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Showing posts with label Riesling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riesling. Show all posts

02 October 2022

A handful of unoaked white wines

A wide variety of five good-value unoaked white wines originally featured on WineWriting.com on Facebook (more photos there):
The Winery of Good Hope Chardonnay 2021, South Africa (12.5% abv). Flavoursome textbook unoaked Chardonnay from the western Cape: £8.50 The Wine Society.

16 February 2022

Four whites and a Pinot Noir

Santa Tresa Rina Ianca Grillo Viognier 2020 Sicilia (organic, 13.5% abv): Another delicious Grillo-based bottle from Sicily - click here and here for more of those - this time with 30% Viognier added, which ups the exotic apricot and peach flavours with full palate weight, yeast-lees edges and appealing amount of freshness. Wine Society £8.25.

19 January 2022

A dozen more winter wines of the mo

Muga Reserva Rioja 2016 (14% abv) is a splendid oak-aged blend of 75% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo (= Carignan) and Graciano. Smoky spicy oak aromas in that traditional Rioja fashion but with lots of rich dark berry fruit and beginning to show enticing balsamic maturing notes, quite dense powerful and structured with concentrated savoury fruit, a little firmness still on the finish but with lovely silky tannins too. Good with lamb shank; should benefit from another few years' bottle age. Half-bottle £9.25 (image = the Wine Society).

15 October 2021

Wines of the mo: Zweigelt, Chardonnay, Fiano & Grecanico, Pinot Noir, Riesling and more.

It's not just that desperate label which grabbed me about this Aussie white - hmm, where's that Chardy from then? Perhaps add a picture of Dame Edna sniffing it on the back-label to be sure. This tasty unoaked Chardonnay is one of Aldi's burgeoning Specially Selected range and is also great value for €7.99 at Aldi Ireland or £5.99 in the UK.

01 July 2021

Chile review 2021 masterclass

Valle de Elqui
Two tasting sessions featuring very diverse wines were held live via Zoom at the end of May, hosted by Wines of Chile UK, Tim Atkin MW and several leading Chilean winemakers also online commenting on their wines as we sampled from home. Tim picked sixteen whites, reds and a rosé to showcase the latest developments on the ground in Chile, enhanced by lots of up-to-date information on vineyards, grape varieties and wine regions. Atkin produces a substantial report every year on the Chilean wine scene, which can be purchased from this website here. Wine geek warning: this post is quite long and 'serious' (but does contain some great wines to look out for)...

07 April 2021

Varietal wines of the moment (except Sauvignon blanc)

Finest Valle de Leyda Chardonnay 2020, Chile - Luis Felipe Edwards (13.5% abv): As soon as this delicious fruity Chardy was discovered among Tesco's large 'Finest' range, it went out of stock; hopefully just temporarily. Ripe peach and melon fruit with creamy tones then zestier citrus on its weighty but balanced finished. Oak is suggested in the blurb but it was hard to spot, perhaps adding to its rounded texture and cashew flavours. £8 Tesco. (Since then, a subsequent bottle did strangely taste oaky...)

15 January 2021

White wines of the cosmos

'Here we are in the ship of the imagination...' Remember that awe-inspiring space travel programme 'Cosmos' back in the 80s by Carl Sagan (paraphrasing one of his most cosmological lines)? Don't know why I thought of that though: stellar white wines of the split-atom millisecond perhaps? Sounds more out-there than international or global, especially as these words are usually stranded with media-nouns like crisis, conflict or pandemic; or similar marketing babble (e.g. brand, product).
Photo from amazon.co.uk

07 November 2019

New York State, Finger Lakes: Seneca and Cayuga

The cool-climate Finger Lakes wine region, although summers can be very warm, is named after this series of eleven beautiful glacial lakes found in central-northern New York State, which dramatically mark the landscape like long deep cuts running north-south(ish) about 50 miles inland from the southern (US) side of Lake Ontario. It's about a four and a half hour drive from New York City and two and a half hours from Niagara Falls (extremely touristy but unmissable by the way). Seneca and Cayuga lakes are the longest of them, and Seneca the deepest, which is where the greatest concentration of vineyards are planted along and around their sloping edges as the corresponding microclimate is much less severe in winter there. Not surprisingly, there are two well-organised wine routes (in fact Cayuga Lake wine folk claim to have 'America's first wine trail') linking up wineries, accommodation, restaurants, events and attractions.

