Of all the luck, what with me ranting here about not 'getting' Riesling. Last night our local group that was supposed to be doing either Chenin or Chinon this week (it was apparently agreed to last month--wasn't there myself--but accounts of who-heard-what differed afterward) ended up doing Riesling instead. Specifically, Mosel Saar Ruwer. Rather pissed me off, if for no other reason than that we've done riesling like four times now but never any other white grape specifically. The closest we got was the categorical white experience 'Austrian Whites'.
Interesting, though, of the eight of us present, only two in our midst are super excited about reisling and the other five were pretty much in my camp. (Two other sometimes-regulars who are big fans and who drove the choice in the past haven't been in awhile.) We get that they're attractive, but it's rare we feel attracted. This made me very happy.
All wines were poured blind.
2013 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Pinot Blanc Pfalz
Vic's wine: slate, diesel, orange peel, saline, super dry. Hurray for ringers. I like! $22 on the shelf.
2015 Pewsey Vale Vineyard Riesling Dry Eden Valley
Nose of clean, line-dried laundry, summer, cucumber, lemon and a hint of gardenia. Compellingly clean and dry. I would buy this. I would also like to live in a town called Pewsey Vale. I would change my first name to 'Petunia' wear pantaloons every day.
2014 St. Urbans-Hof Riesling Estate Old Vines Mosel Saar Ruwer
Coconut, kaffir lime, "blue raspberry sour candy" said someone. Good viscosity with vivid floral nose of gardenia and orange blossom.
2013 Forge Cellars Riesling Finger Lakes
Pale gold. Lovely nose, dieselly and austere, good mouthfeel and serious weight. Delightful, actually, but wow is it dry. We suspected a ringer but were nonetheless surprised and impressed by the reveal. This bottle was left here recently by the winemaker who somehow washed up on our shores on Dork night, and we took him in. FL wines aren't otherwise in our marketplace.
Okay, so we're supposed to be doing MSR Rieslings and so far, only one in four qualifies. Somehow this feels vindicating, though I don't know what it proves. Ah, here's another wine.
2002 C. H. Berres Kinheimer Hubertuslay Riesling Kabinett Mosel Saar Ruwer
Surprising and assertive nose of fresh pine needles. The Greek guy said, "Retsina!" Oily viscosity, off-dry, and intense. Unusual but not unpleasant. The reveal of this wine caused another member of the group to pull out, guess what, an identical bottle. It was already open so too late to avoid wasting it, but a quick sip showed identically.
2012 Schloss Saarstein Pinot Blanc Mosel Saar Ruwer
A foot away from the just-poured glasses, we got the distinct and surprising smell of chicken broth and peanut oil. Getting closer, it was fruity and dry with stoney minerality. Very drinkable; an interesting ringer.
2014 Loosen Bros. Riesling Dr. L Mosel Saar Ruwer
Very German, just barely sweetish, with a nose mildly blemished with what I called sulfur but which it's owner called 'reductive'. Still, quite attractive for the price, and less simplistic than any of us would have bet on based on previous encounters with other vintages. Probably unfair to the wine.
2013 Paul Anheuser Schloßböckelheimer Königsfels Riesling Kabinett Nahe
Match stick flinty nose with decent German character on the palate. Other than that I had a hard time grasping anything specific about it, like it needed more time to open up or develop. "Just ok", say my notes.
So at this juncture it seemed like we're running out of the basic level wines and it's time for those of us with higher ranking stuff to put something out. I take a quick sip of my two, the other being a 17 years younger spatlese, and decide it would be fun and impactful to trot this little gem out now:
1990 Schloss Schönborn Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Spätlese Rheingau
BOOM. Deep gold. Big oohs all around for it's dryness, concentration and intensity. Shows rich notes of Lemonhead candy, honey, grilled meyer lemon and chamomile. An immortal pleasure.
2005 Covey Run Riesling Late Harvest Yakima Valley
Yikes. Strange nose and flavor of bruised fruit and vanilla bean with very soft acids, aged color, and an embarrassing lack of complexity. Way out of it's league here. It hit the dump buckets pretty quick.
1993 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese Mosel Saar Ruwer
Lighter color (than expected for its age), lemony, diesel notes, celery seed, racy acidity. Excellent.
At this point out came my other Reisling, which when I pulled it up on Cellar-Tracker turned out to be a different bottle than what I know this was. Only, I don't know what this was. I just know it wasn't the label in the picture not did it have the word Pralat or something like that in the name. I only know it was a Spatlese MSR. So with that preamble:
2007 Weins-Prum blah-blah-blah Spatlese
Honeysuckle, apple, lemon, orange blossom, custardy and nicely balanced. Drinks well now but has should reward further aging. Someone picked up notes of white pepper.
Then lastly, I was everyone's hero when I whipped out this guy:
2012 Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Pinot Noir Cork Dancer Santa Barbara County
Classic SB pinot character: cherry, ripe tomato skin, tomato leaf and thyme. Just medium in body, and straightforward without overt oak or ripeness. It was so warmly enjoyable, the group voted as next month's topic "California reds". Chenin and Chinon will have to wait.
