remain viable.  But there is a marked difference between being able to see wine at those prices within the walls of a tasting room, and being able to play competitively in a wider market.

While I was – and remain – genuinely impressed by the continued quality and potential of FLX wines, in my opinion they’re not-quite-there-yet when it comes to offering competitive Riesling alternatives on wine store shelves nationwide.  Whether or not they can do that remains to be seen – but they’re clearly heading in the right direction.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Taste NY: Finger Lakes Riesling Showdown and a Question of Price from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

Tonight marks the finale of the month-long salute to German wines taking place at TasteLive. October has more-or-less been “Riesling Month” for me (not that I don’t drink Riesling pretty much every month) in helping to get the word out about the events being hosted by TasteLive and Wines of Germany. 

Tonight’s twitter tasting event, at 8PM ET, is the final October Wines of Germany tasting event and will feature a handful of bloggers tasting through selections of Schloss Reinhartshausen wines from the Rheingau (the region typically home to Germany’s most austere and powerful Rieslings).  There will be one more public TTL event on Dec. 3rd that will feature a sample of Rieslings from various German producers – that’s one where you will be able to join in and taste; more to come on that from both me and the folks over at TasteLive.  For tonight, you’ll be able to follow along with the tasting action at the TasteLive website, or by following the #TTL search term using your favorite twitter client.

Here’s a bit about tonight’s highlighted producer, as lifted from the TasteLive website:

Schloss Reinhartshausen (Reinhartshausen Castle) has been identified with production of rare and majestic German Rieslings since 1337. Schloss Reinhartshausen embraces 15 separate vineyard sites located in the vicinity of the townships of Erbach and Hattenheim. These include a significant portion of the legendary Grand Cru Erbacher Marcobrunn vineyard, as well as the neighboring Erbacher Schlossberg site in its 15-acre entirety.

More on the wines for tonight’s event are below.  Interestingly, the TasteLive website lists a Trockenbeerenauslese among tonight’s selections, and I received an Auslese (more on those terms can be found here).  Not sure which one is correct.  I don’t have any experience with the wines of Schloss Reinhartshausen – the notes below are not my words but have been taken from the importer’s descriptions, so take those with a grain of salt.  Having said that, the descriptions have certainly whet my appetite…

Fountain Blue Riesling 2007

Current Vintage: 2007
Production:
Varietals: Riesling
Appellation: Rheingau
Price Range: $12-$15

Vinification: The early start of a strictly selective harvest on September 24th produced an average yield with amazing must weights. The gentle treatment and a slow and controlled fermentation of the musts led to a fresh, fruity and stimulating wine with a crisp acidity.

Color: Pale lemon yellow.

Bouquet: Lovely aromas of white peaches, apricots, cassis and honey.

Taste: Delicate flavors of peach, apricot and citrus are uplifted by a bright acidity on the palate.

Alcohol: 12%

Old Vines Riesling 2007

Current Vintage: 2007
Production:
Varietals: Riesling
Appellation: Rheingau
Price Range: $17-$20

Vinification: Despite a wet summer, a sunny September and October brought grapes of exceptional quality. Cool nights ensured preservation of good acidity and an optimal development of aromas. The Hohenrain, located above the old center of Erbach, is situated on a south slope with a gradient of 10%. That guarantees sunlight until the early evening hours. The site is composed of deep loess-loam and tertiary marly soil and is protected from harsh westerly winds by a 10-foot wall.

Color: Pale gold.

Bouquet: Intense fruit aromas of ripe peaches, apricot and yellow citrus fruits.

Taste: A well-integrated palate demonstrates a deft interplay of sweetness and acidity.

Alcohol: 13.1%

Erbach Schlossberg Monopole 2007

Current Vintage: 2007
Production:
Varietals: Riesling
Appellation: Erbach Schlossberg
Price Range: $25-$35

Vinification: The grapes for this wine are exclusively harvested by hand. They are pressed with pneumatic tank presses and the must is filtered through special juice channels during this procedure. The fermentation is temperature-controlled to maintain the vibrant aromas of the grapes. The temperature is kept low with a special cooling system for the tanks. Fermentation lasts 8-10 days.

Color: Lemon yellow

Bouquet: Fragrant aromas of citrus fruits

Taste: A full-bodied wine, redolent of white peach and exotic fruits

Alcohol: 13.5%

Erbacher Marcobrunn Trockenbeerenauslese 2006 (???)

Current Vintage: 2006
Production:
Varietals: Riesling
Appellation: Erbacher Marcobrunn
Price Range:

Vinification: The Marcobrunn vineyard site has a slightly inclined southern aspect in Erbach. This vineyard is widely regarded as the best and most famous site in all of Germany and guarantees top premium wines. The noble TBA wines come from strictly selected botrytised grapes. The immediate treating of the grapes is very important in order to keep the wines clear and to preserve their natural aromas and flavors.

Color: Gold.

Bouquet: Profoundly fragrant aromas of lychee, ginger and peach.

Taste: The aromas of lychee, ginger and peach are confirmed on the palate and linger on a long, unforgettable finish.

Hope to see you on twitter tonight!

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at TasteLive German Wines Finale – Tonight 8PM ET from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

At this point, most anyone who has listened to me speak (or read my blog posts) about Riesling for more than six seconds is (painfully) aware of my love-affair with the noble wine grape, I consider it probably the greatest white wine variety due to its uncanny ability to retain a signature while also elegantly translating a sense of place as purely as the best red wine grapes, blah blah blah…

Truth be told, even I’m getting sick of hearing about how great I think Riesling is.

Having said that… I cannot resist the temptation to relay some interesting facts about how Riesling is able to translate a sense of place so well.

You see, I’ve been sitting on a book (well, not literally sitting on it, just waiting to read it… ah, forget it…) that I received as a sample from the Wines of Germany folks during my trip to German wine country earlier this year.  The book is a bit of a sleeper – it’s dry reading, oscillates wildly between wine-geek information on Riesling, producer profiles, and beginner’s guide takes on how to enjoy Riesling wine.  It’s also translated a bit awkwardly from the German, which means the English version reads with an odd cadence and uses the word “indeed” multiple times in the same sentence – as in

“Indeed, what I am about to write in this sentence is indeed going to reinforce what was stated in the sentence prior to this one!”

No surprise then that this book isn’t exactly lighting up the Amazon.com sales rank charts (currently, it’s at number 2,832,386).

But, that doesn’t stop the book, titled simply Riesling, by Chrstina Fischer and Ingo Swoboda, from delivering a masterstroke of Riesling wine appreciation.  At least, it did for me. (Indeed) Chapter three of Riesling is (indeed) so freakin’ awesome that I’m going to summarize a large section of it, because it provides what might be the most eloquent overview of the link between Riesling wine aromas and soil types that I’ve ever seen.

(Indeed) It’s like the f—king Rosetta Stone for translating Riesling soil types!

And that is enough to get any Riesling wine geek’s mouth watering (Indeed!)…

I don’t know where/when/how Swoboda and Fischer performed the research to draw their conclusions on how soil types link up to the aromas found in Riesling wines, but from my experience the conclusions found in Riesling are spot-on (at least when it comes to classic examples of the wine from Germany’ and Alsace).

Without further ado – here’s your Riesling to Soil translation table:

As for why those particular soil types impart those particular aromas in the finished wine – well, you’ll have to read Riesling to get that info. (as far as I’m aware, copyright laws still pertain despite liberal misuse of the word “Indeed”).

Cheers (indeed)!

(images: amazon.com)

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Riesling, Rocks, and Magic: The Effects of Soil on Aroma from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!