Tag: white wine

St. Julian Grüner Veltliner, 2018

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Maker: St. Julian, Paw Paw, Michigan, USA

Grape: Grüner Veltliner (at least 75%)

Place of origin: Oxley Estate vineyard, Michigan, USA.

Vintage: 2018

ABV: 12%

Price: $22 (Tasting Room)

Appearance: Light gold.

Nose: Cut orange, butter, peach.

Palate: Medium-bodied. More peach, navel orange.

Finish: Dry. Peach cobbler.

Parting words: Grüner Veltliner is a wine most closely with Austria. Like Austrian Riesling, GruV is usually made in a dry, austere, style. Most domestic ones are made in the same style, or at least close to it.

This Grüner is different, though. If Austrian GruV is Chablis, this one is Sonoma. It has those dry-ish fruit notes, but there’s buttery and biscuity aromas as well. Maybe there was some lees contact or less than neutral oak used in making this wine, I’m not sure. Whatever it was, the result is surprising but pleasant.

It’s not the summertime quaffer I expected, but maybe this is a better style for the fall. 2018 St. Julian Grüner Veltliner is recommended.

Semi-dry Riesling Head to Head: 2017 Shady Lane vs 2017Arcturos

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S= Shady Lane, A: Arcturos

Makers

S: Shady Lane Cellars, Suttons Bay, Michigan, USA

A: Black Star Farms, Suttons Bay, Michigan, USA

Grapes: Reisling (at least 85%)

Places of origin

S: Shady Lane Estate, Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

A: Montana Rusa, Capellla, Leorie vineyards, Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2017

ABV

S: 10.8%

A: 12%

Price

S: $13

A: $15

Appearance

S: Medium light gold

A: Light gold.

Nose

S: Semi-sweet apple

A: Gravel, peach.

Palate

S: Full-bodied, semi sweet, a little chewy.

A: Full-bodied, drier. Underripe peach.

Finish

S: Sweet and apply.

A: Semi-dry, clean.

Parting words: A few weeks ago, I was perusing my cellar and I discovered I had two or three bottles of Arcturos Semi-Dry Riesling and Shady Lane Semi-dry Riesling so I decided to invite friends of the blog Amy and Pete over for some homemade jambalaya and a head to head tasting.

The jambalaya

Everyone seemed to enjoy both of these wines, but Arcturos won the night by a nose, as it were. It’s flinty dryness paired perfectly with the toasty spice of the dish and was a little more balanced and true to type. Shady Lanes’ Semi-dry tasted much more like how I expect a semi-sweet Riesling to taste and was a little chewy (a little lees contact maybe?), not a style that typically does as well with food.

That said, both of these wines are good and worth the price. 2017 Shady Lane Semi-dry Riesling and 2017Arcturos Semi-Dry Riesling are both recommended.

If you want to do more comparing, check out my review of the 2017 St. Julian Semi-dry Riesling!