Beating Riesling's Bad Rap: the 2005 Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling

Riesling gets a bad rap--it really does. This is unfortunate when there are good examples out there in the marketplace at rock-bottom prices. Like cru beaujolais, riesling is not fashionable right now, despite the fact that both types of wine go beautifully with food, are low alcohol, and great value. The American wine drinker (especially) has become so used to oaky, big, ripe wines, that many find riesling and beaujolais wines "thin," "light" (which many are, but they're meant to be, so this isn't a flaw so much as a flavor difference), and "not interesting."

If you would like to try out a riesling, and do so in a way that does justice to both it and to your dinner, order some Chinese or Thai takeout (we got Thai from Tongdang Thai Kitchen, our favorite local, for this experiment) and buy the 2005 Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling ($8.99, Trader Joe's). Stick the riesling in the fridge for 2 hours--not all day, or all week, since this blunts all the flavors when wine is served that cold. For more on serving temperatures, CellarNotes has a nice chart, as well as instructions on properly chilling wine.

The 2005 Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling is, as its label suggests, a dry riesling. Rieslings come with many different levels of sweetness, as a brief article on wine.com explains. So if you've had syrupy sweet riesling and sworn off the stuff, then you're missing out on a world of great taste because not all rieslings are like that. In fact, one of the great things about this wine is that their aromatic floral fruitiness can give the impression of sweetness, when on the palate all you taste is bone dry citrus and minerals. At the high end rieslings are amazingly complex and can be cellared for decades, the flavors and aromas changing each year. At the budget end, they are refreshing and easy to drink.

When Bonny Doon made this excellent QPR riesling, they blended grapes from Washington (75%) and the Mosel in Germany (25%) to produce a dry, Washington-style taste that retained the aromatic profiles of the riesling varietal characteristic of the Mosel. It had loads of citrus and herb aromas, with a touch of something floral. As you sipped this wine, there was a cascade of apples, grapefruit, and a touch of mint. And after you swallowed there was a nice crisp juiciness that made you want more. At 12% alc./vol. you could have some more, too!

Like all Bonny Doon wines, the 2005 Pacific Rim has great labels--in fact it has 3 great labels. On the front of each is the Pacific Wine Maiden in her shell, but on the back, visible through the pale straw wine, are images of either garlic, cilantro and hot peppers, or sushi. Wondering what to serve your wine with? There are the cues, right on the bottle. Anything really light and clean-tasting like sushi that can get overwhelmed by most wine, or anything spicy that will clash with the tannins in many wines. We loved it with our Tongdang mango chicken ma muang, spicy beef with cashews, and basil shrimp and eggplant.

Take a walk on the wild riesling side soon and if you know of other good value rieslings out there, post a comment here so we can enjoy them, too.

2003 Chateau Coupe Roses Minervois Cuvee Vignals

If you are looking for a fantastic red wine to serve with beef or other hearty winter fare, look no further than the 2003 Chateau Coupe Roses Minervois Cuvee Vignals ($16.99). I first saw this wine at Fowler's in downtown Durham, NC, where I was immediately drawn to the label (sucker for anything that looks like an old woodblock print) and was told that everyone in the store was talking about the wine. Then, to my surprise, I found it at the Surf Super in downtown Gualala. Unless you are located on the Sonoma coast between Stewart's Point and Elk, you are not shopping at the Surf Super. If you live in New Jersey, however, or are willing to have wine shipped, you are in luck. Wine-Searcher reveals that quite a few of these beauties are still available for purchase, and for even less than the $16.99 I paid for this.

Chateau Coupe Roses is owned by Francoise and Pascal Frissant. Located in the Languedoc, where Occitan culture flourished in the Middle Ages, and religious heresies were stamped out by church crusades. This was Cathar country, for the historians out there. The wine produced in the Minervois AOC is 96% red. The Wine Doctor has a great piece on the wines of the Minervois region, for those who aren't familiar with it. At Chateau Coupe Roses, they produce both whites and reds, and on their website, they talk about the alchemy that occurs in their region where a mix of high altitude coolness, and Mediterranean sunshine, provides the climate for the growing grapes.