13 October 2017

Riesling: Australia, Chile, Germany, California

Gary Mills
jamsheed.com.au
It's been a while since this blog subjected viewers to an unbridled Riesling-fest - those who are that way included might like to click here for lots of Riesling-tinged links. So here's my pick of five £10+ bottles that effortlessly exude the variety's class and charm while all being subtly different, which were made in various regions of Australia, Chile, Germany and California respectively...

23 November 2016

Germany: Riesling 'of the moment'

Leitz 2015 Rheingau Riesling trocken (12% abv) - Tasty and classy example of the well-made dry Riesling styles coming out of Germany nowadays (Leitz is particularly good at it): aromatic, zesty, crisp and 'chalky' countered by 'oily' lemon and lime notes. £8 Asda 'rollback' (usually £9.50 - photo copied from Asda's website).

Piles more recommended Rieslings on this blog: HERE (Gerd Stepp, Pfalz), HERE (Chile), HERE and HERE (Alsace), HERE (Charles Smith, Washington State), HERE (Australia), HERE and HERE (Austria), HERE (Germany Grosses Gewächs) and HERE (Tasmania)...

18 August 2016

White grape varieties 'of the moment'

Updated 03.09.16 - see two wines added at the bottom (Oz Viognier and Chile Chardy)...

Workhorse Chenin Blanc 2015 Stellenbosch South Africa (13.5% abv): Made by Chenin maestro Ken Forrester for Marks & Spencer, this dry white shows a bit of class and character with honeyed melon vs yeasty tones, fairly rich yet has fresh finish too. £8.50

04 November 2015

North & South America: 'wines of the moment'

Argentina
2012 Catena Zapata 'High Mountain Vines' Malbec – Mendoza (13.5%) - Quite expensive but definitely a superior version of Malbec. £12.79 WineMark
2012 Viñalba Malbec-Syrah Bodegas Fabre – Patagonia (14.5% abv) - Very good value and fairly serious too. £8.98 Asda

Australia: Riesling (again)

There's already a fair chunk of material devoted to the tantalising Riesling variety on this site and Aussie Riesling particularly, which is probably geeky bordering on obsessive. However, as the official Wine Australia blurb runs: "Australia has a rich history of Riesling production (dating back to 1838 in New South Wales apparently) which today comprises more than 4000 ha (nearly 10K acres) of plantings," making them number two in the world behind Germany Riesling-wise. It's also become clear over the years that certain regions suit the variety best, such as hillside vineyards in the Eden and Clare Valleys or Adelaide Hills in South Australia, or maritime influenced sites such as Great Southern in Western Aus or Tasmania. Their wine styles are usually dry and on the lighter alcohol side nowadays (a recent trend I think); and, as you'll see from my dozen or so reviews below, some of them are capable of taking on those lovely classic complex Riesling flavours with bottle age ('petrol-head' paradise). "Hey-up" bottle shot (think about it...) from peterlehmannwines.com.

