Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Tonight's drinking!
I was out for a walk yesterday, and stopped into a couple of local shops to see what they had on offer. One of them, West Side Wine, had, for $30, the 1990 Reichsgraf von Kesselstett Josephshofer Riesling Kabinett. Well, OK, I know zero about it, but it seemed worth taking a couple of minutes to try to google it. I couldn't find anything about the wine, but did get a couple of hints that it was a great vintage for their operation, so I figured, why not?
They had 2 bottles (that I saw; I think there may have been a third on the back of the shelf). Some of their wines are on racks in the middle of the floor lying down, but MANY, including all of the German wines, are standing up on shelves. And not just one standing for display with the rest lying down; all of the wines are upright. Nothing you haven't seen in dozens of shops, I'm sure, but the owner of this one has a book out that, from what I can tell, is largely about maximizing your wine-buying experience at retail. Giving the appearance of poor storage seems unacceptable in that context.
Well, now that I'm on my way to making my first enemy, let's move on to the wine. I had chosen the bottle that didn't have a depressed cork (which can be because the cork has dried out--and standing up will dry corks out, of course). Sure enough, the cork splintered when I tried to open it. I ended up pushing what was left of it in and using a French coffee press to deal with the rest of it. Fortunately, the wine itself seems fine--no signs of oxidation--but still.
Oh, how was it? Pretty tasty. Buttered popcorn, pineapple and grapefruit on the nose; a lot of grapefruit and minerals on the palate, although marred slightly by a little bitterness. And quite a lot of acidity, which I always like in whites. Recommended, especially at the price.
