WTN: Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2002

I have been collecting these wines for every vintage since 2001 and since the 2006 has been released, I wanted to make sure I still wanted to continue my vertical (as my tastes have changed a bit over time). I decided to make a Coconut Ginger Garlic Shrimp pasta dish to hopefully compliment the wine. I had the wine straight from the cellar (about 52°F) and it was a screw cap. The first glass while cooking was lovely, rich, with a bit of vanilla and a slight amount of peach, and underlying mineral of some sort (you know that wet rock thing) in the nose. In the mouth, up front there was nice peach/lime leading to a bit thin mineral mid-palate and then a very long lingering lime peel finish. I thought ok, but was it really worth the $30 a bottle? Well, about an hour later with dinner the wine picked up much more fullness in the mouth (coating the mouth with the flavors mentioned above with a nice full mid-palate and even longer finish) and some slight floral component in the nose. It was a perfect match with the food also, even with the spiciness of the food. Based on how well it performed I have decided to continue my vertical. I have a question though for those of you who have had this wine before. Was it the aeration or the warming up of the wine (or both) that really improved the wine? I suspect a bit of both. How long should I age these wines... anyone? Thanks all.

It's both, Tim. The aeration and the warming both increase the volatile aromatics to reveal the flavor components.

As to your question about aging, that's more difficult. A lot depends on what you like in a Riesling. The Grossets should age for a good long time, many years, but will develop entirely different secondary and tertiary characteristics as they mature. You'll likely lose some of the fresh brightness that you find so engaging now, but then again, there should be a definite Riesling-esque petrol/diesel/rubbery/ foehn element in the older wines.

If you like that...and many, many people treasure it and seek it out...then that's fine. If you don't, you can always drink them up in early middle-age.

Me, I'd open a bottle every now and then to see how things were developing, and when I got to the point where I started thinking I couldn't possibly enjoy them any more than I did at that moment, I'd start gorging myself on Grosset! But that's me.

[Jenise]

Hoke's got the approach right, Tim. Re agability of these wines, the one time I had this terrific wine it seemed like a that wouldn't just age 10 years, it seemed it would actually require that kind of time.

Thanks Hoke and Jenise.

Was it the aeration or the warming up of the wine (or both) that really improved the wine?

FWIW, I've seen great improvement over several days with these wines. They can be so searingly acidic when first opened, but the terroir speaks with more clarity over several days.