The holidays are a bitch. There's always family drama and the chaos of the everyday life to keep one from doing something entirely fun.
And so with that in mind, we met again a few days back to drink some good stuff. The rules were the same.
1. Brown bag it, so we can't see what we're drinking.
2. Try and pick some favorites.
The night started off clumsily, quite literally, as I could not slice up the cheese very well. See, the day before, I kind of let the inner regions of my right thumb relax a bit, and catch some fresh air. You know. See the world. And it did so at the nudging of a broken B.B. Burgerbrau glass. I'm never washing dishes again.
Thankfully, the tendon wasn't torn, and all I really have to deal with is an awesome $625 hospital bill (thanks full time job for the lack of insurance!).
There were 8 of us: PW folk Lauren, Jay and I, as well as Steve, Dave, Kyo, Kedar, and Masha.
The goal was simple: Taste some good Riesling, from different parts of Germany and the world.
The results:
First place: St. Urbans-Hof, 2005, Mosel Saar Ruwer.Lauren, Steve and I all picked this as the favorite. Everyone picked out some citrus and floral stuff in it: Grapefruit, pineapple, honeydew, peach. Considerable balance here.
This is from Germany's most prolific wine-producing region of Mosel Saar Ruwer.
$13-17.
Second place: Leitz Dragonstone, 2005, Rheingau
This was Jay's favorite, and was narrowly defeated. It came across as more clean than the others, evoking more feminimity and easy touches of fruit, ranging from lemon to honey to apricot.
The Rheingau is one of Germany's three most well-known wine regions.
$16-20.
Third place: Hexamer Quarzit, 2002, Nahe
No one named this a favorite, but it received the silver from Steve, Lauren, and Dave.
There was a bit more noticeable lime, mineral, and floral tendencies in this, certainly more forward then the rest of them.
Nahe is a relatively tiny region in Germany, not well-known, just east of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer.
$16-20.
Fourth place: Bonny Doon The Heart Has its Rieslings, 2005, Washington State
A mass-producing California wine house grows some grapes up North, and all of a sudden they take a cheesy label and produce the value of the night.
This was Dave's favorite, and Jay put this at second.
Universally considered sweeter than the rest, there was a lot of peach & apricot notes to it. Kyo noted that it was "Austria gone bad," while Steve said there was "honey all over the place."
$10-13.
Fifth place: Babich, 2004, Marlborough
Middle-of-the-pack wine, with unexpected gasoline/earth mouthfeel and bouquet. Some found it dominating, others found some decent melon to it.
New Zealand is not really known for wines to have these characteristics, whatever the grape is. Definitely a left turn.
$14-17.
Sixth place: Pierre Sparr, 2005, Alsace
Absolutely not a fan-favorite, but Lauren, Jay, and Masha all gave it a third-place vote. Lauren found some strong, zingly lemon while Jay's schnoz detected some cherry. Quite odd.
And to be honest, this was kinda of a disappointment. It felt wierdly fat to me. Such a bummer, as I've dug many Alsacean wines (Alsace is in northeastern France, just west of Germany).
$11-15.
Seventh place: Gunderloch Dry, 2003, Rheinhessen
Kyo championed this one, finding reminders of petrol, sandy soil, and green herbs.
Quote of the night: "Riesling is made of people!" -Lauren
$14-17.
Fart-stain of the night: Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, 2003, Pfalz
Kyo gave this a second-place, but it kind-of reminded most of us something akin to the unpleasantries of Pete Sampras' washing the salt off of his balls.
$20-25.
Riesling-A-Go-Go was surprising beyond the usual "wow, I never thought, I'd like that one so much."
I've heard so many people say, "I'm not really a fan of that 'Riesling' taste." Well...at this point, I really wonder what that taste is. Because these were diverse. Very diverse. Words like lemon, honeydew, roses, earth, felt, wasabi, candy, gasoline, pear, flat sprite were used with sincerity.
I'll hop off of this whole self-discovery line of bullshit in a second. But I have to say it's a blast experiencing this stuff.
Now...I really don't know what crooner or rock god will be the perfect match for 8 different Rieslings from across the world.
So, let's think about this.
8 local bands (Detroit/Ann Arbor) you should go see, not because we think they're great, but because there's a lot of people who think they're great, and you might miss out on something awesome, maybe, if you don't get off of your lazy ass.
1. The Hard Lessons - it's all been said.
2. Great Lakes Myth Society
3. Jawbone
4. Johnny Headband
5. Starling Electric
6. The Universal Temple of Divine Power
7. Chapstik
8. New Grenada
If you see these artists, you'll get a great idea of what the hell it's about around here. Godspeed.
-Justin
