Just a few notes from various bottles of 2005 white wines consumed over the past month or so. I threw in a 2004 at the end for good measure.
2005 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. The nose on this wine is powerfully fragrant, with melon, honey, chalk and soft wood. Flavors of lemon and lime rind, and hints of smoke play together with tangy acidity. There is a lot of personality to the wine, but this particular bottle was not quite as exciting as the two previous bottles tasted.
2005 Cooper’s Creek Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough. Here we have a nose of honeysuckle, pineapple, ripe melon, grapefruit and graphite. It is tangy and spritzy in the mouth with decent amplitude. It is not too grassy, instead veering toward flavors of grapefruit and pineapple that are fresh and bright. A nice little pick-me-up on a cold night.
2005 Leitz Riesling Rudesheimer Klosterlay Kabinett. My wife served this to me blind, and I surprised myself by being able to peg it as a Leitz. It has a distinctive and big nose of crystallized sugar, sweet grapefruit and pineapple, faint chalk and nectarine. It is rather sweet in the mouth, with just enough acidity present to keep things from getting out of whack. It is young and vibrant and fun, but not especially nuanced just yet. The finish has some powdery candied notes that carry along very good length. This has good promise.
2005 Leitz Riesling Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Spatlese. The nose features lime, litchi fruit and flinty minerality. It is surprisingly moderately restrained in the mouth, but showing great balance on an airy frame. It shows a bit more depth and sweetness on the finish, which is nice but could use a bit more length. I would hold this for a while to see what develops.
2005 Vollenweider Riesling Wolfer Goldgrube Kabinett. Just a brief note on this one : Vibrant nose with juicy fruits and minerals. Fine balance and solid body. Needs to stretch out a bit—try again in six months.
2005 Pannotia Vineyards Torrontes. This Argentinian wine has a soft floral nose of orange blossom, gardenia and peach fuzz. It is medium bodied, with a bit of viscosity, but feels a bit jumbled around the edges. The acidity is decent and the sweet grapefruit and peach fruit has a fun spiciness to it. The finish has decent persistence but is a bit drying with jangly acidity poking through a bit too much. Still, a nice little quaffer.
2004 Inman Family Pinot Gris Russian River Valley. I’ve probably had 3-4 bottles of this recently, but this is the only one I took a brief note on. It sports a lovely nose of crushed minerals, white flowers, citrus rind and faint peach pit. In the mouth, it is soft but juicy, showing a pleasing exuberance. It has nice balance and a gentle, inviting finish with sweet fruit and crisp minerality and acids. A real pleasure.
-Michael