We were hosting a biodynamic tasting at our offices in Portland. Pacific Rim was pouring a vertical of Wallula Vineyard Biodynamic Rieslings (picture above). This was an opportunity for me to taste through the first three vintages (2007-2008-2009) of the magnificent Wallula Vineyard and reflect on our winemaking and our progress. Remember that those wines are biodynamic wines (vs made from biodynamic grapes) which is pretty rare as I saw yesterday where most of the producers present were pouring made from biodynamic grapes wines. Nothing is added to those wines (no yeast, no acid, no nothing) and they are certified biodynamic. Wallula is probably one of the most thoughtful Riesling planting in the USA with a special trellis system, German clones and all biodynamically farmed (http://rieslingrules.com/the_book/about-our-wines/biodynamic-winemaking-at-pacific-rim/).

2007 Wallula Riesling BioD: It was our first year and were still learning about selecting the best rows and We might have picked a bit late. The resulting wine is very nice though may be missing some acid and it is rich in alcohol. It is rebalanced by a very low residual sugar (0.7%?). Overall a great wine but not the best we have made I would think. Would love to taste this in 5 years to see how it is aging.

2008 Wallula Riesling BioD: This was a cool vintage and also the first vintage we started to pick the grapes at different time (fractionnal picking). The wine was difficult to ferment and stuck at 1.2% residual sugar. It is a more complex version with some serious aging potential.

2009 Wallula Riesling BioD: Whao, may be our best vintage. It is zippy (we picked quite early) with a lower ethanol content (12.5%). We started to stop the fermentation early for a fraction of the blend so we could use that fraction to blend back into a dry fraction aged on lees. This technique  seems to be very appropriate for our conditions. This is a complex and hedgy wine. Very interesting and thoughtful.

Overall this was a solid line up and I could taste the vineyard through each wine. The common thread reflecting the site was the lovely floral nose of each wine. The  importance of the picking date and the amount of fractionnal picking (picking the same vineyard at different rippeness levels) really had a tremendous impact. I can’t wait to do a 10 year vertical with the press to taste what I think is one of the most thoughtful Riesling in North America.

The latest fantastic review of our 2007 Selenium Vin De glaciere by Wine and Spirit (92 points and one of the best Riesling in america), prompted me to open a bottle of this divine beverage last week end. It was a bit of a last minute thought but I had a piece of Fourme d’Ambert in the refrigerator (this is a great blue cheese if you do not know it) and this sounded like the right opportunity to rediscover an old classic pairing. The fourme I’ve unwrapped was not old so it was quite creamy and soft. The pairing was just superb, I highly recommend this classic pairing if you want to impress your friends and show them why pairing food with the right wine is a life changing experience.

Nicolas

The recent 89 points score in the wine spectator for our 2009 Sweet Riesling gave me the impulse for tasting through a vertical of Sweet Riesling from 2006 to 2009 (4 vintages). This would be since we’ve started making this wine. The inspiration for the Sweet Riesling came from German sweeter Rieslings that few people have been making in the US. We had to put a US twist on the wine due to our growing conditions (more sunlight, more heat…). I must say I am a bit curious to find out how they are holding up with age…

2006 Sweet Riesling – rated 88 points Wine Spectator (Harvey Steiman): Great pale color still for this older wine, nice nose, fresh as can be. Great acidity on this wine, aging very gracefully, still very young. This has still California fruit in it by the way so it has no appellation on the front. This is still a very serious Riesling – impressive and complex. pH: 2.96, TA: 0.81, RS: 7%

2007 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Enthusiast (Paul Gregutt): Our first wine in our new winery in Eastern Washington. Color is quite gold, some more age character, nose is still fresh, very Riesling like, nice honey, feels a bit more phenolic. Not as nice as 2006, more Washington in style – less Germanic. Probably my least favorite right now. This is the first year we also lowered our total sulfite content – may be some correlation between the way it ages and the amount of preservative? pH: 2.97, TA: 0.81, RS: 6.8%

2008 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Enthusiast (Paul Gregutt): Interesting nose, on the floral side, color is going the way of the 2007 but not quite golden yet, lively mouthfeel that makes the wine quite refreshing. In the same vein than 2007 though may be a tid bit more lively. Finishes quite dry with notes of botrytis. pH: 3.03, TA: 0.80, RS: 6.5%

2009 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Spectator (Harvey Steiman): Great color, loaded with apricot, a very fine and fruity nose, fresh, nice acid, this is a dynamite wine, great acid, whao – Did we make that? pH: 2.99, TA: 0.72, RS: 7%

Overall I am very impressed with how those wines are holding. The 2007 is probably on its way down but the 2006 is still very lively (would be interesting to see how it will evolve in the next 12-24 months). I must say that 2009 is a very nice vintage and drinking just amazingly well right now. Fun exercise to line them up all like this – I’ll do that again soon with the Dry Riesling.

