Tag Archives: riesling

May 19 2012
3 Comments
Michigan

Possible solution for my bread and butter dilemma

Chilling on our patio

On our recent wine shopping trip, we stocked up on the 2010 Chateau Grand Traverse Late Harvest Riesling, Michigan riesling we both enjoyed. The Kroger we went to also had the more basic wines of CGT under the “Select” label available, so we decided to give the semidry riesling a go.

It was well worth our 8 bucks (Kroger had a nice sale going on, and their additional 10% off when you buy four or more bottles…which we easily topped)! That is what I have in mind when I am thinking bread and butter.

The first thing you notice, even before opening the bottle, is its very very light color. Hardly any yellow in there, just a very light green.

It has a really pleasant smell with peach, and apricot jam, and I’d say golden delicious (a sweeter, not so crisp apple), and there were hints of pineapple. Just what I love in a good riesling nose that gets my mouth watery.

The initial taste was a refreshing citrus, that soon got taken over by a full-blown peach assault. The end, however, is quite short, nothing much memorable. But, hey, for an easy wine that is ok. It made me crave another sip. For my taste, in a light wine like this, I would have preferred a little less sweetness and a bit more acidity. Semisweet might have been a more appropriate name.

I think it is a good and easy summer wine that went really well with baguette, ham, goat cheese and this incredibly delicious Trader Joe’s “Unexpected Cheddar Cheese”, which is an aged cheddar produced in the parmiggiano fashion, which gives it a great, crumbly texture with a cheddar taste. I will probably give the dry version of this wine a chance, too.

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May 18 2012
11 Comments
1987, Germany, Mosel, Wineries

1987 Vereinigte Hospitien Erdener Treppchen Spätlese

Photo taken from the winery’s homepage

I mentioned this wine in an earlier post, when I was talking about how German rieslings can age. I think it is proper to describe the wine in full.

The Vereinigte Hospitien (“Unified Hospices”) winery in Trier has a loooooong history and tradition. Its name stems from the fact, that until German Mediatisation in the early 1800s, most hospitals were run by the Catholic church. The Trier hospitals, that were also called hospices at the time, were unified into one corporation under public law in 1804 by Napoleon. A lot of these hospitals financed themselves by owning vineyards and selling the wine (just like universities at the time). The Vereinigte Hospitien are still a corporation under public law, maintaining several hospitals and nursing homes, and are a big employer. But they also never gave up winemaking, though. Through the church possessions, they own property in some of the most prestigious hills along the Mosel and Saar rivers. Most notable is the Scharzhofberg, one of the most famous German vineyards at the river Saar, but also Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Wiltinger Kupp and others.

The winery has a tasting room were you can try the wines for free. Even better, ask for a wine tasting with friends in their cellars, which are among the oldest in Germany…dating back to Roman walls of the fourth century AD. I have been quite fond of their good but affordable quality wines. If ever you get to Trier (be it for its Roman ruins, medieval history, or any other reason), I recommend you go and check out this winery.

The bottle with the deteriorated cork

Now, this 1987 I got at the winery shortly before I left for Ann Arbor. It happens to be Nina’s birthyear (not a very good year for German wines), and Erdener Treppchen, a vineyard in the central Mosel valley, is one of my favorite. To me, there is something special about old wines. I immediately have to think about what happened in that year, and it feels like the wine gives me access to a time that is passed. It is like a captured moment in time, that has aged as well, and will be gone when I finish (or pour out) the bottle. It is almost magical.

We opened it for Nina’s birthday party.  I decanted it for about half an hour. As you can see on the photo, the cork had deteriorated quite a bit, but when I pulled it, it was clear that it had not destroyed the wine. The color was a lighter rhine stone. The nose seemed quite complex, I smelled honey as the strongest. The taste was surprisingly fresh, with a well boiled down alcoholic tone. Unfortunately, and I guess this owes to the rather weak vintage in general, acidic notes were strong and dominated the palate to a degree that some found objectionable. I thought it was still an acceptable level…it was yummy!

Cork art

With older wines, it is interesting to see how they taste after they have been open for a while. So, we preserved some and after two days, tobacco and leather smells started dominating the nose, but with beautiful hints of strawberry. It just kept wowing me.

And to give you an idea why I am often surprised by the wine prices in the U.S. I think I paid about 15 euros for this bottle, that is $20. For German standards, that is already a rather expensive wine…

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May 12 2012
2 Comments
2010, Michigan, USA

First homemade sangria and a pleasant Michigan surprise

Last night, we threw one of our parties at our place: We provide the venue and some initial drinks, you bring the booze…they’re always tons of fun.

To celebrate the beginning of summer (it is dark, and grey, and weird outside as I write this, but it was gorgeous yesterday), we decided to make sangria. Now, I have never made sangria in my life, but whatever, it cannot be too hard, I thought. So I scoured the web, and found tons of recipes, like this one or that one, usually boasting that they are the best recipe ever. A surprising number were for white sangria. I had never even heard of that before. I was also disturbed by the frequent ingredient of club soda or ginger ale…just did not sound right to me. Eventually, I just decided to give it my own try, pure and simple:

– 5 liters of Franzia boxed shiraz (hey, it is the world’s most popular wine after all…according to their website) – I picked a shiraz because it tends to be more spicy than the other varieties they have and I thought spice notes like cinnamon and cardamom etc. would go well with the fruit that was going in.

– 2 oranges, 1 lemon, 1 apple (all organic, because they will soak with their skins in the wine) cut in wheels

– 2 oranges squeezed into the wine

– 2 cups of sugar dissolved in 1 1/2 cup of warm water (to create a syrup that blends easier with the wine than the granulated sugar)

Mix it all, chill it for as long as you can (ours chilled for about 10 hours, overnight is even better) and that is that. No club soda, no ginger ale. We added some sparkling water to make it bubbly later, but I don’t think it is necessary. I thought it worked pretty nicely.

Friends of ours brought a Michigan late harvest riesling, a 2010 Chateau Grand Traverse Late Harvest Riesling. I had read about Chateau Grand Traverse as being one of the better wineries in Michigan, located on the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, in the west of the state. Those who know me can imagine my excitement. We opened it later in the evening, and I liked it. The nose was not very impressive, but I am not sure whether the problem was my sangria drinking before I smelled this one or whether it was actually rather neutral. But the taste was quite good. It reminded me of what vineyards smell like around harvest time, moist and succulent air, very grapy fruit notes, and just a nice, comforting and decent wine. Apparently it is available at one of the Kroger’s in Ann Arbor (definitely not at ours…I checked this morning). I need to go hunting…

Have you tried this wine? What do you think? Do you have sangria recipes that I should know of?

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