Gatt High Eden 2014 Eden Valley (11.5% abv) - Light and delicate with juicy citrus and zingy 'chalky' mouth-feel, crisp length although soft too.
St. John's Road Piece of Eden 2014 Eden Valley (12%) - More honeyed and richer oilier texture with ripe lime vs steely and 'chalky', quite intense.
Vickery Watervale 2014 Clare Valley (11.5%) - Zesty lime with 'mineral' tones, again delicate yet very zesty and crisp with subtle citrus finish.
Tim Adams 2013 Clare Valley (11.5%) - Developing oily notes with floral lime, fairly concentrated with crisp 'mineral' mouth-feel vs maturing flavours, elegant again.
Jim Barry The Florita 2013 Clare (12.5%) - Oily 'kerosene' notes vs tight acid structure still, lime flavours with zesty and 'chalky' finish; good stuff.
Thorn Clarke Mount Crawford 2012 Eden Valley (13%) - Delicate with 'kerosene', fuller maturing palate yet intense and crisp still, weightier then tight long finish.
Penfolds Bin 51 2012 Eden Valley (12.5%) - Limey and oily vs crisp and 'chalky', fresh with bitter twist vs maturing and rounded, fair depth.
McGuigan Shortlist 2012 Eden Valley (11.5%) - Lime and 'kerosene' edges, drinking well now although zesty and zingy too, less intense finish but nice delicate style.
De Bortoli Yarra Valley Reserve Release 2011 Victoria (11.5%) - Rich lime, quite concentrated with attractive lingering combo of 'chalky' 'mineral' zip vs oily maturing.
Howard Park Great Southern 2011 Western Australia - Intense mix of ripe lime, oily notes and piercing acidity, delicate yet concentrated. Stylish.
Pewsey Vale Contours 2009 Eden Valley (12.5%) - Developed rich and oily vs green lime fruit and zingy acidity still, definitely Riesling! Wow.
Peter Lehmann Wigan 2009 Eden Valley (11%) - Similar rich and oily vs green fruit characters, more floral though and honeyed too, slightly less 'mineral' perhaps, feels weighty for 11%, concentrated and classy.
Peter Lehmann Wigan 2006 Eden Valley (11.5%) - Aromatic 'kerosene' and honeyed lime, tasty and zingy palate, still structured even vs rich and oily, concentrated yet elegant; delicious wine.

More Australia: Cabernet Sauvignon.

19 August 2015

Austria: Jurtschitsch, Grüner Veltliner & Riesling 'Erste Lage'

In the racy footsteps of my recent post below on 2013 Grosses Gewächs Rieslings (links to it) from some of Germany's leading producers, Austria has introduced a similar vineyard ranking called Erste Lage (meaning something like Premier Cru) for the country's best-rated Riesling and Grüner Veltliner (mostly) wines.


The Jurtschitsch family wine estate, now run by Alwin and Stefanie (above), is located in the Kamptal region (found not far to the northwest of Vienna) and is made up of nearly 70 hectares (173 acres) of vines in several different undulating sites around the pretty town of Langenlois (there are a few top winery names based here so obviously well-situated for making very good white wines). The vineyards have been managed organically since 2006.
They appear to have good distribution around the world including ABS Wine Agencies in the UK (approx £ prices indicated), Quintessential Wines in Dublin (€ prices) and David Bowler Wine in NY USA - see www.jurtschitsch.com for more info about where you can find them (where the photo was downloaded from).

2012 Grüner Veltliner Loiserberg Erste Lage (13% abv) - Yeast-lees and maturing aromas with spicy floral edges, getting fuller and mellowing on the palate yet still pretty intense and fresh, subtle concentration. Less buzz than the 2013s though. £20 / €26.
2013 Grüner Veltliner Dechant 'Alte Reben' Erste Lage (13.5% abv) - Old vines. 'Gummy' zesty and 'chalky', steely vs oily mouth-feel showing good 'extract' and some roundness vs lively acidity and long finish. £23
2013 Grüner Veltliner Lamm Erste Lage (13.5% abv) - Pretty intense acidity and flavours, long linear palate showing fair weight too vs that crisp bite. Needs more time. £35
2013 Grüner Veltliner Schenkenbichel Erste Lage (13.5% abv) - More honeyed and richer with towards exotic fruit characters, a hint of sweetness adds roundness and weight vs steely acidity underneath and spicy tones as well. £35
2013 Riesling Loiserberg Erste Lage (13.5% abv) - Zippy lemon and lime aromas/flavours and 'chalky' texture, a light touch of sweetness and quite full-bodied on the final palate with intense and refreshing / 'mineral' and oily mix, tight long finish yet drinking fairly well now. £21 / €26
2013 Riesling Zöbinger Heiligenstein Erste Lage (13% abv) - Racy and classy Riesling with zippy 'chalky' mouth-feel vs aromatic lime fruit, tight and steely finish, more elegant and delicate. £21