This week I gave a small talk in front of a group of importers at the winery in West Richland. One of my assignment was to give them an idea of where Washington fits in the Riesling world. I went on to describe what in my mind the major characteristics of most Rieslings are. As I was doing this, it came to my mind that I could use a frame work to place Rieslings in some type of matrix and that it would help me to relate where Washington fits in comparison to other regions. Here is the way it came to me after the fact:

1- Riesling’s purity: Riesling’s elegance can be rather quickly destroyed by a heavy handed style. Riesling has a form of compulsive shyness and as soon as it put in contrast with another aromatic element it leaves the stage (“sorry, you are big and obnoxious, you have fun without me”). It appears that Riesling does not respond well to oaking (the oak overshadow the fine aromatics of Riesling), Riesling does not like malo lactic fermentation (the milky/buttery tone resulting from this fermentation is also overpowering) and Riesling does not like to blended. Usually most Riesling in the world rank high in purity. I will use a scale from 1 to 3 (1 is low purity, 3 is high purity).

2- Riesling’s fine aromas and a few twists: In general Riesling’s aromas are very dependant on the harvest date. During the ripening season, Riesling’s primary aromas evolve from early citrus tones to floral notes to a ripe stone fruit pallet. The primary aromas can be altered by two very important factors in Riesling. The first one is the amount of Botrytis at the time of harvest that would introduce waxy, honey like flavors. The second one is the propensity for some Riesling to develop a gasoline/petrol nose as it ages.  A minor third one would be the possibility for the winemaker to do some lees aging introducing some yeasty notes and somewhat increasing the weight of a given Riesling. I will use a scale from 1 to 3 (1 is citrus, 2 is floral, 3 is stone fruit), I’ll add a B for Botrytis, P for Petrol and a Y for Yeasty.

3- Sugar – Acid tension: Riesling is a bloody tart varietal and often requires the use of sugar to rebalance the acid in some fashion. They are many styles of Rieslings that tilt that acid/sugar balance toward super dry or super sweet with everything in between (that is why we make 10 different Rieslings at Pacific Rim). This is where the International Riesling Foundation scale comes handy. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here, so I will use the IRF scale’s and rank wine from 1 to 5 (1: Dry, 2:Medium Dry, 3:Medium Sweet, 4:Sweet, 5:Dessert).

Now if I am to qualify some of our wine here is the way I would go:

- Dry Riesling: 3 – 2Y – 1. A pure Riesling with floral notes and some yeastiness tasting Dry.

- Sweet Riesling: 3 – 3 – 3: A pure Riesling with stone fruit notes tasting medium Sweet.

Now if I have to make a broad categorization of Riesling regions:

- Australian: 3 – 1P – 1. Pure Rieslings with citrus note, often some petrol, very dry

- Alsatian: 3 – 2P – 1. Pure Rieslings with floral note, often some petrol, dry

- Mosel: 3 – 2B – 3: Pure Riesling with floral notes, fair amount of Botrytis influence, medium Sweet

- Canadian Ice Wine: 3 – 3B – 5: Pure Riesling with stone fruit nose, botrytis influence, dessert style

- WA classic style (think Wallula, Poet’s Leap, Eroica): 3 – 2 – 2: Pure Riesling, floral aromas and medium Dry

- WA old style (Johannisberg): 3 – 3 – 3: Pure Riesling, stone fruit and medium sweet

Here is to my new nomenclature!

Just reviewed the lastest Nielsen data ending March 6th and Riesling is still the fastest growing varietal in the US in dollars (+10.7 % over last 13 weeks, +8.7% over last 52 weeks). It is ahead of Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon in growth. Riesling is also gaining ground on Syrah (it is now 80% as big as syrah vs 77% a year ago) and could overtake Syrah as the #8 varietal in the country. I’ll let you guess who is #1 through #7! #10 is Zinfandel. GO RIESLING!