JULY 2009 TASTING: REISLING

At our latest get together SWIG tasted Rieslings while feasting on MOUNTAINS of amazing ahi poke in not one but two delicious flavors. Thanks to the hosting swigsters for going above and beyond!


After tallying the results, we decided the five blind-tasted Rieslings should be divided into two delicious flavors too, dry and off-dry. Next month’s wild and wooly Zinfandels will engage in a first-wine-empty battle royale, but this month’s gentlepersonly Reislings fought in their prospective weight classes.


DRY REISLINGS:


(86 points) Longshadows 2008 Poet’s Leap, $20. Setting the lowest rung of the ladder high, Washington State’s Poet’s Leap Reisling put in a respectable showing. The most citrus-driven wine of the tasting, this one’s notes were mostly fruit-bowl references: lemon, green apple, pear, pineapple and peach. Tasters reported the lightest body of the tasting, a slight touch of spice and stone, and a tiny bit of fresh effervescence. Last year’s 2007 Poet’s Leap showed more classic old-world Reisling complexity and terroir, so if you can find it we recommend it over the 2008. But general speaking the 2008 Poet’s Leap is a worthy buy and a more than adequate glass.

(88 points) Leitz 2007 Eins Zwei Dry, $16. Cute name and a quality wine? You don’t see that too often! The nose here, too, was quite lemony, but also underwritten by some funkier earthiness. In the mouth this one evoked citrus, spice, cut grass, and stone. Tasters liked the light, bright and acidic nature of this German wine – it went very nicely with the fresh raw fish and soft cheeses and was probably the best food wine of the bunch. The 2007 Eins Zwei Dry is a happy tablemate to make your tablemates happy.

(89 points) Valckenberg 2007 Undone, $12. 2007 Undone Riesling, another wine from the Rhine, is the reason we taste blind. At some large retailers like Target it can be had for under 10 dollars, and frankly if someone put the (second-of-the-tasting cutesy) bottle in front of me I’d turn up my nose. But tasted blind it finished first with all female tasters, and didn’t come in last with any of the guys. We noted that it was a bit softer than the other two dry Reislings, with aromas and tastes of flowers, citrus, ginger, mint, cayenne, and even a little not-unpleasant kerosene. Don’t expect a 40 dollar boutique bottle, but buy it without reservation next time you are stuck in the big box hinterlands looking for a palatable white.

OFF-DRY REISLINGS:

(88 points) Leitz 2007 Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese, $18. The tasters split at this session of SWIG, half preferring the dry Rieslings, the rest slightly sweeter, lower alcohol (around 8%)off-dries. Among those preferring the off-dry wines Leitz 2007 Spatlese ran a close second in a two-horse contest. Citrus-driven like the wines above, this Leitz but provided a more complex set of complementary aromas and tastes: melon, grass, orange blossom, sweet mint, a little menthol. One can justly criticize it as being a little cloying and flabby, but a few tasting notes on the internet claim this flaw fades after several days open. Maybe, then, this is one for cellaring 4 or 5 years? At $18 it’s a worthy buy-and-hold if you’ve got the place and space.

(89 points) Carl Loewen 2007 Kabinett Leiwener Klostergarten, $20. The winner of the off-dry category was a Kabinett, which means it is a wine made with less sugary juice than the Spätlese above. This Carl Loewen is also the only German wine we tasted from the Mosel valley, not the Rhine. It provided the most clear, classic representation of the Riesling grape’s potential palate, showing a balanced, round profile of apricot, passion fruit, grapefruit, honey, grass, flower, spice, wax and fuel. The finish was a little short, but the wine showed good acidity that carried it powerful flavors very nicely and so might promise a bit more length after a few years in the basement. If you want a good quality wine that shows what off-dry Reisling is all about, this one won’t disappoint.