Back from a week of travel, extended by an annoying flight cancellation due to snow in Chicago, which required us to stay an extra night in NYC, eat fried artichokes at I Sodi, and hear Danny McCaslin at the Village Vanguard (poor us!). The first two bottles we've opened since returning have been winners.
Weingut Keller 2014 Rheinhessen Riesling Trocken "Von Der Fels." This is my first Keller and one of my first Trockens, a category that was much harder to find in the US a decade ago when I was last making any effort to learn German wine (and thank you, VDP, for making all that knowledge obsolete). It's interesting and delicious (and fine value at $24) with much broader, spicier, and darker fruit than my Mosel-centric experience has led me to associate with German Riesling, and, most of all, a really intense, almost abrasive chalky/saline minerality from the midpalate through the finish that actually made me want to follow a sip of the wine with a few flakes of Maldon sea salt (I tried it; it was good)! I have no idea how a wine like this will age, but I guess I'll find out; I think it could use some time to wear away the sharp edges of the minerality, at least.
Dirty & Rowdy 2014 Chalone (Monterey County) Mourvèdre, Antle Vineyard. Strongly perfumed lilac/violet nose backed up by a palate that leans meaty and herbaceous, eventually showing rounder red fruit, but never losing the fantastic push-pull between the floral and the savory. There are very fine tannins that build in the mouth with time but don't seem to be obscuring any of the rest of the wine. Again, I don't feel like I have a good read on what this will do over the next dozen years; it doesn't require time the way some Bandols might, and it's really delicious now.