Saturday Night – Raising the Bar – Part 1

Chris and Jan were hosting this Saturday’s dinner at their place.  They had a couple of new wines for us to try and some wonderful new dishes.  I wasn’t going to blog  this as I’m usually not comfortable reviewing wines outside of my house and Mick and Amy’s but the first wine was so good that I felt I had to write about it.

Orecchiette pasta with mixed greens and goat’s cheese was the first course.  This was paired with a 2006 Dr. Hermann Erdner Treppchen Spätlese Riesling.

The nose on the Riesling had a strong petrol aroma with a mix of peach, honey and lychee in the background.  The flavours to the wine were huge green apple with hints of orange and lychee.  As this was a Spätlese, there was quite a bit of sweetness to it.   The sweetness was a bit of a problem; there was enough acidity to the wine to keep it from being cloying but it was close to being too sweet.  The savory tone of the pasta salad wasn’t quite right for this wine as a pairing; it was decent but a Kabinett would have been a better pairing.  This Riesling paired with a poached pear salad or an apple walnut salad or any salad with some fruit in it would be a perfect match.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 88, Mark - 89, Kathy – 88, Amy – 89, Overall – 88.5.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

DR. HERMANN ERDNER TREPPCHEN RIESLING SPÄTLESE 2006

VINTAGES 181917
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 21.95
Wine, White Wine
9.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : M
Made in: Mosel, Germany
By: Weingut Dr. Hermann
Release Date: Nov 26, 2011

Tasting Note - A seamless white from start to finish. Lime, vanilla cream, peach and slate notes hold court as this stays fresh and balanced. It's very tasty now and ends with a nice snap of mouthwatering acidity. Drink now through 2020. Score - 92. (Bruce Sanderson, winespectator.com, Dec. 15, 2008)

The pasta salad recipe was very good.  I liked the contrast of the warm pasta with the mixed greens and the sundried tomatoes.  The timing of this recipe was good, as it was a lovely starter for cool weather we get this time of year.

Click here for Part 2