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Wine Details
Price:
$16.00 per bottle
Description:
Basically, there is no mistaking this wine for anything but Riesling, on all facets, except the palate. The 2004 vintage has only 0.5% residual sugar (just below threshold for many tasters) with a pH of 3.36. This wine should be bright and tart! But instead with an acidity of 0.47%, this balanced Riesling is lush and rich with an unctuous viscosity reserved for California Chardonnay. But this is Riesling, isn’t it?
The nose is loaded with ripe Bartlett pear, juicy pineapple and home-canned peach nectar. And that’s when it’s cold. Let the wine warm up a bit and it opens to fresh honeysuckle and an intense yet intriguing Mandarin orange component. That’s the hallmark of ripe Riesling fruit!
The palate fruit is classically focused with Granny Smith apple characters layering notes of cantaloupe and honeydew melon. The mid-palate with its elegantly rounded texture carries seamlessly to the complex finish of mango and subtle clover honey. With just a hint of Botrytis and a refreshing sweet/tart twinge, this wine is 100% Riesling!
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Varietal Definition
Riesling:
On the sweeter end of the spectrum, some of the best dessert wines should give thanks to the Riesling varietal. Riesling is known for its complementary nature of combining balanced acidity with sugar. Rieslings are made dry to sweet, but it is the sweet style Riesling that brought about its popularity in the United States. With the rise of spicy sauces, marinades and dips to flavor our meal, Riesling plays a part in taking off the edge of the heat. Riesling is known for a number of signature characteristics: floral, citrus and pear. Riesling has peaked in California with 11,000 acres planted. Today, Monterey County’s cool-climate areas and its long growing season produce good amounts of character for the Riesling grape. Outside of
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Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.
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