18 August 2015

Germany: Grosses Gewächs Riesling 2013

This dozen-strong Riesling-tastic selection (and one Pinot Noir) comes from a slightly esoteric tasting of some intense 2013 vintage wines, even if my notes did get over-eagerly filed away for a little ageing before seeing the light of day again...
Recapping on 2013 conditions in Germany then, budding was “very late” thanks to a cool spring followed by challenging weather during flowering, then a “mild summer” finally set in although picking was also delayed due to tiresome rain in September.

15 March 2015

Austria: Riesling & Blaufränkisch

This Austrian "mini-focus" kicks off with four random wineries featuring seven tasty dry Rieslings, since it's perhaps too easy to forget there's more to Austria than Grüner Veltliner (which can also be very good for sure - click there for more). But there's often something rather distinctive, intense, stylish about Austria's take on the Riesling variety, especially for a R-addict like me. And I've rounded things off nicely with a look at a slightly quirky Blaufränkisch red from an all-together different corner of Austria called 'Eisenberg' (no connection with a certain ex-chemistry teacher and New Mexico...).

Müller - Kremstal region
The Müller family works 65 hectares of vineyards on slopes around Stift Göttweig and their home/winery in Krustetten (near Paudorf) along the Danube valley, about an hour's drive north-west of Vienna. Importers: Clada in Galway, Ireland (not on their site though); Austrian Wines Direct in Scotland and the Austrian Wine Company in England both list some of their wines. More @ www.weingutmueller.at.
2013 Riesling Neubergen - steely zippy and lees-y palate with oily lime fruit and texture, quite intense with 'mineral' acidity, good extract and 'chalky' finish. Nice Riesling. €8-€9
2013 Riesling Leiten Reserve - more perfumed, oily and yeast lees-y; rounder mouth-feel vs steely bite, more concentrated too with lovely extract vs crisp length. €12.50-€14

Weszeli - Kamptal
Partners Davis Weszeli and Rupert Summerer are based in the fairly famous wine town of Langenlois in the Kamptal region, which lies to the north of Kremstal on the other side of the river. Their variety of vineyard plots includes some top-rated 'Erste Lage' sites, or Premier Cru if you like. Imported by Newcomer Wines in London (£ price below); in the US: Savio Soares Selections (NY) and The Age of Riesling (CA). More @ www.weszeli.at.
2013 Riesling Loiserberg - "the highest vineyard in this area..." Rich and full, oily and honeyed vs 'chalky' 'mineral' touches, lots of flavour and class. €12-€13, £16.90
2011 Riesling Steinmassl Erste Lage - 'yeastier' and creamier style with developing oily and savoury notes vs crisp bite and extract, delicate yet concentrated wine. €29-€32
2011 Riesling Seeberg Erste Lage - again lees-edged complex nose, very concentrated with lime flavours vs oily texture and steely bite. Very tasty, serious Riesling (and price too). €36-€40

Malat - Kremstal
This wine estate and hotel is found in Palt not far from the town of Krems itself a mere stone's throw from the big blue DanubeQuite widely exported including, they claim, The Wine Monger in California (also not on their site though?). www.malat.at 
2012 Riesling Steinbühel Erste Lage - stony hillside vineyard. Lovely developing oily nose, concentrated with lime and greengage fruit vs honeyed notes, perfumed yet savoury too, nice long 'mineral' finish. €16-€18

Huber - Traistental
The Huber family have been winegrowers for over 200 years, and current winery head Markus has continued to carve out a good name for their estate. They're based in Reichersdorf in the Traistental region, which borders Kremstal on its eastern side, where they actually mostly produce Gruner Veltliner but have a good reputation for Riesling too. Markus makes and exports a fairly wide range from good-value funky brands to top single site wines. Importers: Thierry's Wine Services in England, Broadbent Selection in the US (Richmond VA). www.weingut-huber.at
2013 Red Dolomite Riesling - more "commercial" off-dry? style, softer certainly with attractive perfumed flowery fruit and crisp 'chalky' finish.

