Category: Wine

Chateau Ste. Michelle Vintage Select Riesling

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Maker: Chateau Ste. Michelle

Grape: Riesling

Vintage: 2007

Region: Columbia Valley AVA (Washington State)

ABV: 12%

Appearance: golden straw

Nose: light and sweet. Peach and orange.

On the palate: medium bodied. The peach comes through very strongly, a welcome change from the pear flavors that seem to dominate many younger, less complex Rieslings. As the glass warms, the peach stays, but the orange emerges from its shadow and a slight tartness sets in.

Finish: the finish is less complex. A big hit of orange, then peach, then a long, strong sweetness.

Parting words: I had buyer’s remorse almost as soon as I bought this bottle. I’ve been burned by musty, dusty over-aged Rieslings before and I wasn’t sure if my heart could take another disappointment from one of my favorite grapes. I’m very glad I took the plunge. This is a stellar wine. Riesling and Gewutz love the Columbia Valley and it loves them. And I love them all. Chateau Ste. Michelle is a pretty easy to find brand, but the next time you’re at Meijer or your favorite supermarket, do what I do. Look at the bottles on the back of the shelf. Many of the hard-working people who stock wine shelves at supermarkets just put the new bottles at the front of the shelf, pushing the older bottles to the back. A wino can find some great, well-aged bottles that way. This was one of them.

May Wine

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As the merry merry month of May winds down in a hot, sticky fashion, I thought it would be appropriate to share my take on the traditional German punch called May Wine. The following recipe is for a pitcher for home consumption, but could serve for a small party. For a larger party, double the recipe and serve in a large punch bowl with a ball of ice and garnishes.

2 Bottles of dry, white Mosel wine or sweeter if you like. A couple inexpensive Michigan or New York Rieslings would work very well too.

1 cup of powdered sugar or other sugar to taste depending on the sweetness of the wine.

6 sprigs of sweet woodruff

1/2 liter of club soda, seltzer or other sparkling water. An inexpensive dry sparkling wine can also be used.

Additional sprigs and orange slices or sliced strawberries (if in season in your area)

Pour half of one bottle (375 ml) into a large bowl or a pitcher. Add the sugar, 6 sprigs of woodruff and stir. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove woodruff. Combine with the rest of the wine and stir. Just before serving add the soda or sparkling wine. Serve in glasses of your choice with a sprig and a slice of orange or 2-3 slices of strawberries.

Serving suggestion photo courtesy of O.V. Hightower:

Casillero del Diablo Reserva Shiraz

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Maker: Concha y Toro

Grape: Shiraz

Region: Central Valley, Chile

Vintage: 2005

ABV: 14%

Color: Like Richie Blackmore early in his career: Deep Purple. Good legs too.

Nose: Blackberry jam, black currant with a slight mustiness. Oak perhaps?

On the palate: shockingly light. Could there be a touch of Grenache in the mix? That same mustiness detected in the nose comes up in the palate, but takes the form of a pleasant tannic dryness.

Finish: Light, sweet finish.  Lingers in the cheeks like a well-made lollipop.

Parting words: Not like a New World Shiraz hardly at all. It’s closer to a fine Rhone wine, maybe a Chateauneuf-de-pape or a more generic
cote-de-rhone. Worth picking up, even if a later vintage.

Review: Smith & Wilson Estate Viognier

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Maker: Smith & Wilson, Blenheim, Ontario

Region:  Lake Erie North Shore QVA

Vintage: 2008

ABV: 12.3%

Color: golden straw

Nose: slightly herbal, sweet, apples and pears, floral.

On the palate: Good body, sweet, mellow, slightly tart, almond, fresh apricot.

Finish: Oranges, apricots. Fairly quick, but the sweetness lingers for a while.

Parting Words: Smith & Wilson produces a fairly wide variety of wines for such a small producer. Their wines can only, to my knowledge, be purchased at their tasting room in Blenheim. They have a nice variety of reds and whites, and many of the reds are quite good, especially with age. They’re not chicken, either. Viogner is a fickle grape, especially in a fickle climate like the North Shore of Lake Erie. They also make a double barrel-aged Cab Franc/Merlot/Syrah blend that is very good as well. It’s worth stopping if you are driving between Detroit and London, Ontario.

Review: 2000 Rödelseer Küchenmeister Scheurebe

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Region: Franken, Germany

Vineyard: Rödelseer Küchenmeister

Ripeness: Spätlese

Maker: Gebiets–Winzergenossenschaft Franken eG (GWF Co-op), Kitzingen, Germany

Grape: Scheurbe a.k.a Sämling 88 (Riesling x an unknown, probably wild, vine)

Vintage: 2000

ABV: 12%

Color: light amber

Nose: relatively dry, slightly musty, but fruity

Palate: mildly fruity, ripe Bosc pears, ripe golden delicious apples.  The strong grapefruit flavor in mentioned by some reviewers, typical of underripe Scheurebe was completely absent here.  This is a delicious, elegant, complex, Riesling-esque wine.

