Rhyme and Rieslin’

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A total butchering of this grape’s name…

Surely I know it sounds a little lame!

Well I’m cramming for my Unit Two

WSET Diploma exam, what can I do

But to slam some words out quick? Pressed for time,

My first instinct was to compose a rhyme

About this fantastic Riesling wine.

(A proper note’s on Wine Align.)

Faller Alsace Grand Cru Geisberg Riesling 2007

$20.95 at LCBO (Vintages)

 

Pale straw in colour, with a subtle nose

Of gingery spice, apple, mineral and honey nut Cheerios.

Showing just the slightest hint of maturity,

This 2007′s got at least 10 more years of life, assuredly.

The palate was balanced; subdued, yet concentrated and long;

I should have bought more, but that would be wrong,

For this lovely wine comes from the LCBO:

On paper, a big cross-provincial border no-no.

As for food pairings, my suggestion for this Geisberg Grand Cru:

Something along the lines of bread and apples in Gruyère fondue.

Another dish that’d taste great with this Alsatian,

Needless to say – a big, fat, juicy crustacean!

[Ed.: In tribute to Fezzik, the rhyming giant in The Princess Bride.]

Bonus Links

Click for more info about the Geisberg Grand Cru vineyard site; info on producer Faller; and a Globe and Mail review of this wine here.

Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurtzgarten Spatlese Riesling 2005

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I’d always been interested in experimenting with the aging and development of white wines, although my observations as a consumer inform me that there just aren’t too many examples of ageable whites available in my local market, at least not ones that can be found without some deep digging around liquor store shelves (and your wallet).

Fortunately, one can always count on cool-climate, quality appellation Riesling to offer some type of cellaring potential. Its abdundant phenolics (flavour compounds) and high natural acidity almost ensure that a good quality Riesling wine will continue to show plenty of deliciousness and refreshing qualities, not to mention added complexity, with a bit of maturity. Some prestige Rieslings have even been known to drink well decades following the vintage!

Some places where top-notch Rieslings come from include the Mosel, Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Nahe areas of Germany; Australia’s Clare and Eden Valleys; the Kamptal region of Austria; Marlborough, New Zealand; the famous area of Alsace, France; and the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Here’s two quick tasting notes on this Dr. Loosen Riesling from the Mosel, of which I had purchased two bottles five or six years ago at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.

I opened the first one two Mother’s Days ago (2009), when I had Mom over for a simple but exquisite dinner of boiled lobsters with lemon tarragon dipping butter. (Mmmm…)

Bright yellow in colour, the nose was a zesty bouquet of lemon, grapefruit, lime, honey and chalky mineral. The slightly off-dry palate had a searing line of acidity which cut through the rich flavours of our dinner perfectly, albeit the wine was a bit fruity for the relatively neutral taste of delicately sweet lobster in butter.

I reckoned that there was still some time for this wine to develop, so I waited for another occasion to open the next bottle.

The second, I shared with my family at a Mother’s Day dinner I prepared last month with an armload of goodies from Granville Island Public Market – the highlights being a pot of Quadra Island scallops in coconut basil lemongrass broth and boiled BC spot prawns with a dip of bird’s eye chilis, cilantro, garlic and green onion in lemon juice.

This time, the aromatic wine was an even bigger success paired with the equally flavourful ingredients of my seafood dishes.

This is an image of the bottle opened May 2011 - the other one was downed far too quickly for me to remember my camera!

With two more years in storage, my wine had become more developed on the nose, with riper fruit notes and more honey and apricot scents; and the freshness of the mineral and lime aromas turned to a smokier smell of heated rocks and hints of spice.

In the mouth, the new scents echoed on the palate with a silkier mouthfeel – my mouth no longer puckered after each sip as it did with the first bottle. The off-dry character remained, yet tasted more integrated with these riper, verging on tropical fruit flavours and more balanced acidity.

Tasting both examples over the course of two years was a great experience I’ll be looking to try on another series of white wines again in the future. Stay tuned!

