Varietal focus: Riesling

Set up
Hooray for Riesling! And looking at past examination, there’s an extremely good chance that it will show up again soon! I’ve tried to pull dry examples today – two from the old world and two from the new world.

The Wines
* Leitz ‘Eins Zwei Dry’ Riesling Trocken 2008 (Rheingau) $15, 12% abv
* Domaine Mittnacht ‘Les Fossiles’ Riesling 2009 (Alsace) $20, 13.5% abv
* A to Z Riesling 2007 (Oregon) $15, 12.5% abv
* Hay Maker Riesling 2009 (Waipara) $10, 12.5% abv


The Leitz had a noticeable CO2 prickle on the palate, which led me to think it was a new world wine using CO2 to heighten acidity. This was also the most dry of the bunch. The CO2 and dryness were my clues to support that it was new world, Oregon. Wrong! The flavors were some of the least intense in the bunch, which should have been my clue to this wine coming from the coolest climate. There was also a yeasty creaminess about the wine… I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.


Mittnacht was easier to pick to me. Its appearance was a touch more intense than the other three, something I have seen before in Alsatian wines. It was off-dry, but barely so. Smoky on the nose, and then the palate was focused and medium intensity of lime, sour apples, and sour pears. The more extracted appearance, the sour nature of the flavors, the intensity and focus of those flavors lead me straight to old world, Alsace.



The A to Z was strongly petrol on the nose (and turned out to be the oldest wine in the flight at four years). This wine had the highest perceived RS in the flight, and was also the lightest in body. I focused on those two bits of data to conclude old world, Germany. What I chose to ignore was the fruit basket that appeared on the palate. My notes said lime, apple, pear, strawberry, tropical (?). Cool climates don’t usually do that, duh.



Finally, the Hay Maker was petrol and pears and spicy on the nose. Just having a basket of aromas on the nose got me thinking new world. The palate again, lots of juicy fruits to choose from propped up with a backbone of acidity. The fruits were not precise, but lovely, and that also led me to new world, New Zealand. Tech sheet: 24g/l RS.


Observations
Colors, with the exception of the Mittnacht were similar, and that turned into a valuable clue. Aromatics overall were not as important clues as were the palates: dry, off-dry, and by how much? Intensity of flavors. Muddled or precise. Those were the most helpful to get me to new world or old world. All of the wines had similar medium- to high-acidity and medium alcohol. The wines were similar in body as well, but I misread the CO2 in the German wine.

I also learned I should really look for the teach sheets before I conduct the tasting. It’s annoying not having the information right here to help guide what I’m trying to learn.

So overall, two right, two wrong. I’ll take it.