Today has been brought to in part by The Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, Riesling, and the Letter R.

This evening I had the pleasure of attending a Tutored Tasting hosted by Sommelier Tim Ellison at the pacific institute if culinary arts in Vancouver.  This evenings theme was Riesling and thus we had the opportunity to taste 4 different Rieslings from around the world.

Wine #1 was Trimbach (@trimbach) 2009 Riesling from France (Alcohol:13.1%, Residual Sugar: 2,3g/l, Total Acidity: (H2S04): 4,95 g/l).  This is available at the BC Liquor stores and sells at a price mark of $29 per bottle.  Riesling is with no doubt the King of wines in the Alsace.

This wine is produced with 100% Riesling grapes by law and is dry fermented at “Trimbach”.

Traditionally in Alsace Riesling is produced dry with an average of 12.5 – 13% alcohol.

It represents roughly 3500 hectares out of 15.000 total and is a late maturing grape.

The grapes were selected by Pierre and Jean Trimbach and picked throughout the month of October.

Beautiful color with green edges, it needs a few more months to reveal its full potential and will age gracefully another few years.

The nose is developed and shows a hint of mineral flavor(Due to the gravelly terroir it is grown on) associated with good ripeness and acidity.  This 2009 Riesling has a lingering clean and dry finish.

Ripe fruits in the palate, white peach, quince, grapefruit and lemon with good ripe acidity in the finish ensuring some good ageing potential.

Riesling 2009 pairs nicely with: fishes, marinated, grilled or cooked in a sauce.  Very good with traditional Alsatian dishes like oignon pie, choucroute, river fishes, pork, etc.

This dry Riesling is now ready to drink but will enjoy another 5+ years minimum of aging and will get more complex with time.

Personally I enjoyed this Riesling and I would give it an overall rating of Good.

Wine #2 was Spy Valley 2010 Riesling from Marlborough, New Zealand. (Residual Sugar: 10.5 g/L, PH: 3.02, TA 7.5 g/L, Alcohol 13%)  This is available at private wine stores and sells at a price mark of $29.99 per bottle.

This wine comes from the vineyards of Johnson Estates and is also 100% Riesling.

The soil used for this Riesling is made up of shallow and stony soils with overlaying loam and some clay, which lends to this wines mineral flavor on the palate.

After hand picking each vineyard parcel was slowly fermented with selected yeast strains.  The wines were settled clear and aged on light yeas lees (dead yeast cells) for 3 months prior to blending and bottling.  This process will contribute to the wines body and flavor on the palate.

In Color it is Clear, White – Lemon.
On the nose it has a bouquet of Lemons and limes with nectarine and mineral aromas (due to the soil).

On the palate it is Full bodied and rich with a ripe citrus flavor with a long dry finish.

This wine can be served right away or could gain from aging of 3 – 7 years.

My concluding thoughts on this wine is that is an Excellent wine, and I would recommend or serve this wine myself.

Wine #3 was Martin’s Lane 2010 from Mission Hill in Kelowna, B.C..  (@missionhillwine)  This wine is only available at Mission Hill Wineries and sells for $24.99 per bottle.

A wine that is crisply elegant and satisfying to drink. It is a single vineyard Riesling that has been under development for about five years. Martin’s Lane is the vineyard just below Mission Hill’s winery which was planted about 1995 to Riesling and Pinot Noir. The vineyard is named for von Mandl’s father, Martin, who died in 1994.

To craft this wine, Mission Hill involved German Riesling ace Fritz Hasselbach, the owner of the Gunderloch winery on the Rhine. Several earlier vintages of Martin’s Lane Riesling ended up in a more generic Mission Hill Riesling.

“We wanted to create a new style of Riesling that the valley could be proud of and be known for,” von Mandl says. “We wanted to create a Riesling that would show extraordinarily well among all New World Rieslings. I have never been a fan of these austere, acid-driven Rieslings. To me there needs to be a balance. There needs to be a wine that can be enjoyed as an aperitif on its own and with many foods.”

Four hundred cases all found, and the winery is where you’ll find them, whatever’s left.  It is stunningly good – maybe the best Canadian-made Riesling.

This wine opens with intense aromas of tangerine, peach and pears, with hints of Riesling’s characteristic minerality.  Vibrant flavors of green apple and lime juice provide mouthwatering acidity and lend great balance to the honey and stone fruit notes.  The wine’s finish is long and structured with zesty citrus and mineral notes throughout.

It holds a score of 92 points on the John Schriener Scale.

I found this wine to be less forward than the first two I tried, and I enjoyed it.  I would give this a personal concluding note of Excellent and if I can find some in stores I will be serving this in the near future.

Wine #4 was a 2000 Schloss Schonborn Erbacher Macrobrunn from Germany.  This wine is available at B.C. Liquor stores and sells for $40 per bottle.

The site of “Marcobrunn” has a slightly inclined slope with southern exposure and is located in the district of Erbach. Its name dates back to the 13th century and reminds us of a “Brunnen” (well) situated on the boundaries between Erbach and Hattenheim. The vineyard covers an area of 6.7 ha and is essentially cultivated with Riesling vines which find here the perfect growing conditions.
Here in the Marcobrunn site, the terroir is the source of the quality of its wines. The heavy and deep soils are multi-layered. Loess loam and chalky soil formed of marl and sand provide for excellent nutrients and balance the water supply during dry periods.

The Erbacher Marcobrunn enjoys international acclaim and belongs to the richest and most valuable sites in Germany. Body, power and structure of the wines are in great harmony with the freshness of its minerals and its elegance. They are known to have been appreciated hundreds of years ago by Goethe, Schlegel, Fontane, Jefferson and many more.

Spätlese (literal meaning: “late harvest”; plural form is Spätlesen) is a German wine term for a wine from fully ripe grapes, the lightest of the late harvest wines. The grapes are picked at least 7 days after normal harvest, so they are riper and have a higher must weight.

This was definitely my favorite of the four wines tonight.  I would give this wine a concluding rating of excellent and would recommend it to anyone who would like to appreciate Riesling for what it should be.