Riesling Rendez Vous Highlights
Last week end was the biennium pilgrimage at the Riesling Rendez vous in Seattle hosted by Chateau St Michelle and Loosen wines. The event is a great oppotunity to meet many Riesling producers and to talk Riesling for three days. Of course there is much host propaganda during this event, but overall it is genuinely a good thing for Riesling in general.
The who’s who of the Riesling world was attending with some of my Riesling heroes: Clemens Busch, Andre Ostertag, Egon Muller, Etienne Hugel, Fred Loimer, Nik Weis, Stuart Pigott, Bruce Sanderson, Bruce Schoenfeld, Anne Trimbach and many more… So many great folks sharing one passion: Riesling.
I had many favorite wines but here are some of the highlights for me:
- GERMANY/MOSEL: Clemens Busch GG 2008 Marienburg: Some botrytis, acacia, very fruity and young, clean, very Mosel though quite dry ++++
- GERMANY/SAAR: Sankt Urbans Hof okfener bockstein: honey, jasmine, sl reductive, very complex, my type of wine +++1/2+
- GERMANY/MOSEL: Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten 2008: bit tight, botrytis, high end kabinett style, some greaty potential, sweet +++1/2+
- NEW ZEALAND/MALBOROUGH: Framingham 2009: Very nice, clean, jasmine, pleasant, sweet, german in style with a new world twist. Medium Sweet +++
- GERMANY/NAHE: Schafer Frolich Felseneck 2008 Spatlese: Sweet and wild ferment like, leather, cane sugar, elegant and racy. Very unique and modern. medium sweet. +++
- AUSTRIA/WACHAU: Domain Wachau 2008 Smaragd: Very floral, Austrian by birth, almost Gewurzt like, yeasty, hot and dry ++1/2+
- NEW ZEALAND/MALBOROUGH: Villa Maria 2009 Reserve: sl dusty, mineral, yeasty, very nice acid, on the sweeter end of dry ++
- FRANCE/ALSACE: Hugel 2004 “Jubilee”: buttery, some age and showing Alsatian, yellow hue, clean, some petrol, complex, dry ++
Those were the top wines but many more were great. Our Biodynamic Wallula showed very well in the Organic/Biodynamic panel!
