What you find, or at least what I found, together with eight other intrepid wine explorers including perhaps the only other person more dedicated to riesling than myself, Mr. Stuart Pigott, was a rich, fascinating, and challenging range of wines from a 14-year old Arizona Chardonnay to a 2009 Virginia Norton. The wines made me think, taste, and consider. They demanded I redefine “good” as more than black fruit, balanced acidity, soft tannins, and a long finish.
Anything But West Coast, Please.
It all started a few months back when I attended a vertical tasting of Valiant Vineyards, “Wild Grape” with Eldon Nygaard in a small Berlin winebar. After hearing the story of “wild grape,” the South Dakotan Vitis Riparia, handpicked on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, talk turned to the other native American wine success story, Norton. Having worked for a few years at Horton Vineyards in VA, I told what I knew. Stuart wanted to know more about this "wild and crazy" grape. Thus, ABWCP was born.
Turns out that the only thing "wild and crazier" than the wine is the lengths one must go through to get said wines here to Berlin. Thankfully, through an underground railroad of suppliers, mules, and wine devotees (thank you, Justin!), we made it happen. The evening was a wild success, with wild vines and wild wines, and not at all what anyone expected (more detailed tasting notes are listed below).
Eric Asminov wrote an excellent post on “The Pour” (NYT; May 20, 2009) comparing many inexpensive American wines to franchaise food: well made but lacking the authenticity that identifies a Rheingau riesling from a Nahe. Honestly, until this tasting I had to mostly agree. Butto my surprise, every one of the wines we tasted had a distinct “sense of place.” They might have been “Mom&Pop” in some cases, lemonade stand do-it-yourself in others, but there was not a single “Mc”Wine in the bunch.
My biggest criticism came, honestly, on the second round of tastings the following day. They lacked the solid, lingering, thought-provoking finish I have come to expect in good to very good European wines. The finish defines everything that came before, it's what you are left with when the book is closed and the story is over. It can be good, bad, poetic, or pithy--but it's got to be there. And with the exception of the Chrysalis Vineyard, Norton, there was only silence. I hope that because in many cases the vines—especially in the newer AVAs like Michigan, Finger Lakes, and Virginia, are young, the roots need time and conflict (stress) to find their stories. And I, for one, will be here to listen.
TASTING NOTES:
We tasted partial blind, in pairs, revealing at the end of each pair the identity of the wines as well as our analysis.
2009 Dry Riesling. Sheldrake Point, Finger Lakes, NY. 11.8% ABV
Star bright, gold color with yellow highlights. Ripe stone fruits on the nose, especially peach and apricot, underscored with hints of developing petrol. A light minerality sits both in the nose and on the tongue. On the palette, however, the somewhat wider body contradicts the racy citric acidity. Overall, a pleasing typical Riesling with a bit of a personality conflict between new and old world styles.
2010 Dry Riesling. Chateau Grand Traverse, Old Mission Peninsula, MI. 12.5% ABV
This presented a bit of a dark horse, with many attendees swearing it to be German. On the nose there were lots of yellow fruit: ripe pears, yellow plums, and floral notes. Hints of bread yeast, reminding me of a grauburgunder. On the palate, the body belied the nose with a structured, clean and precise body and mouthfeel.
2010 Lot 49 Riesling. Cuvee Molly Devine. Chat. Grand Traverse, Old Mission Peninsula, MI.
A real highlight of the evening were the rieslings from Chateau Grand Traverse. They were often mistaken for german “pirates,” providing a spicy fullness and complex aroma profile that felt very European in its presentation. Yet, they also had a creamy, restrained sherbert consistency in the mouth. Lot 49 had a smoky nose of quinces, pears and bread dough followed by a candy-like acidity on the front of the tongue. A slightly bitter finish rounded out the sweetness, but sadly was gone by the next day.
2009 Whole Cluster Riesling. Chat. Gr. Traverse, Old Mission Peninsula, MI. 10% ABV.
Juicy-fruit gum in the nose with hints of diesel fuel beneath. Low acidity and full-bodied. Wide structure with a slightly sloppy finish. Overall a pleasant taste but lacked the structure and acidity to keep it playing nicely together.
2008 Riesling (semi-dry), H. Weimar, Lake Seneca, NY
This was my first experience with Herman the German as Mr. Weimar has been called. It felt a bit like bringing American tea to an English tea party, but that was the theme of the evening. The wine certainly lived up to its name. It had a classic cool climate nose of green apricots and pink grapefruit. The slender acidic body danced across my tongue and down my throat and left a pleasan bitter finish.
2009 Riesling, Sheldrake Point, Finger Lakes, NY. 12,3% ABV
"Now this is a Texas riesling." There was nothing light, small or playful about this riesling. She talked loud, wore an oversized hat, and knocked us over with her stony minerality. Semi-dry and full of ripe pears in the nose. The alcohol was a bit overwhelming and bitter for my taste, but softened with time and air. We all agreed that it was still quite young and in need of aging to really come together.
1997 Chardonnay, Dos Cabezas Wineworks, Kansas Settlement, Arizona.
Did I mention that non-west coast wines were tough to get? With soft Jura-like whispers in the nose of nutmeg, clove and oak, the rockin' backbone, especially 14 years later, was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. This was a wine with spurs and chaps, and more than a faint hint of horses.
Next: Wild, Wild West Part II: Seeing (and tasting) Red
No comments:
Post a Comment