What I Did Tonight (aka the wine wench returns!)

[lagilman]

My favorite uppity wine store (it's wonderfully stocked but ALL high-end and NYC sleek) had a special riesling tasting tonight, billed as "The Legends of Germany," featuring either the wine-maker or American representative of the same. Damn straight I was there!

What? It was Research!

(amusingly enough, I'm starting to run into the same people at these tastings. "You're the writer! How's the book going?")

Anyway, for my own notes and in case anyone else is interested, my personal highlights, as follows:

2006 Schafer-Frohlich Grosses Gewachs Monzinger Halenberg -- lemon and slate, surprisingly fruity. $54 The other two pours they had weren't as balanced as they should have been (IMHO) for that price range. They were also pouring an unlisted Kabinett from 2007 that made me want to hug the bottle.

1993 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Spatlesen -- Dorothee Zilliken said that if they were bottling this today it would be a Kabinett, not a Spatlesen. Nicely dry without losing any of the fruit. Probably my favorite of the night (the 2005 and 2006 Zilikens were very nice too, although the 2006 was too sweet for my taste) $28-34 (I enjoyed talking to Dorothee, who is a wonderful ambassador for the vineyard, and got her contact info for *cough* further follow-up).

2006 Monschoff Reisling Estate -- a really nice, clean, easy drinking without being insipid riesling -- a bargain at $16!

2006 Monchoff Erdner Pralat Auslese. I'm not much for dessert wines that aren't stickies, but this was a definite yum. Honey and lychee and all-around pretty. $49. Monchoff also makes a sparkling that I'm goig to have to keep my eye out for.

Interestingly enough, I didn't enjoy anything from Karthauserhof, although the '81 Spatlese was interesting in an "I can tell that craft went into this" way.

14 wines were being poured, which is nothing compared to what I used to taste at the old job during a training meeting, but by around #10 I needed to take a break and rest my taste buds. For some reason, they keep pouring me more than the usual tasting-measure... *has innocence*

Comments

[autojim.livejournal.com]

Riesling is quite popular around Casa del Crider, where half the denizens (read: K) of drinking age much prefer said variety to just about anything else and have little desire to venture far outside of that range.

The other half of the denizens are more adventurous, but still prefers sweeter to drier most of the time.

That said, I did pick up a couple sets of Riedel Vinum varietal glasses last year... and a full set of "O" Burgundy/Bordeaux glasses that also make mighty-fine water vessels. :)

Thanks for this, oh slightly tipsy Meerkat...

[lagilman]

you're quite welcome, but be aware that my preferences run more to the dryer rieslings than the sweeter ones, and adjust your reading accordingly...

[severedscythe.livejournal.com]

I'm finding it a little rediculous that I'm jealous, and I don't even drink wine. I did manage to find a beer that I actually like, but I'm an awful alcohol drinker. I only drink half the glass, and then I lose interest.

Dessert wines, however, are tasty.

[lagilman]

The taste of alcohol isn't for everyone -- I have very few beers I can drink without grimacing, and there are a great many liquors my tastebuds simply go 'meh' over.

Part of the fascination in wine, for me, is that it's almost like a living creature, the way it adapts to conditions, from growth to aging. Tasting it a way of measuring that adaption...

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Physics research was never that much fun.

I'm in the wrong brand of business...

and chemists have more fun than anyone -- BOOM!

[lagilman]

The thing about wine tastings, at least for me, is that I'm literally only tasting. I take maybe two mouthfuls of each wine, and then go back for another sip at the end to refresh my memory of certain wines. The days of drinking a half a glass of everything are long gone -- I prefer to have a distinct memory rather than a blur of "mmm, wine."

Less fun, but more useful, my way. A classroom vs a playroom.

(also: once you've lost track of an incoming migrane because you were tasting wines, and thereby lost the next 12 hours of your life? Between the pain and the blackout, your attitude about such things changes rather drastically.)

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I'm really sorry I had to miss it, but glad you enjoyed!

[lagilman]

There will be others!

[vincam.livejournal.com]

I've got some bottles Dale brought in off the bus for you to try. Mostly from Australia (Keith Urban, you know), but there's one that's not. I promise nothing, but I thought it might amuse you to crack one or two of them while you're here.

[jon-chance.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... reisling! Appreciate the rundown.

I am led to understand that it's considered to be a wine lover's wine, that in such circles if you say that's your favorite you get a knowing and approving nod. That's not why it's my favorite, of course... but I guess if it helps me establish street cred I'll take it.

[lagilman]

I am led to understand that it's considered to be a wine lover's wine, that in such circles if you say that's your favorite you get a knowing and approving nod.

Hrm, really? I suppose that's because it was so mangled in the 70's and early 80's with mislabeling and mishandling that you had to do some work to find a 'true' reisling with the proper characteristics (same with rosé vs the Crap Sold Here in the 80's).

I guess my take is that any grape can be as complicated or as simple as the conditions and wine-maker create, and any 'knowing nod' is probably more a reflection on the person doing the nodding than the wine itself.
Then again, I take the wine-growing and -making quite seriously, but the wine-drinking not quite so much. Wine-drinking should be about shared joy, not evaluations and grades.

(watching professionals taste wines for review is very different from watching professionals drink wine amongst themselves, I've discovered)

Anyway, I highly rec the $16 bottle for a summer's Thai meal. Worked extremely well.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

This is second German wine tasting you've gone to. Don't they have French wine in NYC? ;-) Something in a deep red? Now that would get me salivating.

[lagilman]

hey, I did the rosé tasting last month!

(and it's not like I don't already have French wines on the agenda...)

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

But "everyone knows" that rosé and white are not really wine! ;-) *VBEG*

Wine newbie seeks help

[signeh.livejournal.com]

So, if one is to start seriously studying wine, what would be the best first wine book to read and the three first wines to buy? I'm lucky enough to have access to a good range of wine shops. Your wine and food descriptions have always been so very interesting that I thought I would beg your indulgence in this matter. Thanks a lot if you can help me.

Re: Wine newbie seeks help

[lagilman]

First, I need you to narrow down "studying wine" -- what are you studying? Tasting? Making? Collecting? Cooking and serving?

Feel free to e-mail me at fullname-dot-lastname at gmail to discuss further.