Season's Rieslings
Hi Everyone!
**A Quick Word From
Your Holiday Turkey**
Gobble, everyone!
Hope you’re having a gobbly-great holiday season! I’m not particularly, I’m
sitting in your freezer waiting to be baked and eaten, but no hard feelings –
Gobble knows if I were bigger than you and had thumbs and could recognize my
own reflection, well, y’all would be on my plate too. Before all that happens,
though, I’d like to ask a question that me and the other Turkeys in the yard
have been wondering:
Why don’t you drink
Riesling with me?
Whether it’s dry or
sweet, Riesling pairs with me and my fixin’s, like gravy, stuffing and
cranberry sauce, in fact it’s one of the only wines that can check all of those
boxes. The fruit balances the saline notes and the tartaric acid cuts through
the fat. It’s so perfect it’s almost like turkeys invented it (except we woulda
called it Gobble), but every Christmas y’all show up with Apothic and J. Lohr
and the like… I’d shake my head disapprovingly if my neck weren’t, you know,
right over there.
Riesling, folks.
It’s really quite gobble.
**A Quick Word From
Your Christmas Ham**
Oink, folks. I don’t
often agree with my fine feathered friend there, but everything the bird just
said about Riesling also applies to me. Baked ham and Riesling, guys. It’s
oinking delicious.
**I am so sorry,
here are some yum Rieslings**
Pegasus Bay,
Waipara, New Zealand
I’m very excited to offer these unique and ultra-rare
Rieslings – in fact I’m the only retailer in BC to offer these, they were
imported at my request. The Donaldson family farms the vineyards in Waipara,
north of Christchurch on the South Island, and differ from their Marlborough
counterparts by inviting Botrytis into the mix. Often employed in sweet
late-harvest and Spätlese/Auslese Rieslings, the Noble Rot concentrates the
sugars in the shriveling grapes and increases phenolics, and the Donaldsons
render those grapes two ways:
Pegasus Bay “Bel
Canto” 2017 Dry Riesling
An electric, statuesque, Botrytis-affected Riesling
vinified dry, to an austere 5g/l residual sugar. Ginger, apricot and orange
peel on the nose precede a stratified, richly structured body that calls to
mind Smaragd Riesling from Wachau, Austria (but with way more fruit weight).
The Botrytis adds waxy texture and depth, the acidity is considerable but
completely in balance, bolstered by a very slight effervescence that adds the
last few volts to the long finish. An altogether new Idea, I’ve never quite
tasted anything like it. 95 points Cameron Douglas MS*, 94 points Bob Campbell
MW*, 2 6-packs available, $59.98 +tax
Pegasus Bay “Aria” 2016 Late Picked Riesling
Pushes the Pleasure Buttons faster and more
frequently than a caffeinated squirrel playing Call of Duty, like someone
dunked a plugged-in toaster into a Gold Capsule Auslese. Key Lime pie, jasmine
and melons swirl around a lemon-yellow body of sweetness and delight. 50%
Botrytis, 83g/l residual, 11% Alcohol, this is powerful, heady stuff, but the
shining streak of tartaric acid saves the day and brings a fresh zing to the
finish – this pairs with Foie, Crème Brulée and Stilton, not pancakes. Simply
gorgeous, drink this and try not to smile, it’s impossible. 95 points Bob
Campbell MW, 93 points Robert Parker, 2 6-packs available, $59.98 +tax
August Kesseler
“530,3” Riesling Spätlese 2006 Rheingau, Germany
Put simply, this wine is
having more fun than you. This wine is eating nougat and you are not. This wine
smells like honeyed grapefruit with slate and you don’t. This wine is 13 years
old and I truly hope you are not. Exclusive to Everything Wine, this is a
perfectly-aged Rheingau Riesling that’s just off-dry enough to be naughty but
structured enough to go a further decade if you can wait (you can’t). August
Kesseler took over his family’s winery in the ‘70s and has been at the
forefront of the qualitative renaissance that the Rheingau region – previously
known for jug-filling – has enjoyed over the last few decades. This 2006 is a
staff favourite for very good reason. 3 6-packs available, $59.98 +tax
Jim Barry “The
Florita” Riesling 2018 Clare Valley, Australia
Built like an arrow, The
Florita (means “wee flower”) has always been one of Australia’s Tent Pole
Rieslings, showing the bright, linear purity of the Clare Valley, and serving
as an antidote to the Barry family’s spine-crushing reds. Brilliant citrus and
stones on the nose, business-like and fresh on the palate with a miles-long
finish. Decades of cellaring potential, here, it’s like Grand Cru Alsace with
blinders on. 96 points James Halliday, 6 bottles available, $71.98 +tax
Until next time,
Happy Drinking!!
*Cameron Douglas MS
is New Zealand’s only Master Sommelier, reviews NZ wines more than most, and
should have picked a different domain name than camerondouglasms.com. Likewise,
Bob Campbell is one of two NZ Masters of Wine, specializes in that country’s wines,
and his domain name is fine.
