Wine Club – 11th Meeting

This past Thursday, Wine Club met and we sampled three different wines from Alsace. The three wines on tap were a Pinot Gris, a Riesling and a Gewürztraminer. I had tried the Pinot Gris before –

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2008/03/saturday-night-my-turn.html

but the Riesling and the Gewürztraminer were new to me.

"The Alsace Three"

I had a preconceived notion of how I expected to enjoy the wine; Pinot Gris would be the favourite, Riesling second and the Gewürztraminer last. I’m not a fan of Gewürztraminer. I usually find that a Gewürztraminer smells wonderful with big aromas of lychee and floral notes that remind me of an ice-wine. Tasting it is where Gewürztraminer usually breaks down for me, due to the aroma I’m is expecting a sweet wine and instead get a dry wine with a bitter taste on the mid-palate which usually kills the enjoyment for me.

Here is the LCBO information on the wines –

LCBO Information – Willm Riesling Réserve

Stock Number – 11452
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 16.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: Alsace, France
Sugar Content : D
By: A. Willm
Release Date: May 10, 2008
Description - This is a classic dry Alsatian Riesling that offers fresh fruit aromas of lime juice with peach and mineral notes. It's medium-bodied with a racy and crisp/fruity palate and a very long finish. It would be an excellent match for grilled tuna steaks, Alsatian onion tart or mild pork sausage.

LCBO Information – Pierre Sparr Gewurztraminer Réserve 2005

Stock Number – 747600
Volume – 750mL
Price: $ 18.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: Alsace, France
Sugar Content : 2
By: Pierre Sparr Et Ses Fils S.A.
Release Date: Mar 29, 2008

Description - A great intro to Alsatian Gewurz because the classic grapefruit, rose petal and lychee aromas are all present, but in a light, pleasing style. As a result, this is an excellent aperitif wine, or enjoy it with lighter-flavoured seafood dishes.

LCBO Information – Pierre Sparr Pinot Gris Réserve 2005

Stock Number – 983395
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 18.65 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: Alsace, France
Sugar Content : MD
By: Pierre Sparr Et Ses Fils S.A.
Release Date: Feb 16, 2008

Description - This Pinot Gris delivers layers of peach, melon and nut aromas that replay beautifully on the palate. This full-bodied wine shows good intensity and balance and will make a delicious match for pan-seared scallops in garlic and butter.

Harold, one the Wine club members brought in a selection of cheese from a specialty cheese shop in Dundas. So not only did we have new wines to try but new cheeses to try as well.

Pouring out the three wines the first noticeable difference between them was the colour, the Pinot Gris and the Gewürztraminer were a light gold-amber colour whereas the Riesling was a pale straw colour.

Nosing the wine, the Gewürztraminer was what I expected with huge lychee and a floral bouquet, the Pinot Gris had a good aroma of peach and a slight nuttiness to it and Riesling was more subdued with a citrus hint to it.

I tried the Riesling first and was shocked at how sharp it was and then I realized it was a dry Riesling. I have been drinking more sweet and semi-sweet Riesling recently so I wasn’t expecting the dryness. I took another sip and this time it was better, good acidity and subtle fruit.

The next candidate was the Pinot Gris, and I was a bit disappointed with it. I was remembering that I really enjoyed this wine the last time I had it and was expecting more from it. It wasn’t bad but after the precision of the Riesling this wine felt a little sloppy on the mouth-feel.

Lastly, was the Gewürztraminer. I took a sip expecting the worst and was very pleasantly surprised, nice fruit, a bit of spiciness to it and no bitter taste to be found. ‘Wow, this is pretty good’ I thought to myself as I reached for another sip. A very nice wine.

The first cheese I tried was a goat cheese with cracked peppercorns. The Gewürztraminer came shining through with this cheese and was an amazing pairing. The Pinot Gris not so much and the Riesling was ok. The Pinot Gris was nice with a soft mild cheese from Quebec and the Riesling was a great pairing with a couple of the hard cheeses. The Gewürztraminer was probably the wine that worked with the most amount of cheeses.

I asked people which of the wines they preferred and it results were a real mixed bag with no clear winner. The only thing everyone had in common was they all enjoyed the wines.

So in the end, the Gewürztraminer was my favorite, the Riesling was second and the Pinot Gris was last. So much for my expectations! The nice thing was all of the wines were good, so even the Pinot Gris in last place would be a recommended buy for me.

Cheers!

Mark.