Groszer Wein - Eisenberg
Eisenberg ('iron mountain') is a slightly mystical elevated hill lying in the far south-eastern corner of Austria in the southern Burgenland, right on the Hungarian border, not too far away from Slovenia and apparently closer to Croatia than Vienna (its most northerly point at least). This spot forms the backbone of a fairly new appellation area, which has been built around the red Blaufränkisch variety. Owned and run by Markus Bach and Mathias Krön, who launched themselves into this "winemaking adventure out of madness and love of wine," roughly translating from their site, the Groszer Wein ("great wine" or "big" or "tall" wine perhaps?!) winery has 16 hectares dotted with old vines on hillside sites around Eisenberg. Imported by Newcomer Wines in London and quite widely available around the rest of Europe. USA: The Wine Monger (CA), although couldn't find the wines on their site. More info @ www.groszerwein.at.

2012 Blaufränkisch Vom Riegl (13.5% abv) - meaning "from the hill" in local dialect. Surprisingly balsamic and 'volatile'/wild-edged on the nose with light cider notes in that 'natural'-styled way, ripe plum and liquorice too with resin and herbal minty tones, rich and quite peppery/earthy with subtle coconut vs herby dark berry fruit; fairly concentrated rounded and powerful yet has fresh acidity adding bite against that nice sweet fruit. Surprisingly "Mediterranean" yet with lively Austrian acidity, touch of grip too vs Italian-esque dried fruit characters. I liked it more the second day it was open actually, attractive unusual red but quite dear (like most good Austrian wine is): €19.90 / £22.90 in the UK, although you do get a big litre bottle for that!

30 May 2014

Australia & New Zealand: "wines of the mo"

Tried and tested recently at an Aus and NZ themed tasting I held in Belfast, here are my favourite half-dozen worth highlighting that are all widely available as long as you look on these supermarkets' usually a little dustier top shelves... But all good value in their own different ways, especially as a couple of them were on "third-off" type offers too.

Jacob's Creek 2011 Reserve Riesling, Barossa, South Australia (11.5% abv) – you've probably spotted this huge brand's "Reserve" range before (from specific subregions, there's also e.g. a Chardy, Pinot and Shiraz), which generally really are worth a go like this delicate mature yet fairly intense Riesling. It has lots of those characteristic intriguing maturing oily aromas/flavours and some lingering ripe lime zest still. Drinking well now with seafood in a winey/creamy sauce? £9.99 Tesco
More Oz Riesling HERE and HERE.
Villa Maria 2013 Pinot Grigio, East Coast, New Zealand (13.5%) - from memory, this was labelled as Pinot Gris until recently, pointing to a more French Alsace style perhaps (but sensible marketing obviously got the better of them). It's definitely got more character and mouth-weight than your average Italian PG, with nice juicy honey and melon flavours and refreshing vs full finish. Good with not too spicy Indian, Chinese or Thai I reckon. £10 Asda
Yering Station 2011 'Wild Ferment' Chardonnay, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Aus (12%) - one of Sainsbury's superior "Taste the Difference" labels, this was a good result since I wanted to show a more elegant less oaky style of Chardy. Attractive nutty lightly creamy and oatmeal edges, a touch of zing still although again drinking well now, well-balanced with very subtle oak ageing. Value @ £9 considering the price of say Chablis nowadays. 
McWilliam's 2005 Mount Pleasant 'Elizabeth' Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Aus (12%) - a great example of one of those weird and wonderful bottle-aged Semillon styles, and again value @ £8.99 at Tesco, this has almost toasted characters, despite it being kept away from barrels, with lingering complex savoury vs green/stone fruit mix.
Oz Semillon tasting HERE.
Matua 2012 Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand (13%) - Matua seems quite big now, but they still turn out a fairly classy Pinot with perfumed cherry/berry fruit, a more savoury side too and just a hint of oak thankfully. With duck? £10.98 Asda
More NZ Pinot HERE.
Xanadu 2011 'Next of Kin' Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Aus (14%) - towards delicious Cab with plenty of ripe blackcurrant/cherry'damson, chunky mouth-feel yet with rounded texture, again subdued oak vs quite concentrated fruit, powerful yet balanced. Value @ £8.50 Sainsbury's.