This was a beautiful wine, from the moment the cork was pulled until the last unfiltered, unfined dregs settled in the empty glasses. Let me say right off the bat that if you close your eyes and don't read the label this smells and tastes like a fine Chauteauneuf du Pape from the Rhone. It is made of syrah, grenache, and old vine carignan. Dark, inky ruby in color, it had blackberry and sweet, heady aromas. Once you tasted it, there was more blackberry, and the briary garrigue notes characteristic of fine Mediterranean wine. Garrigue is an herbal, brushy flavor that is like no other flavor or aroma out there, but if you've been to the region and smelled the hot sun beat down on the scrub by the roads, you will recognize it. There was a long, spicy aftertaste and it still showed some tannins and grip around the edges. But in another year or so I imagine it will be perfectly integrated and even more luscious. At 13% alc./vol. it is proof that a wine doesn't need to be alcoholic and huge to deliver complex flavors.

We had this excellent wine with a ragu alla bolognese from an old copy of Cooking Light. A mixture of ground pork, veal, and beef were simmered with the classic bolognese vegetables (onion, celery, and carrots) for a long time, before some tomatoes and milk are added. It is somehow less oppressively tomatoey than a normal tomato-based meat ragu, and has a greater depth of flavor from the slow cooking with the vegetables. Perfect with this rich, flavorful wine from the Languedoc.

Only 600 cases of the 2003 Chateau Coupe Roses Minervois Cuvee Vignals were imported to the US, so run out and get some or order some on line if you possibly can. This wine represented excellent QPR, and was better than wines I've had that were twice or three times the price.

2003 Kangarilla Road Shiraz

Foods that warm up the house and everyone in it are highly desirable on the Sonoma Coast in November. Stews, things baked in the oven, roasts--all fit the bill perfectly. We decided on a beef stew with a twist for dinner, an unusual Singapore-influenced curried beef stew from Cooking Light. It starts with an aromatic paste made of green onions, orange juice, ginger, jalapenos, and other sweet and spicy ingredients. After long, slow simmering the beef, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, celery, and carrots are tender, the whole house smells delicious, and you're sitting down to a perfect early winter meal.

What to serve with it? I love shiraz or syrah wines with stews, and even though this had some oriental influences to it, I felt that the opulent fruitiness of an Australian shiraz would be perfect. We opened the 2003 Kangarilla Road Shiraz to go with dinner ($14.99, Costco). It is still widely available throughout the country, based on my internet search. I purchased this wine in March and it's been stashed away in our cool, dark windowseats ever since.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the right shiraz for this meal. It looked like a shiraz--deep inky purple--and even smelled like a shiraz with blackberry and earthy aromas but it drank like a grenache. This is an austere red, and on the mouth there are tastes of dusty and brambly black fruits, spice, and smoke. There is a real pucker of tannins in the finish, but I wasn't convinced that this would become smoother or rounder over time. Instead, I think it is what it is--and what it's likely to become.

This wine would be much better with grilled meats or even barbeque than with a stew. I don't think it would do well with tomato-based dishes, either, which is often a good match for syrah/shiraz wines. Because the varietal characteristics were a bit skewed on this wine, and given its cost, this gets a rating of good QPR. If you like grenache, however, and find shiraz too fruity for your tastes, this would be a good option for you.

2004 Rudolf Müller Riesling Eiswein

Following on the heels of my introduction to ice wine, courtesy of Kitchen Chick's excellent November theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday #28 (you can read the round-up and tasting notes here), I saw the 2004 Rudolf Muller Riesling Eiswein ($18.99/375 ml) in the supermarket up here on the coast and we decided to give it a try.

