It's the inaugural post from the inaugural BR wine club! Look for monthly notes from your friendly southern Wine Snobs.
Each month, maybe more, we'll pick a theme, pack over some bottles and compare. In honor of the nearing summer solstice and the sudden Louisiana summer heat wave, it's Riesling Riesling Riesling!
Cupcake Riesling $14.99 ish
(check/check -)
Columbia Valley 2009 (13.5%)
nose: green apple, orange blossom, honeysuckle, peach, stemmy straw
mouth: citrus, grapefruit, sour apple, gooseberry, lemon?
This has a strong attack and a mellow fruity aftertaste. It was one of the drier ones we tasted with more of an in-your-face sauvignon blanc tartness than I expect from a Riesling. Perhaps a little imbalanced. Sort of like that guy who talks too much cuz he's insecure. He'll flirt his face off at a party, make you laugh, dance on the table, but don't be fooled. You're gonna have to make all the first moves.
Chateau Ste. Michele “Dry Riesling” $8.99 ish
(check/check -)
Columbia Valley 2008 (13%)
nose: banana, white cherry, pine, round and warm
mouth: eucalyptus, pepper, apricot, vanilla on the finish
A bigger, softer wine with solid peachy Riesling fruit set off by a peppery bite. Like a scoop of sherbert with pop-rocks on top.
Trimbach $22 ish
(check +)
Alsace 2007 (12.5%)
nose: moldy (cheese), wet wool, peach, apricot, faint blossom
mouth: lavender, soy sauce, geranium, orange blossom
This one is smooth smooth smooth with a bit of bite at the end. An acerbic wit, a sardonic soft-talker. You won't realize what she was really saying until you've already turned away. A Redstar Bar hipster. She only listens to early 80s cure. And you just can't get enough.
Pacific Rim $10.39 ish
(check)
California I-just-totally-spaced-on-the-year-here? (12.5%)
nose: orange zest, soap, wet cardboard, computer paper in your mouth, melon, peach, kerosene!
mouth: barnyard straw, dried apricot, bing cherries, cooked green beans
Totally surprised me based on the non-standard bottle, the cheesy looking label. A really interesting balance of fruit and other. Not overbearing. Not so cutesy. You go back. You go back.
"It's the velveteen rabbit! It's Blonde Redhead!"
Schloss Vollards Qualitätiswein $16.99 ish
(check -)
Rheingau (10.5%)
nose: honey, grass stemmy, perfume-y floral
mouth: honey, fake grape, peach nectar, pepper?
“It's like eating a popsicle on a dock on a summer evening.”
Clean Slate $11.99 ish
(check -)
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2008 (10.5%)
nose: green apple, yellow raisin, horse, campfire, menthol, slate?
nose: green apple jolly rancher, (sweet), grapefruit on the end
This wine tastes like "colors."
Riesling Qualitätiswein $?
(check -)
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2007 (9.5%)
nose: butterscotch.
mouth: vanilla. One note. We got bored.
Tastes like grandma, plastic couch covers and perfume. Tastes like the night before your quinceÑera.
(And that's all she wrote. Are we drunk?)
Selbach-Oster Kabinett $17.99
(check +)
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2008 (9%)
nose: gasoline, wet dog, burnt sugar, pickled okra, clay, anise, lavender, peach?
mouth: honey, grapefruit, pineapple
This one seemed the most characteristically Riesling, and had the roundest, most complex flavor. A well-fed, well-travled gentleman with a very nice pocket watch who likes to hand out cigars.
