Jos. Christoffel Jr., Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Riesling Auslese, 1990
My goodness, what an interesting wine! Now, I know what you're thinking: Riesling? That's too sweet. Ack. Yeah, I usually think that too. But I remember a Janise Robinson video I watched many moons ago, and she went off about how interesting Rieslings can be -- if you're patient. And by patient, I mean REALLY patient. You have to wait 10, 20, maybe many decades.(Yes, apparently good Rieslings can be cellared for a long time, even though it's a white). And if you do, you can experience some wonderful payback.
To boil this thing down, think Sauternes but take out nearly all the sweetness and reduce the weight of the wine by at least half. And that's pretty close to what this wine was like: a thinner less sweet Sauternes. Lots of that honey and nectar you'd expect, and apricot.
However, it's a bit more complicated than that. In addition to all the Sauternes similarity, there were definite differences too. First and foremost is a tangerine/satsuma taste. It's quick and delicious. It adds a sort of sweet and sour aspect to the wine. But that tangerine quickly mutates with sort of a dill taste that flashes on the finish -- along with floral elements.
The nose was all over the place: honey, nectar, apricot, peach, pear, and floral. The taste is honey! And as described above, changed with the tangerine, dill, and floral tastes. The first taste is sweet, but the finish is sour, but in a tangerine/citrus way (good not bad). The weight was equivalent to a skim milk (very light body, especially if compared with something like a Sauternes).
Denise described the wine as being "pretty" (she usually doesn't like white, and especially doesn't like sweet wines). And she added: "it's like wearing a big Liz Taylor diamond ring."
Cost:
Rating:
9.0If you're like me, you don't usually drink Rieslings, at least not on purpose. They're a bit of an enigma. If you're interested in learning a bit more, I found this article in the NY Times helpful: Ausleses Put Sweetness on the Table.