WTN: Poet's Leap Riesling Columbia Valley Washington 2005

Part of the Long Shadows project with Armin Diel of Schlossgut Diel in the Nahe collaborating with Allen Shoup. Long Shadows aims to bring the world's best winemakers to produce wine with Washington fruit.

Starts out with a sweetish, grapey nose. Crisp and spicy with a very slight hint of residual sugar. Light to medium-bodied wine in a Kabinett style. Has expansive flavors of grapefruit and candied orange peel and the spiciness which carries all the way to the finish which is moderately long and also has a bit of butterscotch. Well balanced and fairly complex. A very good wine for current drinking although the acidity and fruit should give it some aging potential.

[Jenise]

Jay, how interesting that this wine made it's way to the Philipines. What you get there never ceases to amaze. Anyway, you captured the wine well. I found it a little heavy due to that residual sugar, perhaps more toward Alsatian than German, and though interesting not completely compelling. I think you're right that another year or so in bottle will be of benefit.

Jenise, thanks for your comments. There's a store here where the owners are crazy about small production West Coast wines which is why we get stuff like the Long Shadows wines. I agree there's an element of Alsace in the structure of the Poet's Leap but found the flavor profile closer to German.