January 20, 2006 - German Riesling

This tasting, though smallest in number, proved to be the most "fruitful" (luv those puns) tasting yet. This is because: 1) it was more organized than previous tastings; 2) I like to think my "label tutorial" really gave a nice chunk of useful info; 3) to my giddy delight, everyone brought a different QUALITY of Riesling. Let me explain. When making Riesling, the winemaker uses one of many species of Riesling grapes to grow on the vine. Each species has an ideal point of ripeness, and that ripeness is reflected on the bottle with the determinants Kabinett, Spaslese, Auslese and QbA. Each ripeness level determines how sweet and/or full bodied the wine will be. For instance, Kabinett is the least ripe, so it is therefore the crispest and least sweet, or so we can assume from the bottle. In any event, I was ecstatic, and the wines we tasted were simlilar enough to determine a flavor profile, yet different enough to have a favorite.

Now the notes:
We tasted four official wines and one unofficially (more on that later). Starting with the lightest in body and least sweet, we paired them with four cheeses: Le Marechal, a very fruity and full flavored Swiss, Pere Joseph, a creamy young Gouda style, Ricotta, and Cambozola, a creamy mix of gorgonzola-like blue and Camembert with its bloomy rind.
The wines included were:

Carl Reh, Piesporter Goldtropfehen, Kabinett, 2002. Powerful aromas include grapefruit and apple. A very refreshing beverage with obvious sweetness and a good balance of tartness. Fresh pears with ricotta were the winning matches.
Baron Knyphausen, Kiedricher Sandgrub, Spatlese, 2002. An almost undetectable bouquet of citrus was a deceptive beginning to a very flavorful wine. However, the high price of $22 was not representative of this unbalanced wine. It was too acidic, to the point of effervescence. However, it also paired well with the ricotta.
Schlink Haus, Berech Nahetal - Nahe, Auslese, 2003. Golden colored and a light but very pleasant bouquet of citrus as well as golden raisins. On the palate, the citrus came through along with butterscotch. A rich body, quite creamy, but not cloying. The acidity and body were balanced nicely with a heavy does of sweetness. Personally, I loved this with the Cambozola, probably because of the sweetness of the wine and the saltiness of the cheese. This wine was a group favorite overall.
Carl Reh, Rheinhessen, 2004. This wine did not have a qualifier, so the contents inside were a real mystery. A strong bouquet of lime (there's that citrus again!) prologues an acidic, crisp, limestone-heavy wine. This wine seemed to get better as we drank it, and was dubbed "Anthony's Champagne" by the man himself. Probably due to the aforementioned limestone. By this time, the buzz was nice and heavy, and who knows which cheese won out...

We had a fifth wine to try that night. Miss Michelle Marvel happened to have a bottle of Washington state Riesling lying about in the fridge, so we went for it, and compared it to our previous four Germans.

Bonny Doon, Washington, Pacific Rim Dry Riesling, Bonny Donn Vineyard, 2004. Clean aroma, mineral, very light on the fruit. Slightly sweet and acidic. Seemed quite balanced and craving a food pairing. However, as the temperature rose, the flavors went flat, then just kinda, well, yuk. I'm not sure if all Rieslings turn like this one did when it had been out of the fridge for an hour, but the aftertaste was almost bitter, and everything sort of fell apart after that.