Bottle Maturation

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Sipping on a bottle of properly matured, well cared-for wine is like running into the awkward guy from algebra ten years later at your high school reunion.

He’s turned out to be – hopefully – fleshier and more toned in physique than his younger, gangly self, with a smoother timbre replacing the squawky, pitched stutter of yore. And perhaps his then-clashing talents of number-crunching and collecting 70′s vinyl have evolved into a profitable online music entrepreneurship.

Everything about him is still there, just now in far better shape. It just took several years for that potential to develop into something more.

I’ve got both an Old World and a New World example that I’m excited to share with you:

Château Faizeau Sélection Vielles Vignes AOC Montagne St-Émilion 2006

This wine was released in BC in the fall of 2009. The Montagne Saint-Émilion area is just northeast of the principal Saint-Émilion appellation, and like its namesake, showcases Merlot-based wines, which in this case come from some older vines that have been green-harvested to concentrate flavour development in select bunches that have been left on the vine. From one French website, it appears that “flying winemaker” Michel Rolland seems to have consulted on the wine. The site also notes that the vineyard is made of 12 hectares of clay-limestone and sandy soil, and 50% of the wine was aged in barrel for 18 – 24 months.

Opened on April 16, 2011, thanks to my generous friend (and graphic designer extraordinaire) Lydia. Within an opaque core of blood red lies a soft and seductive nose of black cherry, plums, blackberries, baking spices, cocoa and licorice. The rich, velvety palate is gently concentrated with red and black berry flavours, a hint of herbaceousness, and secondary notes of cinnamon, chocolate, licorice and earth, finishing with refreshing acidity that suggests further aging up to another 5 to 6 years would be fine. Lydia, Natasha and I ate this with Mediterranean cheese and spinach pies, which tasted great – I would also recommend trying this with a piece of good dark chocolate or a meat dish with mole sauce to really play up the voluptuousness of this wine.

Poplar Grove Cabernet Franc Okanagan Valley VQA 2005

Sean and I had the fortune to visit with Poplar Grove’s winemaker, Ian Sutherland, two years ago on a holiday in Naramata. There, we got to barrel sample some varietal components of his Bordeaux blend, Legacy, including some Cabernet Franc, and I’m fairly certain it was at that moment that I became a believer in Cabernet Franc’s potential to claim the title of Best Okanagan Black Grape. The barrel samples were intense, concentrated and left us with black teeth for the day – Sean was especially hooked and bought a bottle of the 2005, and we’ve been interested in Cab Francs across BC since.

I visited the winery again this past weekend on the way home from a short road trip through Penticton, and Julie, the lovely lady managing the tasting room that day, mentioned that Poplar Grove uses the help of Bordelais consultant Alain Sutre. Apparently, Sutre’s advice vis à vis Poplar Grove’s Cab Franc is that extra hangtime is allowed for the fruit such that it’s picked within the precise and short timeframe wherein sugar ripening slows down but the rate of phenolic ripeness speeds up, letting the grapes build up extra flavour complexity without the excess of natural sugars.

This funny, adorable border collie belonging to a neighbour of the winery had me working hard for my wine! I must have thrown that grapevine stick 50 times.

Opened on May 7, 2011. Deep purple-black in the glass with some garnet hues along the rim, this wine displays a heady aroma of ripe plums, prunes, blackberry, currants, tobacco, cedar and spice. In the mouth, fine sweet oak tannins combine deliciously with a medium-plus body of ripe cherry, currant, plum, leather, spice, chocolate and licorice flavours and a medium-plus finish. A rewarding wine right now but could certainly hold up for another couple years if not longer.

This still had all the concentrated black fruit flavours and tannin of the original barrel sample, except worn and woven into a much smoother cloth. We sipped happily on this without food, however I would have loved to try this with some grilled rosemary lamb chops or rib eye seared perfectly medium rare. Finishing: 18 months in French oak barrels plus an additional 12 months of bottle maturation prior to release. $35 at the winery (fairly positive it’s now sold out)