WTN: Very Nice Cal. Riesling

I bought this bottle recently, the 2004 Jekel Monterrey Riesling, and found it to be very nice with great acidity and deep fruit of apple and citrus. The color was medium straw showing it's age but this wine has lots of years ahead of it with the great acidity it has and abundant fruit. ABV is %13.0 but may actually be a bit more.

Impressive. And it's holding up too!

I guess it helps that Monterrey is not exactly the warmest part of the state.

Annoying Pedant Alert!!!

It's Monterey, with one r. Monterrey, with two, would be down in Mexico---and not a place in Mexico that makes wine.

Having been personally involved for several years with Jekel Vineyards, I'm happy you like the current wines. Over the years Jekel has produced some pretty good Riesling from Monterey. The best thing that happened there was in the 1990s, when the Winemaker and the Brand Manager (*ahem*) colluded to begin a sugar depletion program over a span of the next few years to change the style from one of over 3.5% rs to one of less than 1% rs.

Sales responded very positively, and the Riesling vineyard was saved from being replanted to....yep, Chardonnay...and Jekel even had to purchase significant amounts of Riesling from other locations. Mind you, the numbers weren't huge by the standards of the uber-bulk producers, but the balancing out of sugar/fruit/acid generated a quadrupling of sales at the time, and firmly re-established Jekel as a Riesling winery instead of just another rote producer of usual suspects.