REVIEW - PAUL ZINCK GRAND CRU PFERSIGBERG 2008

 REVIEW - 2008 Riesling Paul Zinck Grand Cru Pfersigberg

Alsace, France
SKU: 722356  

Origin: France  |  Alsace
Agent: Crush Imports

I've become more than just a little familiar with this wine but I came across it again not too long ago and was startled to be reminded just how much I liked it. It's done up by the same makers of the Pink Zinck Cremant (I know, who would have guessed right?) and that was my "go to" bubbly for an entire summer a few years back. Now, I'm not a huge Riesling fan, but this is definitely one that makes me think twice about blanket statementing a varietal.

In the glass – It is clear medium lemon with just a hint of green around the rim, but it may have been the office lighting.

On the nose - This wine has a medium intensity, with key notes of smoky petrol, orange and lime peel. With clear over all stone fruit, floral, and honey.

On the Palate – dry, and just a smidge less then high acid. Yes, that's a technical term. It had great flavors of fresh green fruit, pears, kiwi, pine apple. Just lots of warmer citrus fruit all around. It really reminded me of the canned fruit salad that you had as a kid. It's fine fruit was complimented with  a smooth minerality, and a touch of petrol. Over all this wine had a medium body, medium finish with a 12.5% alcohol

 This wine is, and has been for a while, very good in my books, and will probably be very good for at least another 5 years. It should run you less than $35 in a store

For me this would go with any kind of seafood, and spice. Like sushi. Also it would be great with English style fish and chips.

Cheers!

REVIEW – 2008 ST URBANSHOF OCKFENER BROCKSTEIN KABINETT ESTATE RIESLING

REVIEW – 2008 ST URBANSHOF OCKFENER BROCKSTEIN KABINETT ESTATE RIESLING

SKU: 730217

 Agent: Renaissance Wine & Spirits

In the Glass – clear deep lemon. Showing no legs/coat which tells me that it’s a low alcohol wine

On the Nose - clean medium to pronounced aromas of baking spice, fruity, citrus flavors like lime and lemon. And still the Riesling minerals and a bit of petrol.

On the Palate – off dry to medium sugar, medium to high acidity which gives this wine a good balance. Absolutely no tannin in this wine. Flavors of citrus, yellow fruit, banana and petrol. It gives us flavors of green apple, lemon, lime and minerally cool fruit. The body is in the light to medium range with low alcohol, and a medium and enjoyable finish.

Nik Weis is the owner and the winemaker for St.Urbans-Hof, which is located in Mosel. The winery was first built in 1947. His father, while building one of Germanys biggest vine nurseries, was also a key figure in building what is now Vineland Estates in the Niagara region of Ontario Canada.

After the grapes are harvested they were crushed and allowed two hours of skin contact. They allowed a longer time for contact with the lees so that the wine would have “more body and a sense of smoothness”.

Nik Weis Advocates a "10 Points Philosophy" that I found very well said. He says that a hands on and simultaneously hands off approach is best, and longevity of vines in Mosel is match by its longevity in the bottle. It’s actually a very cute slide show.

In the slide show Weis states Mosel Riesling must be grown on slate, which gives it structure and binds the fruit sweetness of the wines with its naturally high acidity. Which is exactly what he has. His vine sites are on steep slat hills and can only be worked by hand. The warmth of the heat reflecting slate is seen in the wines; by allowing them to ripen slowly and develop balance.  Perhaps this is why “Mosel wines age gracefully”. Weis goes on to say that, "The path of grape to bottle must be as short and undisturbed as possible."  
He enacts this by only the use of indigenous yeasts and no addition anything.

Over all I’m not a Riesling drinker. Sorry. But I would drink this and enjoy it. And for under $30 retail I’d recommend it. My only (and vainly) issue comes with the labeling – it’s bland and kind of tacky. But really, once it’s in the glass what does that matter?

Cheers!

REVIEW - 2007 BISCHOFLICHE AYLER KUPP RIESLING SPATLESE

 REVIEW  -  2007 BISCHOFLICHE Ayler Kupp RIESLING SPATLESE

SKU: 705326  

Agent: Trialto Wine Group Ltd.

In the Glass – clear pale to medium lemon with almost no legs or coating on the rim

On the Nose – light/ medium intensity. I got a lot of stone fruit, ripe melon and sweet fruit like over ripe pineapple, mandarins and late harvest apples.

On the Palete – off dry, balanced, with medium body, which I attribute to the higher sweetness. With flavors of peach stewed fruit, and your basic Riesling flavors and a medium finish.

I would serve this with just about any white meat, or with anything spicy, and at 25$ a pop it’s not bad to have with Thai take out at home. Not that I would know anything about that…

The front of this bottle advertises that it’s a Saar wine. What is a Saar wine?

Good question.

German has 13 wine regions that are sub divided into smaller regions. Saar is a sub district of Mosel. It’s a collection of steep southern slopes along the Saar River in the north and follows the river down where it eventually feeds into the Mosel river. This division occurred in 1998. It’s just a young’en in the Germany senses of wine making. I’m not sure why but labeling a wine from its mini district has fallen out of style so we typically only see things like “Mosel” on the bottle. I like that this one is proud of where it comes from.

Cheers!