Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Wine Snob 101.1


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.