Tag: Germany

WSET Diploma

2011 Export Union GmbH Piesporter Treppchen Riesling

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green, legs
Nose: clean, med- intensity, youthful, apple, light floral, peach, slight ginger spice
Mouth: off-dry (I still say medium-dry), med acid, low alcohol, med- body, med- flavour intensity, peach, lemon, med- finish, floral
All in all: Acceptable quality: the wine has enough acid to balance out the sweetness, but doesn’t have enough fruit to balance out either. The fruit that is there is merely simple. The length is rather short, and the wine seems relatively thin with a slightly bitter finish.
Identity Guess: Mid-priced Californian Moscato; 2 years old.
Is really: Inexpensive German Riesling; 2 years old.

2011 Export Union GmbH Piesporter Treppchen Riesling

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 2]

There was a bit of this spicy ginger-y burnt hair thing that I got off the nose which I remember smelling in some Moscato (who knows, maybe that’s the burnt match aroma of too much sulfites), so that’s where it took me.… read more

Quaffing

2009 Joachim Ress Riesling

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon
Nose: clean, med- intensity, developing, stone fruit, hint petrol, juicy, hint tropical, vanilla
Mouth: off-dry, med- body, med acid, med- length, med intensity, med- alcohol, stone fruit
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Edit (July 7th, 2013) – either some bottle variation, or a colder wine temperature, but this was a solid med+ acidity right out of the fridge.

First and foremost, I was happy to see – or smell, rather – some level of petrol in this wine. Disappointing was the lack of intensity and complexity.

The touch of sweetness was nice, and was balanced with a decent amount of acid. I would have loved to see more acid and complexity, but this is a solid wine that was rooted to the Old World elegance while appealing to a broad audience.… read more

Quaffing

2011 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Estate Riesling

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, pale rim
Nose: med intensity, youthful, mineral, red apple, notes of stone fruit, floral, honey
Mouth: medium sweetness, light bodied, med acidity, med length, med intensity, low alcohol, a little spritzy
All in all: Good quality; drink now, but can age.

What’s up with the 2011 vintage? I sheepishly display my confusion and partial sophomoric knowledge on German wines here, in part because a lot of the German wines I come across are too expensive for me. I’ve also noticed that Riesling has been in a bit of a negative light to the regular consumer, and it’s all about the dry. Riesling is as out as much as Coco Rocha is in, and despite its food pairing versatility, people avoid it like the plague because they think it’ll be like juice.… read more

Quaffing

holiday wines with the co-workers

Posted on by Josh

Overdue post, but it’s all good. Some time in December one of us hosted another staff get together complete with an amazing multiple-course home-cooked meal, which included:

– roasted celeriac soup
– kohlrabi slaw with cranberries and walnuts
– beet salad (with goat cheese)
– braised white beans
– roast chicken

It was so good that most of the food is still weirdly vivid in my mind despite this being around 4 weeks ago. Alas, I don’t remember the wines as well – I do remember one of us trying to act as a lion for a charades clue. The phrase was “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

Oh, and one of us was sick which sucked, which means we had no mashed potatoes.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Schloss Lieser Riesling Auslese Niederberg Helden

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med lemon
Nose: clean, med intensity, petrol, riper fruit than Kabinett, peach, sulfur
Mouth: medium sweetness, med- body, med+ acid, med length, low alcohol, med intensity
All in all: Good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

Such a shame, and it’s the same story as the Kabinett in the same family that we compared it to. Nose had a nice proportion of fruit but was also dominated by the matchstick-y quality.

Although I detected the body to be med- and almost med, it turns out that this wine is a weirdly light 7 percent when it comes to the ABV. Guess I need more practice, or it’s just harder to taste in the morning.

Producer: Schloss Lieser
Designation: Thomas Haag Lieser Niederberg Helden Auslese
Region: Germany
Sub-Region: Mosel
Variety: Riesling
ABV: 7%
Vintage: 2008
Tasted: May 26, 2012
Price: $61


… read more

WSET Advanced

2009 Schloss Lieser Riesling Kabinett

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green, bit of a spritz
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, petrol, green apple, lime, peach, sulfur
Mouth: medium-dry, med- body, med+ acid, med- length, low alcohol, med intensity
All in all: Good quality; can drink now, but has potential for ageing.

One of the common things I come across is a weak understanding of what sulphites are. A common argument is that “they make you feel sick and therefore people don’t want a red”, but a surprisingly large amount of people don’t know that white and sweet wines actually have a higher proportion of sulphites. Sulphites act as both a yeast-supresser and as antioxidants, which is important when you don’t want your wine fermented a second time, especially if you have a fair amount of residge in your wine.… read more

Quaffing

nine bottles for six bodies

Posted on by Josh

Yeah – part of my job is that I get to taste a lot of wines. It’s really helping with stressful midterm season, and my co-workers and I decided to taste some stuff at one of our houses (Thanks! I’m sure we annoyed your neighbours oops). Unfortunately one of us was sick and couldn’t make it, which really sucks because we tasted some pretty cool things, but I guess more wine for us OH WELL.

Also, we all had these blind with the exception for the last one, which is always fun. I’m glad everyone waited for a co-worker and I to close and travel to the place – I’m sure everyone was itching to open the first bottle, which was delish.… read more

Tasting

wine 101 @ UBC

Posted on by Josh

So yeah! I led the first tasting of this school year at the UBC Wine Tasting Club. It was awesome and complete with me spilling wine while demonstrating swirling, me speaking horrendously quietly and fast while avoiding the tens and tens of eyes on me, and me silently freaking out and wondering if people were getting bored as I barked on and on about the noble grape varieties. Which is great, because that’s me being normal.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating.

What was also fantastic was that Holly brought her Le Nez du Vin set which was amazingly fun. People were trying to quiz each other with smells or just smelled the little vials in general. My favourite picture was the one with the goat-looking beast with weird fangs (“Musk”).… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Henkell Trocken

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, fruit (peachy), mineral, sweet, light notes of tropical fruit
Mouth: dry, more aggressive bubbles, med- bodied, med- to med acidity, med length, med intensity, med- alcohol
All in all: Good quality; drink now; not intended for ageing.

Compared alongside 1999 Lanson Gold Label Champagne.

I have used Henkell Trocken as a wine for a wine tasting I held once, because it’s a cheap and fun almost-all-purpose bubbly. Personally, I find it boring, but for the price, it’s a great and cheap bubbly. The intensity and “tropical fruit” you see in my tasting notes were really more of the class consensus – I wrote down that I found it had a light to med- intensity with a predominant mineral and green fruit nose.… read more