Cooking
Scott Rowson and Phil Beckman took me up on my offer to host tasting notes from the blogless for Wine Blogging Wednesday. They tasted four wines, including an Alsatian one as a control. They even included a Maryland Riesling. I interspersed their photos throughout the text, but otherwise left it as is (save for removing extra blank lines and making funny characters HTML friendly). Thanks for participating, guys! A friend of mine and I convened yesterday to taste three New World Rieslings. Just for fun (and for frame of reference) we threw in an Old World example as well. The wines were:
Alsace, France
$10 We started with this one for two reasons. One, it was the only one we had cold. And two, it was likely to be the driest...was assuming going dry to sweet would be the way to go. Both Phil and I really enjoyed this Riesling. Vibrant floral nose, light and minerally on the tongue. Very enjoyable wine. Went well with the sushi platter we polished off, though as the wasabi kicked in, there was some conflict on the finish. Neither of us minded this effect, and we both found it interesting...but not sure if it's desirable to the general public. May be that you need more sweetness to fight off the spice. Who knows?
Willamette Valley, OR
$12 Billed as a semi-dry Riesling, this one went well with the relatively mild gorgonzola cheese I had. Also didn't mind it too much with the asiago, but didn't work particularly well with saltier cheeses (pecorino, parmigiano). Fuller-bodied and well-layered, we agreed this was a wine of character.
Maryland
$??? For an even heavier-bodied Riesling, this wine was demonstrably more pale than the others. Don't know if that's standard for Riesling, but I'd assume darker = fuller-bodied. We tasted lots of apple and pear with this, I also got some caramel on the finish. We were snacking on McIntosh apples and gorgonzola cheese at this point, which went well together. Phil is from Maryland so he had the good idea to try a native Riesling. An enjoyable wine.
Central Coast, CA
$11 This "dry Riesling" was the only one neither of us cared for greatly. More of a medium-bodied wine, this one lacked any depth. Phil made a comment that this was appropriate given the origin (CA), but by now the wine was talking for us a bit. Grassier in color, this one had very little nose to speak of. Easily the most boring of all. Synopsis:
We were both grateful for the nudge in trying out a grape we don?t often bring home from the store. And the remarkable diversity between Rieslings was readily apparent. I personally would lean towards the more Alsatian in character, but the semi-sweetness of the Montinore would work really well with sushi, turkey, stir-fries, etc.
- Wtn: 2005 Standing Stone Vineyards Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York State
I have a back-burner plan to tour New York's Finger Lakes region. I want to visit the closest thing I have to a holy place, and I want to taste an abundance of what many critics consider America's best Riesling. The state's deep lakes, scratched...
- Wbw 21/imbb 26: Merkelbach Riesling Kabinett
Do I have a favorite wine? Something to use for the "Pair your favorite wine with food" slant of this month's joint edition of Is My Blog Burning and Wine Blogging Wednesday? My favorite wine varies with the week, but given my recent article and my...
- Wbw 4: The Round-up
Ugh! Yeah! That pretty much sums up the reactions to my Wine Blogging Wednesday theme of New World Riesling. Some participants kept an open mind, but people in general feel strongly about this grape and its expressions in the New World. Some described...
- Wine Blogging Wednesday 4: New World Riesling
Some consider Spy Valley Wines to be one of New Zealand's best-kept secrets, which is perhaps appropriate given the winery's name, derived from Wairau Valley's nickname—a government satellite communications monitoring facility dominates...
- Riesling Goes Well With Turkey
Just a reminder, everyone: Wine Blogging Wednesday is December 1, just one week from today. The theme is New World Riesling. Find yourself a bottle before then and post your thoughts about it on December 1 (or email them to me on that date or sooner,...
Cooking
Wine Blogging Wednesday 4: New World Riesling (Rowson/Beckman)
Scott Rowson and Phil Beckman took me up on my offer to host tasting notes from the blogless for Wine Blogging Wednesday. They tasted four wines, including an Alsatian one as a control. They even included a Maryland Riesling. I interspersed their photos throughout the text, but otherwise left it as is (save for removing extra blank lines and making funny characters HTML friendly). Thanks for participating, guys! A friend of mine and I convened yesterday to taste three New World Rieslings. Just for fun (and for frame of reference) we threw in an Old World example as well. The wines were:
Alsace, France
$10 We started with this one for two reasons. One, it was the only one we had cold. And two, it was likely to be the driest...was assuming going dry to sweet would be the way to go. Both Phil and I really enjoyed this Riesling. Vibrant floral nose, light and minerally on the tongue. Very enjoyable wine. Went well with the sushi platter we polished off, though as the wasabi kicked in, there was some conflict on the finish. Neither of us minded this effect, and we both found it interesting...but not sure if it's desirable to the general public. May be that you need more sweetness to fight off the spice. Who knows?
Willamette Valley, OR
$12 Billed as a semi-dry Riesling, this one went well with the relatively mild gorgonzola cheese I had. Also didn't mind it too much with the asiago, but didn't work particularly well with saltier cheeses (pecorino, parmigiano). Fuller-bodied and well-layered, we agreed this was a wine of character.
Maryland
$??? For an even heavier-bodied Riesling, this wine was demonstrably more pale than the others. Don't know if that's standard for Riesling, but I'd assume darker = fuller-bodied. We tasted lots of apple and pear with this, I also got some caramel on the finish. We were snacking on McIntosh apples and gorgonzola cheese at this point, which went well together. Phil is from Maryland so he had the good idea to try a native Riesling. An enjoyable wine.
Central Coast, CA
$11 This "dry Riesling" was the only one neither of us cared for greatly. More of a medium-bodied wine, this one lacked any depth. Phil made a comment that this was appropriate given the origin (CA), but by now the wine was talking for us a bit. Grassier in color, this one had very little nose to speak of. Easily the most boring of all. Synopsis:
We were both grateful for the nudge in trying out a grape we don?t often bring home from the store. And the remarkable diversity between Rieslings was readily apparent. I personally would lean towards the more Alsatian in character, but the semi-sweetness of the Montinore would work really well with sushi, turkey, stir-fries, etc.
- Wtn: 2005 Standing Stone Vineyards Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York State
I have a back-burner plan to tour New York's Finger Lakes region. I want to visit the closest thing I have to a holy place, and I want to taste an abundance of what many critics consider America's best Riesling. The state's deep lakes, scratched...
- Wbw 21/imbb 26: Merkelbach Riesling Kabinett
Do I have a favorite wine? Something to use for the "Pair your favorite wine with food" slant of this month's joint edition of Is My Blog Burning and Wine Blogging Wednesday? My favorite wine varies with the week, but given my recent article and my...
- Wbw 4: The Round-up
Ugh! Yeah! That pretty much sums up the reactions to my Wine Blogging Wednesday theme of New World Riesling. Some participants kept an open mind, but people in general feel strongly about this grape and its expressions in the New World. Some described...
- Wine Blogging Wednesday 4: New World Riesling
Some consider Spy Valley Wines to be one of New Zealand's best-kept secrets, which is perhaps appropriate given the winery's name, derived from Wairau Valley's nickname—a government satellite communications monitoring facility dominates...
- Riesling Goes Well With Turkey
Just a reminder, everyone: Wine Blogging Wednesday is December 1, just one week from today. The theme is New World Riesling. Find yourself a bottle before then and post your thoughts about it on December 1 (or email them to me on that date or sooner,...