winewaves

Chateau Ste. Michelle Dry Riesling 2006

Usually when I mention a Riesling to an experienced wine customer who is looking for something different from Chardonnay they say "no thanks - I don't like it sweet". But I think it's really neat that Riesling can be sweet or it can be totally dry, and if it's made well, it can be really good all along the residual sugar spectrum.

For those who find this post later, I posted it on June's Wine Blogging Wednesday. The topic, hosted by Catie at Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine, is Washington State Cabernets. Now Winewaves has posted some beauties, and Walla-squared is one of my favorite places in the world to be. If I had one, I would open and review a bottle of Bergevin Lane, Chatter Creek, Powers (Champoux), Januik, Whitman Cellars, Amavi, K Vintners, Hedges Red Mountain, Hightower Cellars, Bonair, Harlequin Cellars, or 3 Rivers, to name a few. Unfortunately I haven't stopped in at Pete's in Seattle lately. Therefore, I'm reviewing an excellent Dry Riesling from the "oft considered rather dead common but really amazingly good" Chateau Ste. Michelle. As I write about it I am drinking a beautiful Cab which I will tell you more about later (it's a keeper) - a 2004 Sonoma Valley Cab from my friends at Schug in beautiful downtown Carneros, a day or more drive south of Walla-squared. (You go past The Dalles, Portland, Eugene, Weed, and turn right just past Sacramento).

Let me get back to Ste. Michelle's Dry Riesling 2006. Bob Bertheau is as good a wine strategist as director of winemaking. He has delivered the goods and stuck his neck out a bit with a dry Riesling, something more frequently seen coming from Alsace or Australia, and something much misunderstood in the states. No oak of course, just 100% Riesling from the Columbia Valley. Until this vintage you had to live in or around Washington State to get the dry bottling, but now even those of us as far away as Tennessee can get it. Thanks Bob!

Outstanding value ($9.50). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13%.

Style: Palate cleansing, vibrant, unwooded and refreshingly dry.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Pale to light gold. Aromas: Apricot, lime, citrus rind, and maybe a bit of green melon. Lively tart and crisp as a freshly picked Granny Smith, the appley, white peachy fruit flavors are backed by mandarin lime acidity and sensibilities before your mouth is stripped naked in the pole dance of a finish.

Comment: Have you ever seen the ice fog that hovers over the Columbia Valley hills? I was actually pulled over by a Washington State trooper last January for weaving a bit on the highway as I couldn't keep my eyes from wandering all over the landscape in awe of that scene. The trooper suspected I had been drinking but I had not had a drop that day. Anyway this wine reminds me of the ice fog in Washington's Columbia Valley.

Clean Slate Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Qba Riesling 2005

A German Riesling, specifically a Piesporter Goldtropchen was the first wine that I actually liked. That was 25 years ago. Fast forward to today and it's rare that I partake of the Mosel or the Rhine. The best German wines have gotten out of sight expensive and there are plenty of uninteresting ones to avoid. But this one is aptly named; a good place to start or start over.

Clean Slate is a partnership effort of Seattle-based Click Wine Group and Moselland of Bernkastel-Kues Germany. It is 100% Riesling and technically classified as Qualitätswein/QbA (pronounced kval-ee-TAYTS-vine), German for “quality wine". A QbA must come from one of the 13 designated wine areas in Germany, but it is the base level of estate quality and chaptalization (adding sugar before fermentation) is allowed when grapes do not get ripe enough on their own. QbA is the level below Qualitätswein mit Prädikat or QmP, which is further categorized with predicated levels including Kabinett, Spätlese, and so on.

Peter Click (Click Wine Group founder) has taken the typical confusing German wine label and simplified it considerably with this offering. Yet with the help of Winemaker Mathias Krämer, they deliver some real quality in the bottle. Clean Slate even took "Double Gold" Best Riesling at the 2006 San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Excellent value ($11). Closure: Screw cap. Alcohol content: 10.5%.

Style: Light, bright fruit, no oak, off-dry, minerally.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Pale straw with a greenish tint. Aromas: Apricot, lemon drop and slate/mineral. Light on the tongue, there is a slight sweetness balanced by essential acidity, and the stone fruit and honey flavors are downright pretty in the juicy clean finish.

Comment: A good wine to sip earlier in the day than most.