What We Drank (8/17/09)

Once again, we have a wide array of wines -- German riesling, Washington State cab, Finger Lakes riesling and a Blaufrankisch from Austria. Isn't wine fun?

Bryan Calandrelli: S.A. Prum Wehlener 2001 Sonnenuhr Auslese 

A coworker of mine has gotten into the habit of opening up a nice bottle of wine every time I back out of working a day I was scheduled for. This time I managed to find the remnants of this bottle before someone else finished it.

He's always buying premium wines that come from respected Old World producers so anytime I get to taste them it's a learning experience. I don't have much experience with Auslese and Spatlese wines so this was a nice surprise.

Golden yellow color with dried apricot aromas and a supple texture, this wine brought plenty of sweetness in the mid-palate. Fully expecting a cloying finish, I was thrilled when the acid finally caught up and dried out the finish enough to keep it fresh.

I did a lot of pondering with every sip of this one. Knowing when to arrest the fermentation and preserve some balance in the finished wine is an art in itself.

I can see why so many people collect and cellar rieslings like this one.

Evan Dawson: Feather 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington

Washington is not California. You're welcome for the geography lesson. I point this out because there is way too much over-generalizing about wine styles in this country, and I'm certainly guilty of it from time to time. We've moved from talking about California fruit grenades to including the entire west coast in some of our descriptions. The next time I do this, smack me in the mouth.

This is a lithe little 14.2 cab sauv, and we loved it. Not surprisingly, there's a little too much toast on the finish, but not oppressively so. It followed a very nice Washington chenin blanc, and now I'm seeking out Walla Walla vacation spots.

A friend brought this to dinner, and at $60 I have no idea if it's in the pricing wheelhouse of very good Washington cab, but it beats the hell out of California cabs. Oh damn, there I go generalizing again...

Jason Feulner: Sheldrake Point Vineyard 2007 Riesling

This riesling was made in the semi-dry style, which framed beautifully the ripe fruit bursting with lemon and apricot.

The botrytis flavors were strong and distinct but held off just enough to showcase the other attributes of the wine (a nice feature of many Sheldrake rieslings).

I've maintained that 2007 is a year best shown with semi-dry rieslings, and this particular wine provides a powerful anecdote for that assertion.

Lenn Thompson: Rosi Schuster 2007 Blaufrankisch 

I've tasted several New York Blaufrankishes (or Lemberger if you want to use the consumer-unfriendly name) but this might be my first from Austria, where it is much more prevalent.

This wine actually had a lot less of that wild spiciness that I've come to expect with the grape. Instead, it's a lot more approachable, filled with red raspberry and cherry flavors with a more subtle spiciness and meatiness. There is an almost Beaujolais (cru, not nouveau) character to this.

I have to admit, I think I enjoy some of the New York renditions more, but this seems like a nice introduction to the grape. I need to get my hands on some different Austrian examples.

Comments

[Peter/Anthony Road Wine Co.]

S.A. Prum instead of J.J. Prum. Small detail but you want to attribute the right wine to the right side of the family. The sweetness adds weight and longevity, the muscle to the acidic backbone. The owner of S.A. Prum was in the Finger Lakes last Fall. New York is starting to blip on the radar screen of top Riesling regions worldwide.

[David Falchek]

The Schuster Blaufrankisch sounds interesting.. but I'd trust it would take fewer attempts for consumers to type "Lemberger" correctly into Google than "Blaufrankisch" to learn more about the wine.

[Kevin Welch]

I love Feather, one of a handful of Long Shadows wines. Great concept and advertisement for WA. Grow some of the world's most notable grapes in WA, and bring in the most renowned vintner for each varietal to make a WA wine. Having Napa Valley vintner, Randy Dunn create this Feather cabernet is a great example. However my favorite must be Long Shadows Pedestal, a bourdeaux inspired blend from WA by Michel Rolland.

[Old Vine Zin]

Thanks for stressing how increasingly important BALANCE is in "big" wines like Zins. Lately, a lot of wines have been writing checks with their alcohol levels that their body-style and structure can't cash.