This was a pleasant riesling eiswein. Made from grapes grown in the Pfalz region, it is golden in color, with an initial whiff of petroleum on first opening. This is characteristic of many German rieslings and does not indicate there is something wrong, but it may be off-putting to some. It was not as aromatic as it was flavorful, with apple, honey, white nectarine, and a touch of coconut flavors.

I think that this wine would be better with food, especially a blue cheese, or a huntsman cheese and crackers. The manufacturer also suggested the wine would go well with fruit tarts. As always, you'd want to be sure that ice wine was slightly sweeter than the fruit tart since the acid in the wine will make it seem crisper and less sweet once it's next to a sugary dessert.

Now that I've had two ice wines, I must say I preferred the vidal-based icewine I had earlier this month. I felt this wine, while pleasant and good QPR, tasted much like a sweet, syrupy riesling. The vidal ice wine, on the other hand, tasted like nothing else I've ever had before, and had great complexity. If you love rieslings, though, you may prefer this wine, with its familiar flavor palate. And this 2004 Rudolf Muller Riesling Eiswein would definitely be much easier to pair with food.

My ice wine knowledge is still a work in progress, and I will be continuing to seek out and explore these luscious dessert wines. There are definitely other riesling ice wines out there, and I look forward to tasting them in the upcoming months.

Budget Friendly Choices On Wine Spectator's Annual Top 100 Wines List

Over at the Wine Spectator, the wine magazine with the largest circulation in the world, they've just published their Top 100 Wines of 2006 list this week. It's always a one-two punch for me: the release of the juicy, low-cost Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday, followed shortly thereafter by the list of wines I can't find and can't afford. Even though I try not to be influenced by these annual top wines list, like most serious wine lovers I find it impossible to avoid them. So rather than sticking my head in the sand I thought I'd face the list and see what it offered.

PS. As I caught up on my wine blogging reading, I discovered that Winehiker and Tom Wark over at Fermentation have both posted some pretty hair-raising stories about the impact this little list has on the world of wine consumption and production. Really makes you pause and reconsider how we run around like crazy people after some wines and not others based on media attention. Maybe the world of beaujolais nouveau and the world of the Top 100 aren't that different??

The 2006 list seemed pleasantly different to me than those of past years. 30 of the top 100 wines were $25 or under--nearly 1/3. I haven't done the math on the last 5 years' list, but my sense was that this year there were more options for those of us who put ourselves on stricter wine budgets, and fewer bottles retailing for over $100. While the average price for a bottle on the list was $49 (up from $43 last year), many of the more budget friendly wines this year are not limited production bottlings, but wines that are readily available from makers like Kim Crawford, Jacob's Creek, and Greg Norman.

The highest ranking bottle under $25 came in at #16, and was the 2004 Langmeil Shiraz Barossa Valley Valley Floor. ($23) I got a lot of hits for this wine when I searched for it, suggesting you can still get your hands on it. The next budget friendly selection was at #36, the 2004 Hess Collection Napa Valley Chardonnay ($20). You have to shop carefully for this wine, since Hess has both "Selection" and "Collection" labels, but it was available in lots of outlets for $18.99). Other budget-friendly highlights included the 2005 Matua Sauvignon Blanc Paretai Estate Series ($17) at #37, the 2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ($17) at #40, the 2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Chardonnay ($20) at #62, and the 2003 Jacob's Creek Shiraz South Australia Reserve ($13) at #64.

I even discovered I owned two of the top 100 wines: the 2005 Elk Cove Pinot Gris Willamette Valley ($18) at #77, and the 2003 Ch. Lafaurie-Peyraguey Sauternes ($43/750 ml) at #6. I bought this sauternes last month at Beverages and More in the half bottle size for $23.99. So if you're out shopping on Black Friday, and pass a BevMo, you might want to see if they've got some bottles on the shelf to put away until Thanksgiving 2010 and beyond.

These are just the highlights, so do go over and check out the whole list, paying particular attention the wines from #50-#100, where most of the under $25 wines can be found. Even if you don't subscribe to the magazine or the online site, you can download the whole list in PDF by clicking here.