Wannabe Wino

I've hardly had any real Eiswein in my time as a wino, so I was very excited to taste a few different bottles over the Christmas holiday. The first was from Canada, and very good, however, this one from Germany took the prize.

The wine was a 2002 P.J. Vlackenberg Worms Au Rhein Rheinhessen Qualitatswein mit Pradikat Madonna Eiswein. (Phew, that was quite the mouthful.) My dad bought this at MV Wine and Spirit in Madison, CT, so I don't really know the price point, but it appears to go for around $30 for 375 mL. It clocked in at 8.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

The first thing I noted on the wine was the golden honey color. On the nose, the aromas were honey, apricot, a touch of lemon. The nose smelled sweet with a bit of bite behind it. In the mouth, the wine showed honey, apricot, orange, and a a stony minerality.

The wine was delicious, sweet, as you would expect from an ice wine, but with great acidity and backbone. I got the wine when it was around 6 years old, but I could see how this could be one you could tuck away in your cellar for years to come.