Wannabe Wino

It's that time of month again, WBW! The event really crept up on me this month, I was down to the wire, just heading out to pick up my bottle yesterday afternoon. Our host for this month is Tim of WineCast, who is pulling double duty this go around as he was also the host for the 2nd WBC, which also crept up on me and I didn't get around to finishing the book for this time. As always, the host is responsible for picking the theme for WBW, the brainchild of Lenn of Lenndevours, and posting the round-up after the event. Tim has chosen Old World Riesling for this month, asking us to pick up any bottle of Riesling from Germany, Austria, Alsace....and a couple of other places.

With that in mind, I set out to find my Riesling. If I were writing this post for just a regular post, I'd have titled it "Old World Riesling with a New World Label." I don't normally go in for the eye-catching wine names/labels, and it actually wasn't the reason I purchased this bottle. The owner of my favorite wine shop recommended two bottles to me and said this one was a bit fruitier than the other one, so I went with it because Matt prefers whites that show a lot of fruit.

The wine is a 2007 "Diva" Riesling from Germany. The producer is Gunderloch and it's a Rheinhessen Riesling Spatlese, which means the grapes are "late harvested" by allowing them to ripen for an extra week or more. It's the second level of quality on the scale of Rieslings produced in Germany. The bottle cost me $24.99 at the Winery in Old Town Alexandria, had a screw-cap closure, and clocked in at 9.5% alcohol by volume.

The nose was reserved, but gave up some lemon, peach, tropical fruit, and minerals. In the mouth this wine was fantastic. I can only describe it as delicate fruit flavors that dance over your tongue with an almost prickly feeling for your taste buds. Particularly I found peach, lots of peach, some tropical fruit, and honey all over the palate.

The wine was smooth, and glass by glass just disappeared in our house without a thought. It was drinking so well, and had wonderful acidity and backbone holding it together. It tasted like really delicious candy and would serve very well as a dessert in and of itself. I served it with baked chicken, broccoli, and homemade applesauce, and the food just overpowered the delicate flavors of the wine. I would say serve this as an apertif or a dessert, or perhaps with a very a cheese tray that wouldn't dominate the wine. I highly recommend this bottle, it's one of the best whites we've had recently.

Thanks to Tim for hosting, and I will be sure to alert you to the round-up when it's posted!