15 March 2014

USA: New York State Riesling

Claiming to be "America's oldest winery," established in 1839, and "home to the largest underground wine cellar in the country," Brotherhood Winery (link to their site) is obviously full of superlatives. I did like these two subtle Rieslings though (tasted last year and neglected up until now); they also make Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet, Pinot and a whole host of other curiously named/labelled bottles, some of which will make certain European producers' hair stand on end. You'll find them in Washingtonville in the Hudson Valley, a good trek directly north of New York City.
Brotherhood 2011 Hudson Valley dry Riesling - aromatic floral vs oily notes, delicate lime fruit with developing nutty oily flavours vs 'chalky' edges. Good. $9.99
Brotherhood 2011 Premium Selection Riesling - medium 'Mosel' style, 'chalky' and zesty with underlining sweet citrus fruit. Attractive. $9.99

From www.drfrankwines.com
Dr. Konstantin Frank emigrated to the States from the Ukraine in the early 1950s armed with a PhD in viticulture and, after doing some research, came to the conclusion that "the lack of proper rootstock, not the cold climate, was the reason for the failure of Vitis Vinifera (European) vines in the Finger Lakes region." He founded the winery there in 1962 planting Riesling and other aromatic varieties, and his work has been followed on by son Willy and now grandson Frederick. It's located in Hammondsport, upstate on the Lakes to the west of Ithaca.
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2012 Finger Lakes dry Riesling - aromatic zesty and limey with lively crisp and 'chalky' mouth-feel, intense and concentrated. Lovely. $14.99

Nestling by the wee town of Lodi lying between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, northwest of Ithaca, Boundary Breaks only grows (overseen by vineyard manager Kees Stapel) and makes Riesling, four different ones in fact. "Why?" as it says on their site: "Because we only want to do one thing, very, very well." Like their style, especially since the vines were only planted in 2008 and the results already look quite impressive. Apparently the "breaks" are dramatic mini gorges caused by glaciers found at either end of the vineyard; the landscape around here certainly looks stunning from the nice photos on boundarybreaks.com.
Boundary Breaks 2011 Finger Lakes Riesling - developing oily and honeyed notes with lime too, perfumed vs fairly rich style with nice bite and refreshing finish. Good stuff.

Lamoreaux winery is a neighbour of BB above found "on the eastern hillsides of Seneca Lake," although they've been around for "three generations." This family business was founded by manager-winemaker Mark Wagner and is co-owned by Josh Wig. They have over 100 acres (40 ha) of vineyards in 20 different blocks planted with a mix of white and red varieties. More @ lamoreauxwine.com.
Lamoreaux Landing 2012 Red Oak Vineyard Finger Lakes Riesling - more delicate style and a tad sweeter, oily vs citrus combo leads to a zingy more closed up finish. $19.99

You'll find this curiously named winery in Hector a little to the south of the two vineyards mentioned above, just west of the Finger Lakes National Forest. Red Newt sounds pretty geared up for visitors and groups too, as there's a bistro, coffee bar, tasting room and shop. They make quite a wide range of Rieslings including a few single site wines. Check it out @ rednewt.com.
Red Newt Cellars 2011 Sawmill Creek Riesling - lifted lime aromas vs oily undertones, steely 'chalky' palate vs attractive sweeter oily side, nice style and balance mixing maturing yet lively characters.
Red Newt Cellars 2011 Lahoma Vineyard Riesling - lovely linseed oil vs lime combo, a tad riper and fuller with complex developing flavours vs crisp backdrop. Very good. $20

