WTN: Rieslings at Solano

A very educational tasting of a smattering of rieslings at Solano Cellars. First up was the palate-prepping NV Fitz Pfalz Riesling Sekt Extra Trocken which I found easy to drink and pleasing, but rather middle of the road--smells of hay, loose bubbles, a bit heavier and reminiscent of carrots, some grapeskin on the finish--okay but nothing notable for me. Then onto the new world examples starting with the 2008 Charles Smith Columbia Valley Riesling Kung Fu Girl from the evergreen vineyard. Soft and lemony, it had a touch of nice acid on the finish, but overall I found it a bit flabby. Decent balance, but not enough liveliness for me. The 2007 Penner-Ash Willamette Valley Riesling, on the other hand, had much more going on--a great nose of freshly sharpened pencils, soft and tangy fruit with some grapefruit thrown in, mouthwatering. Very nice! My first introduction to riesling from the Finger Lakes (I think) was the 2006 Hermann J. Wiemer Finger Lakes Dry Riesling, which showed (in the company of the other wines) some interesting signs of quickly moving along toward the aged tastes of riesling to my tastes. A chunkier cheese nose, tastes of melted jolly rancher, chewier and a bit savory. Not bad at all drinking right now, but I certainly wouldn't hold onto one for much longer.

Then onto the old world with the 2004 Valentin Zusslin Alsace Riesling Clos Liebenberg with a lively and fantastic nose with just a touch of age on it. It tasted soft, integrated, spritzy, and fresh--yet still a bit of rust and a delicious spicy finish lasting for what seemed like minutes. Fantastic! The 2007 Alzinger Wachau Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg was a bit tight and squarish on the nose, but tasted slithery, rounded, and rather weighty. Very approachable complexity here--it was impressive, but I think would perform even better over the course of a bottle and an evening. The 2007 Weegmüller Haardter Herzog Pfalz Riesling Kabinett had a lovely floral nose and holy halbtrocken deliciousness--lime and sugar. Yum. The nose is rocking on this wine. I can't say the pricetag of 24 bucks does it for me--but this is easy drinking goodness, and I'm not going to shake a stick at that.

The 2007 Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Mosel Riesling Spätlese * had a really nice dried honey nose--very finely tuned. Steely, soft, and elegant in the mouth--it just tasted pure. Very precise and moment-inducing. This is very finely-tuned stuff. Not to get too effusive, but, heck, why not--the 2005 A.J. Adam Dhroner Hofberger Mosel Riesling Auslese had an utterly delicious nose--many around the room said petrol--but I don't really use that term that much so I cannot say. Spicy background, delicious acid, peachy middle mosel feel. This wine just plain makes me happy. Very happy. The-world-stops-for-a-moment happy. Wow. A step back in time to the 1975 Baumann Oppenheimer Sackträger Rheinhessen Riesling Auslese which is still kicking, I'd say. A rusty heavy and honeyed nose is followed by some tender roasted apricot, light honey, easy going and light--some of my fellow tasters were not particular fans, but I found it light and nicely drinkable. Certainly not dead yet. The 2004 Machmer Bechtheimer Rosengarten Rheinhessen Riesling Eiswein, however, had some greater fans in the room than I. A bit weird on the nose, but nicely sweet. Very decent acid then thick syrup--a bit too much of the spicy paprika feel to me to be as drinkable as I'd like--but some were enchanted by its drinkable nectar qualities. Overall, educational range of wines and very interesting discussions--not a bad Saturday afternoon (before rushing along to taste some Bosnian, Slovenian, and Hungarian stuff on the other side of town).

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the notes.

Another great note on Adam. I am going to break down and buy some 2008 even if it has a cork.

Thanks for those notes Keith; looks like a really good lineup. Reckon that Alzinger probably would have shown better with some air - I did open the 06 Loibenberg Smaragd recently at a Riesling dinner with 6 people, so got to sit with a couple of glasses over two hours and it kept developing and getting better with more time.

Glad to see another positive note on AJ Adam. I recently had a 'WOW' experience with his 07 Hofberg Spatlese a few weeks ago (and a second very, very good bottle a week later) - that's a producer I'm definitely keeping my eyes on.

Indeed, interesting to taste all the different expressions of riesling next to each other. Did you find that Old World/New World was a significant fault line?

From my limited tastes it seems that riesling is one grape with more similarities across countries (despite the fact that it is so 'transparent' to vineyard differences) than pinot noir, chardonnay, syrah, or cabernet sauvignon for example. Perhaps because it is grown in climates that are relatively-similar across countries unlike those other grapes? (Just guessing out loud here)...

Did you find that Old World/New World was a significant fault line?

I must say I haven't tasted new world rieslings widely enough to come to any firm conclusions. In this particular set, I think the lines were not as precise in the new world examples as they were in the old world ones--but I don't know if that difference in precision and definition applies more generally. I've tasted a lot more new world chardonnay, syrah, cabernet, and pinot noir to have a feel for the different styles--with riesling, not so much.

In this particular set, I think the lines were not as precise in the new world examples as they were in the old world ones--but I don't know if that difference in precision and definition applies more generally..

From my limited experience I found similar results, although again with not the same huge difference as when comparing CA syrah with Northern Rhone syrah. But again, that may be because the growing conditions for riesling are closer across countries.