Quarterly, I'm lucky enough to receive
two bottles from the Wines of Germany program (yes, they are free, but I'm
still always honest about whether I like them). They are generally outstanding
wines and they always represent a good variety of styles and regions.
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| Photo Wines of Germany |
This
time around I've got another one from Rheingau (you can learn more about the region in this post: LINK)
and one from a larger, much warmer, and somewhat less prestigious area for
Riesling, Pfalz (PHAL-tz).
Because
I've detailed it in the other post, I won't reiterate information on Rheingau
but I do want to make two quick notes on the wine from Schloss Schönborn, the
winery from Rheingau before I talk about Pfalz.
First, I reviewed another of
their wines from a different vineyard a while back. If you want to read about
it and make the comparison, here's the link.
Second,
it bears mention that Schloss Schönborn is really historic. It was established
in 1349 and they've been making wine since. The family is rich, as they
shamelessly tell you on their Web site and they've got some prestige -- among
their members is the archbishop and cardinal of Vienna. Despite the pomp and
ego of the site, they do own a lot of top properties in Rheingau, including
"Pfaffenberg" or Priest Mountain, a low-lying vineyard near the Rhine
River that makes awesome wines, which I talk about below.
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| Map from Wines of Germany |
But
onto an area of Germany I haven't discussed before...Pfalz.
Also
called Palatinate, this is a weirdo area for German winegrowing. The problems
that plague other regions -- frost, cold, generally marginal climate for grape
growing -- aren't an issue here. This place is warm. It's southwest of the more
prestigious areas of Mosel and Rheingau and it's the sunniest and driest wine
region in Germany. The climate is almost Mediterranean, if you can believe that
-- so sunny and warm that they can grow stuff like figs, almonds, oranges, and
red wine grapes. It's the second largest winegrowing region in Germany (after
Rheinhessen), but quality wines have just started popping up abroad in the last
10 or so years.
That said, this place isn't new to
the wine game. Records are patchy, but there are a lot of native grapes growing
in the area so we think that even before the Romans came in about 1 AD and
started to formalize viticulture, people were making the sauce. Kind of cool.
There's a ton of sub-regions in Pfalz,
and it's one of the more tourist friendly wine areas in Germany, with a clearly
marked wine route. Deidesheim, where the wine I'm about to talk about hails
from is located kind of near Alsace, France -- home of rich, silky, oily whites
that benefit from sunny days and low rainfall. The wines of Deidesheim are
similar, which is why this is one of the best wine sub-regions in Pfalz. If you
ever head here, keep in mind that there's rumored to be a kick-ass wine
festival in mid-August with about 100,000 people in attendance or something
crazy like that.
But I digress.
The producer of the wine below, Dr.
Deinhard, was founded about 500 years after Schloss Schönborn, in 1849. It was
recently acquired by new owners (2007), who have flipped the script a bit. For
starters, they stopped using fertilizers and herbicides and 10% of their
vineyards are now Certified Organic. Makes for better tasting wine, for
sure. Also, great for us across the pond, they've started to export to the US,
so we've got access to them.
Ok, enough background. Let's get to it.
Wine #1: 2009 Schloss Schönborn
Hattenheim Pfaffenberg, Riesling Kabinett
Translation:
- Schloss Schönborn is the producer
- Hattenheim is the town
- Pfaffenberg is the vineyard area
- Riesling is the grape
- Kabinett is ripeness/sweetness level -- you may see Spätlese,
Auslese, which are more ripe
The Grape:
100% Riesling
Alcohol: 11%
Price:
$21
Color: Carbon dioxide
was trapped in the bottle after fermentation to give a nice bubble to the pale,
pretty, pear juice colored wine.
Smell: This
smelled so ripe and juicy -- like biting into a ripe nectarine or even a mango.
It was like a bowl of summer fruit with honey but there were some smells of wet
rocks and baked bread too. The wet rocks are very typical, the bread is a
little oddball. Usually that comes from wine sitting on the lees/dead yeast
cells, but that's not a common practice with Riesling so I'm not sure what was
up with that. It was good either way.
Taste: Loved
the spritz from the CO2 -- it make my tongue tingle on the top, which was a
nice balance to the intense watering that I got from the super high acid of the
wine. It was off-dry/slightly sweet but with the acid and bubbles, it was so
refreshing and not sticky at all. Lemon-lime, fresh green herbs, a little
butter, and then a super-fabulous smokey/toasted marshmallow-at-a-campfire
flavor linger after I swallowed.
Drink or sink?:
Drink. This wine is classy. It has a lot going on but still manages to feel
light and refreshing. This goes on the list of fantastic wines. Love it.
Wine #2: 2009 Dr. Deinhard, Deidesheimer Mäushöhle Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken
Translation:
- Dr. Deinhard is the producer
- Deidesheimer is the town
- Maushohle is the vineyard area
- Kabinett is ripeness/sweetness level
- Halbtrocken means half dry, or slightly sweet
The Grape:
100% Riesling
Alcohol: 11.5%
Price:
$20
Color: The
wine was so pale it was almost platinum! It had virtually no yellow tones to it
and was a little green (sometimes indicates young wine or high acid wine). This
one also had some CO2 trapped in the bottle to give it spritz. I was hoping it
was as delicious as the Schloss Schönborn.
Smell: It
smelled a little like dried apricots (because they are more tart than sweet
nectarines or peaches) with some lime juice scents and a little bit of flowers.
There was also a smell of petrol/gasoline, which I've said before -- sounds
gross but actually smells really good. It's something super common in Riesling,
and people either love or hate it. I'm a lover.
Taste: I
felt like I was drinking limeade. It was tart -- the back of my tongue was
feeling bitter lime (different from tart, think argula lettuce versus a lemon)
-- but the wine was sweet at the same time. I tasted a little bit of ground up
rock flavor (go with me -- how that smells or when you're on a road with rocks
and the rock dust gets kicked up by your car) but the wine was mostly a battle
between sweet and bitter flavors.
Drink or sink?:
Drink, sort of. I like limeade, so I liked this wine. It was pleasant. That
said, for $20, I'd rather have the Schloss Schönborn or a fabulous Mosel
Riesling, both of which have a certain finesse and elegance that this wine was
missing for me.
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