July (AND August!) Wine Focus: Riesling Around the World

2012 Selbach Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spaetlese Trocken*:
Showing a bit of golden maturity and a tiny bit of petrol on the nose, this is an intense and tounge-coating wine. Very nervy and mineral with lime, kiwi and pink grapefruit. Great finish. Keep or drink, a nice food wine, and a good argument for dry Riesling from the Mosel. Excellent value too @ $18. 13% abv.

Was just going to post Joe and saw your TN. Your choice is certainly a better bet than my Alkoomi..when the heck this will show I am not sure .

2010 Alkoomi Riesling Frankland River, South West Australia.

Nose was not at all fragrant, mineral tones and citrus. Some gasolein here too. Initial entry thought was "is this a Pewsey Vale?" Bone dry, high level of acidity, grapefruit, lengthy but need some hint of ripe fruit too. Pork tenderloin was not a good match.

Envious of your choice Joe even though it seemed dry..but heck yours had some kiwi!

Frankland River is a region I don't know at all - I don't drink a lot of Australian wine. I have had a number of Eden Valley Rieslings, mostly young ones, and usually find them rather severe. Perhaps I need to try them with some age, but have never had the opportunity.

For my palate, Riesling seems to be what Australia does best. They are mostly reliably dry and, unlike with most other grapes, particularly Shiraz, the Aussies seem to resist the temptation to over-ripeness and over-oaking. I have greatly enjoyed Rieslings from Grosset, Henschke and Frankland Estate, the last of which presumably comes from the same area as Bob's Alkoomi.

1989 Alsace Grand Cru Vorbourg Riesling Selection des Grains Nobles, Clos St. Landelin

Deep gold color. The aroma is a bit shy, with notes of peony and honeysuckle. There is a big burst of complex flavors--various tropical and dried fruits, mostly, with nicely balanced sweetness and lively acidity. You'd never guess that there's also 14% alcohol. A bit too much of the botrytis shoe polish quality for my taste, but it's not off the scale. The finish does a nice peacock tail of apricots and pineapples. This wine is past its peak but still enjoyable, so I would recommend drinking it up. Double Curly.

-Paul W.

Paul,
Is that a René Muré wine? That is an Alsace producer that used to be fairly common in the US, but one I haven't seen for years. Has anyone noticed that the number of Alsace producers available here has really gone down in the last decade or so (coupled with the apparent decline in popularity Alsace wines)? Many shops now seem to carry the low level Trimbach, Hugel or similar, maybe a cheapie co-op wine, or if it an upscale shop a few token bottles from the likes of Boxler or Bott-Geyl.

Has anyone noticed that the number of Alsace producers available here has really gone down in the last decade or so (coupled with the apparent decline in popularity Alsace wines)?

I have noticed that, but don't really have enough historical experience (pre-2000s) to chart much of a trend. I wonder if there has been a growth in the number of German wines/producers on American shelves, eating into some of the neighboring shelf space.

Maybe the number of German labels has pushed out some of the space devoted to Alsace, but large shops (e.g. Century in Rochester, NY during the '80's, which was the best shop around when I was getting into wine) had a decent selection of both. And I think the selection of Austrian wine available has improved. Just to name a few off the top of my head, I can't recall the last time I saw a bottle from Kientzler, Leon Beyer (a good producer for those who complain about RS in Alsace), Schleret, Albert Mann, Schlumberger, Dopff au Moulin or Kuentz-Bas.

Sorry to learn that American consumers are spurning Alsatian offer but that means all the more for us at affordable prices . Perhaps confusion about RS levels in many of their wines has something to do with it. Here we get very little German and Austrian Riesling or any other of their wines but Alsatian is readily available.

I plan an internet purchase of German Riesling (mainly trocken) in the autumn when there is less risk of the bottles' being cooked during transport.

As I say in my post above, the only Riesling readily available here comes from Alsace but that is no hardship at all when they are like this one.

2007 Gustave Lorentz Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim Vieilles Vignes - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru (8/20/2016)
This was one of the last two bottles on the caviste's shelves and my best so far - singing really eloquently; I reproduce my description from nearly 18 months ago almost word for word but somehow there seemed to be something indefinably extra.

There was a lovely bouquet of fresh white fruit and flowers with a sprinkling of spice and hints of mineral and faint petrol. The dry medium bodied palate was softened by a delightful fragrance similar to that from including faint petrol, lively mouth-watering acidity and a nicely firm and long backbone with a saline touch. Excellent.

Posted from CellarTracker

[David M. Bueker]

Nice stuff Tim.

I have found a retailer who will ship to me who carries more from Alsace than just my beloved Trimbach. It's good to be able to enjoy more variety from a region I enjoy so much.

Franz Hirtzberger 2005 Wachau Riesling Smaragd, "Singerriedl". Bright medium-yellow. This is in a good place: ripe stone fruit and (musk) melon, still framed by good acidity. Weighty in the mouth, with a suggestion of honeyedness in the texture and a little on the palate. Intense, lively and long, with a lot of lingering play between the fruit and the structure. Finishing lightly spicy. Dry but perhaps not bone-dry. Interesting to have a slightly older dry Riesling with this much evidence of botrytis, which seems to push the palate in a direction I associate with sweeter wines; I like it, though I wouldn't necessarily say I *favor* it. This shows no suggestion of being in decline, and I think it might develop further, though my experience here is limited, so that's a lightly informed guess at best. Still, I'll try to ignore my remaining bottle for another 5 years.

Paul,
Is that a René Muré wine?

Yes. But I haven't seen any of his wines on the market in the MA/NH area for years.

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

Here's a delicious, affordable Riesling from Terry Theise. Another in the new wave of simplified German front labels, it bears nothing on the front but a simple graphic and "selbach / riesling.incline". Everything else is crammed on the back label, out of sight on the shelf.