Finish: light and sweet, but not cloying, a lingering taste of pear in the cheeks.

Parting Words: This bottle was my first taste of Franken or of Scheurbe.  Scheurbe is not widely grown in Franken, and much of the Franken in this (fairly low) price range is made from the almost always dull Müller-Thurgau grape,not the Silvaner, Kerner or other grapes that comprise the finer Frankens.  At under $10 in my neck of the woods, this wine is a great option for German wine dilettantes like myself who are looking to mix it up once in a while.

Review: Penfold’s Koonunga Hill Cabernet Merlot

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Maker: Penfold’s, Melbourne, Australia

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon (2/3)/Merlot (1/3)

Region: South Australia

Vintage: 2007

ABV: 13.5%

Color: Dark Maroon

Nose: Fruit, a little smoke, bitter chocolate, a bit of wood and tannin

Palate: bitter chocolate, smoke, wood, a little acid, spice

Finish: fairly short, slightly bitter, but not unpleasantly so.

Parting Words

No one would mistake this wine for a 1990 Lafite-Rothschild, but it’s a fine, tasty supermarket wine, one of the best, most consistent Aussies.  It represents what Australian reds do best, offer up big, beefy flavors to pair with well with grilled meats and BBQ.  What I look for in a supermarket wine is consistency and bang for the buck.  Penfold’s Koonunga Hill range delivers flavor-wise with plenty of punch.

Now Drinking

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Rock Stream Dry Cayuga White

Maker: Rock Stream Vineyards, Rock Stream, New York

Grape: Cayuga (hybrid)

ABV: 11%

Region: Seneca Lake AVA (Finger Lakes)

Vintage: 2008

Picked this wine up on our trip to the Finger Lakes in the summer of 2009.  I don’t really remember much about this particular winery.  It was one of the last ones we visited.  If I recall correctly they had a number of pretty good dessert wines.  We purchased a late harvest Traminette, that was pretty good.

Color: Very light.  Very pale gold.  A bit lively, too.

Nose: Dry but fruity.  Melon, pear.

On the Palate: Dry but tart and crisp.  Grapefruit, Pineapple.

Finish: Tart.  Lingers in the cheeks for a long time. 

Parting Words: I don’t remember how much this wine cost, but it comes off as kind of a poor man’s NZ Sauvignon Blanc.  It’s pretty good, really, but not anything that is going to change my life.  It would go well with seafood or herbal chicken dishes, I think.  Nice table wine.

Review in Brief

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Dr. Konstantin Frank Semi-Dry Riesling 2007

Region: Finger Lakes, New York (Keuka Lake).

ABV:  11.5% ABV

Color: butter

Nose:  pear, peach, perfumed

Palate: Mandarin Orange, peaches, sweet, medium body

Finish: very peach then fading to Bartlett pear, then light and sweet

Parting Words: What a great wine!  this is what Riesling should be.

Now Drinking

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Thirsty Owl Vidal Blanc

Grape: Vidal Blanc

Vintage: 2008

Region: Finger Lakes AVA

ABV: 11%

Maker: Thirsty Owl Wine Co., Ovid, New York (Cayuga Lake, west bank)

Vidal Blanc is a Euro-American hybrid grape variety developed by a man named Jean Louis Vidal.  One of its parents was Ugni Blanc, the grape used to make Cognac and Armagnac.  Vidal apparently thought his cross would be useful in brandy production, but it has proven to be most useful in the production of ice wine.

This is not an ice wine, however.  But it’s almost like a watered down one, in a very good way.  The nose is light, slightly dry, with a hint of pineapple.  The pineapple sneaks up on the palate after it enters the mouth.  It blossoms into a big slice of fresh, ripe pineapple and fades into a rich, sweet finish.  It’s a surprisingly good wine, one worth seeking out.  I don’t know if this owl flys outside of New York, but if you see it, catch it.

Review

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Abrazo Del Toro Reserva

Grapes: 40% Tempranillo, 60% Garnacha (aka Grenache)

Region: Cariñena, Aragon, Spain

Vintage: 2005

Producer: Covinca S. Co-op

ABV: 13.5%

I am not ashamed to say that I buy a lot of wine at Trader Joe’s.  When it comes to fine French wine, I wouldn’t bother with TJ’s.  Their California selections can occasionally be good buys but are a hit or miss.  Where TJ’s wine department shines is with Italian, Spanish, and South American wines.  One of the most consistently good Spanish wine I’ve purchased have been on the Abrazo del Toro label.  The reserva is my favorite and there are usually plenty of 5 y/o+ bottles on the shelf at my local store. 

The wine itself is one Richie Blackmore would be proud of, color-wise anyway.  It’s a deep, smokey purple.  The nose has the slightly tart aroma of raspberry jam.  I’ve had the uncanny urge to spread this wine on toast.  In the mouth it’s smooth and easy to drink, but not shallow.  On the tongue it’s red raspberry, and red currant jelly, with a bit of wood at the end.  And all this for a lot less money than most quality Spanish reds.