Another proud Riesling specialist (they do five), Fox Run's winemaker is Australian Peter Bell who's been at the winery since 1995 and says this is what brought him to the region. As their site (links) enthuses: "Riesling is king in the Finger Lakes. This noble grape is the most widely planted Vinifera variety with nearly 1000 acres in production and almost every winery produces at least one Riesling brand. The microclimate conditions and the slate soils that are so special to the Finger Lakes are exactly what make Riesling thrive here." FR lies to the northeast of Penn Yan on the other side of Lake Seneca.
Fox Run 2012 Finger Lakes Riesling - a touch of SO2 on the nose when I tasted it, zesty and 'chalky' with yeasty undertones, delicate and closed up; quite intense, fine and crisp though needing a little time to open up and settle down. $13.99?

Sheldrake Point has 44 acres (18 ha) planted on the west shore of Cayuga Lake just east of Ovid, and they have a second tasting room in Hector too. As well as a regular (reviewed below, I think...) and Reserve Riesling, the winery also produces late harvest and ice wine versions; these Rieslings are modelled on the Alsace style according to their site. More info @ www.sheldrakepoint.com.
Sheldrake Point 2011 Finger Lakes Riesling - maturing oily notes, quite concentrated with 'chalky' and crisp vs perfumed profile, nice intense lively vs maturing mix. $16

20 February 2014

'Wines of the mo' - Germany, S Africa, Spain, France, Portugal, Argentina

rustenberg.co.za
My favourites - and many of the enthusiastic attendees - from around the globe tasted on a recent Saturday 'wine workshop' I ran in Belfast, which deserve a little more airing:

Germany, Mosel: Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett 2006

02 August 2013

France: Alsace - Domaine Martin Schaetzel

The Martin Schaetzel wine estate spreads over 20 hectares (50 acres) of vineyards in the Ammerschwihr area, including several highly rated Grand Cru sites, and has been certified organic since 1998 as well as Demeter, the fearsome biodynamic controlling body. Their Kaefferkopf vineyard lies on a hillside to the south and west of the village made up of "granite, chalk and sandstone..." from the top down roughly. Eichberg ("oak mountain") and Pfersigberg ("peach tree mountain") are found to the southwest of Colmar and both enjoy a well-exposed warm microclimate. The family head is Jean Schaetzel these days, with his righthand man winery and export manager Michel Vié.

From www.martin-schaetzel.com


2011 Riesling Kaefferkopf Grand Cru - apple and almond notes, turning quite rich and limey on the palate vs creamy rounded character, very crisp and mineral though with linear bite on the finish vs that oily textured/flavoured backdrop. Different. €16 cellar door.
2011 Riesling Eichberg Grand Cru - ripe lime fruit with exotic peachy edges, again crisp and mineral mouth-feel with very long piercing bite vs lightly oily and nutty side too; tight dry finish, needs time. Wow. €16
2011 Pinot Gris Eichberg Grand Cru - juicy honeyed fruit with spicy notes, pretty full-on powerful style with oily nutty texture/flavours vs underlying crisp bite too. Definitely a foodie (Chinese, Thai, Indian even...). €15.50
2010 Gewurztraminer Kaefferkopf "Catherine" - classic lychee aromas with pineapple, honey and dried fruits too; even more lychee on the palate, powerful yet with mineral bite, still very perfumed vs enticing maturing oily side. Good stuff. €19
2011 Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg Grand Cru - relatively subdued nose vs explosion of fresh lychee and kiwi on the palate, quite big ripe and punchy, less dry perhaps than the above, pretty powerful flavour and weight vs attractive bitter twist. €16
2008 Pinot Gris vendanges tardives (late picked) - complex developing nose, honeyed and 'musky'; sweet dried fruits on the palate vs lively acidity, tight and very long finish, still tasting young with a few years ahead of it yet.

Oodles more on Alsace HERE (goes to archive page).

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Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.