Tag: White

Review: Smith & Wilson Estate Viognier

JoshLeave a comment

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

JoshLeave a comment

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.

Now Drinking

JoshLeave a comment

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

JoshLeave a comment

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

JoshLeave a comment

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.