Selbach 2014 “Incline” Mosel Riesling Qualitätswein ($13.99)

A delicious introduction to Mosel Riesling at a quite affordable price, this is a transparent, pale straw-color wine with a hint of brassy green. There’s a distinct whiff of tangerine in the appealing aroma, with a characteristic Mosel hint of something mineral like wet granite or slate in the background. A jolt of bright, steely acidity makes the first impression on the palate, along with citrus flavors and mineral back notes that last into a long, lingering finish. Just a touch of fresh-fruit sweetness becomes apparent in the finish, but until that point, steely acidity presents the wine as dry. 11.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Skurnik Wines, NYC; a Terry Theise Estate Selection (Aug. 22, 2016)

FOOD MATCH: We enjoyed it with a caprese-style salad of fresh tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, and a simple pasta of spaghetti tossed in Parma butter scented with garlic and black pepper.

WHEN TO DRINK: It’s not designed for long-term cellaring, but Riesling holds well under good conditions, especially when equipped with this modern metal screwcap to keep it clean and fresh. Accordingly, feel free to drink up, but don’t be afraid to keep it a few years in a good cellar.

VALUE:
The U.S. average retail price is $13. according to Wine-Searcher.com. It’s an excellent value at this price, but some online sources are offering it for $10, so shop around if you can.

WEB LINK
Here’s a useful fact sheet on Selbsch Incline from importer Skurnik Wines.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Selbach Incline Mosel Riesling at Wine-Searcher.com

Getting lost in the forrest, I had to visit the doctors!!!

TN: 2013 Forrest Estate Riesling The Doctors, Marlborough NZ.

A few will remember my enthusiasm for the GV last year so sought out the newly arrived riesling when downtown. Two doctors involved with this estate and I have to say this is a cracker of a wine!

SC, 8.5% alc, $22 Cdn, opened one hour, no sign of gasolein. Very pale straw color with just a hint of green but overall pale. Inviting nose with green apples and lime, day 2 just a hint of some tropical fruits.
Initial entry thought is crisp, pleasing, lime, some mineral tones. Just a tad over off-dry, medium bodied, very nice wine indeed with lingering finish of citrus, apple, melon and "apricot" from across the patio. "Medium sweet" thought our guest. She is a big NZ fan and has mentioned a few times however their rieslings are on the up and up. Too true after tasting this gem.
....blind tasting, would be of interest to put alongside a good dryish Kabinett.

Managed to find 2 more of this vintage so am interested to see the development. Stay tuned!
Seems the folks over in the UK have very good access to Forrest Estate so look around over here forumites.

2009 Cave Vinicole du Vieil Armand Riesling Grand Cru Ollwiller - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru (9/19/2016)
This is once again a lesson always to look at the back label of an Alsatian wine, even when buying only one experimental bottle of a previously unknown producer and GC. There was indeed a warning in the form of a dryness/sweetness pendulum which showed the wine at point 3 on a sweetness scale of 10. I would have put it higher and it was an unsuitable pairing for barbue fish even with a rich sauce. Attractive and well developed bouquet of white flowers and fruit with spice and a candied touch. Medium/full bodied palate, rich fruit with some depth, candied undertow much in evidence but with insufficient smooth acidity for balance followed by a quite long and slightly sugary finish. Quite good of a kind, I suppose, but I don't find that kind particularly appealing and, IMO, it is not good with most European food.
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[David M. Bueker]

2009 being a lower acid vintage will show more of that "3" sweetness. I doubt they pick the number on taste but rather on analytics of residual sugar.

Here is a very pretty 2015 entry level (€10) Alsatian Riesling, which was much more to my taste than the rather sweet and pretentious Ollwiller GC about which I made my previous post. It is also interesting to note how different it was from a 2013 €10 Riesling from Louis Sipp (TN above) which was bone dry and quite acidic. Vintage or house style difference?

2015 Domaine Mittnacht Freres-Vignerons Riesling "Les Fossiles" - France, Alsace (9/26/2016)
Right now this is a very charming entry level Riesling made from biodynamically grown grapes. Quite light in both colour and body, it exuded fragrance of citrus fruit and white flowers combined with a certain round grapeyness, spices and gentle minerality and it gave an overall impression of tenderness with acidity more backward than usual with this grape. For this reason I think that it should be drunk up in its first flush of youth. Good.

Posted from CellarTracker

[David M. Bueker]

Opened another bottle of the 2014 Gunderloch Riesling Kabinett 'Jean Baptiste' last night, and it was just as good as every other bottle I have had. Maybe a touch heavy (palate weight) for kabinett (an expression of the vintage), but deftly balanced residual sugar such that the wine finished nearly dry. This bottling is more of a table wine than an aperitif to my taste, and worked very well with some mildly spiced Thai curry.

Gunderloch used to be on the shelves here in AB, will do a search.

Gunderloch is a producer I have enjoyed in the past but haven't seen any locally--would probably have to source it from a DC wine shop or elsewhere.

Fine JC. Did a search here and only found the Fritz Riesling . They need to find a new rep for my area.

TN: 2001 Querbach Edition Riesling, Rheingau.

11.5% alc, $27 Cdn, crown closure made of stainless steel like a beer bottle cap. This wine showed up well at a recent tasting downtown. AP #...007.02.

Deep lemon yellow color. Nose takes time to open with apple, peach, citrus..lemon zest. "Mango" from across the table. Initial entry thought is nicely evolved, drinks well. Drier style than I expected. Apple, pear, some mineral tones, fair acidity, good length, crisp finish. "Could be halbtrocken?". After an hour, lengthens out tad more..noted citrus on day 2.
Imagine this has aged in their cellars, a good buy.