WineLovers Discussion Group

Asimov says it's Ravines' 2010 Argetsinger Vineyard.

Now the question is how to get a bottle into my hands.

It's not that far from your home!

well, lets read this more carefully. asimov says he 'has' called it the best. but not this time. didn't make the top 10 of the finger lakes - forget the rest of the country. i think we can safely say that the best one is either from finger lakes or northern michigaan. michigan rieslings have been named 'best' at competitions as often as finger lakes. both can be wonderful. is mosel better than saar?

I'm a great fan of Michigan Rieslings. Whenever visiting family in Kalamazoo I make the trek to the Traverse City region and stock up. But here's the relevant quote from Asimov:
“What was exciting to me was how many various different styles you could find within the category of dry rieslings", Thomas [Pastuszak] said. "He also observed that many of these rieslings were too young and needed a little more aging. I agree, and no wine demonstrates this more than a bottle that I have several times called the single best riesling produced in the United States (my bold). It didn’t even make the top 10 in our blind tasting. It was the 2010 Argetsinger Vineyard from Ravines, and while we were impressed by the richness and texture of the wine, it seemed unfocused."

By the way, the best US Riesling is Navarro's Cluster Select Late Harvest. It is the tops by a huge margin.

The Argetsinger is very good, but 21 Brix Dry Riesling is the best by a US producer that I've ever had. The winery is in far western NY, Portland, a few miles from the Pennsylvania border. We stopped to buy a case on the way to Presque Isle for juice a few weeks ago only to find they had none left. A restaurant in Buffalo had bought it all up. Someone in Buffalo knows something.

Dan Smothergill wrote:The Argetsinger is very good, but 21 Brix Dry Riesling is the best by a US producer that I've ever had. The winery is in far western NY, Portland, a few miles from the Pennsylvania border. We stopped to buy a case on the way to Presque Isle for juice a few weeks ago only to find they had none left. A restaurant in Buffalo had bought it all up. Someone in Buffalo knows something.

I have a couple bottles squirreled away.

I haven't found any U.S. Riesling that I prefer to the Hermann Wiemer dry Riesling.

Howie makes some damn fine juice from the Riesling grape.

What! No agreement on the best Riesling? I don't remember such a thing ever happening here before.

The Wiemer is very, very good, and also ages well at least over the medium term.

I am cellaring a magnum of it to see what happens over the longer term.

People really like the Navarro Dry Riesling. I think it's good....but just that. But David is right on about the Navarro LH.
They are the masters of the BA/TBA Rieslings in Calif.
For Calif, I would nominate the Tatomers, the Solminers, and the Ojais; all from SBC. And the Claibourne&Churchill
from EdnaVlly. All dry (or near-dry) Rieslings.
Tom

The grape is so versatile that it is no wonder that the ones various people think it best are all over the map. I personally like slightly off dry Finger Lakes Riesling best and so does my wife; so who cares what other people think?

Carl Eppig wrote:The grape is so versatile that it is no wonder that the ones various people think it best are all over the map. I personally like slightly off dry Finger Lakes Riesling best and so does my wife; so who cares what other people think?

Careful, Carl. By expressing your preference, some might think that you don't know what you are talking about

Riesling with a bit of RS is a thing of beauty when well made. There are good producers of that style in NY, New Zealand, Germany, etc.

I've heard that the Michigan wine country was close enough to Detroit to commute to. I had never heard that Michigan Riesling was that good. This really opens things up, as I'm somewhat sick of living in Los Angeles, and could use a change. Detroit is considered a great place to live, Jewishwise, certainly more wholesome than LA. Anyone know a good producer who needs a good winemaker?

Craig Winchell wrote:I've heard that the Michigan wine country was close enough to Detroit to commute to. I had never heard that Michigan Riesling was that good. This really opens things up, as I'm somewhat sick of living in Los Angeles, and could use a change. Detroit is considered a great place to live, Jewishwise, certainly more wholesome than LA. Anyone know a good producer who needs a good winemaker?

Craig, it's been my experience that the better Michigan wineries are located on the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas which is just outside of Traverse City. Traverse city would be 250 - 300 miles northwest of Detroit. So, a daily commute would be a bit difficult. There are some big wineries located south of Ann Arbor on (or just off of) US23 which runs between from Toledo and Ann Arbor. If you decide to move to Detroit you simply must also decide to come to Mo'Cool in August 2014.