Wittmann Rheinhessen Trocken Riesling 2010

Its 35.6°C in Melbourne right now. Its midnight. Its 35.6°C!! Fairdinkum, this is just wrong. In these wrong times I'm drinking the Wittmann Rheinhessen Trocken Riesling 2010 because its wet and its cold and its just plain yum; honey, candied lime, persistant acid and repeat. I love it.

Now chill-out Melbourne!!!!!!

Drink with left over pork and fennel sausages

Drink till 2020+

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Screwcap 12%v/v $37 Seddon Wine Store

Keller Rheinhessen Trocken Riesling 2008

“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.” -Voltaire

It seems that I somehow stirred the hornet’s nest with my last post on Australian Rieslings. At the end of the day though, the words that you read on my blog are put there by me to share with the ‘you’s’ out there in cyberwine land. That is why on any given day, thousands of people around the globe sit down in front of their Dells and plug out whittascims on all matters of wine speak; some may have weight while others may just be the ramblings of just a very drunk scribe – what will be will be.

So, while we are on the subject of Rieslings, may I present the Keller Rheinhessen Trocken Riesling 2008 from Germany. Brimming with a full nose of flint – river bed pebble, honeysuckle and candle wax, this wine really hits its straps with perfectly balanced acidity which effortlessly integrates with the minerality. I must add that the glass that was left for the following day was even better than the first with the candle wax on the nose and flinty river bed pebbles really standing up tall. A super wine and well within reach of someone who does not want to go nuts on a bottle of Riesling.

Drink with kingfish sashimi
Drink now for minerality, drink in 2018 for kero and stewed pineapple
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Quality cork 12%v/v $29 @ Blackhearts & Sparrows

Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Mt Barker Wallflower Riesling 2009

If you haven't noticed, pretty much all of the Riesling in Australia tastes exactly the same, and thats not me being uber generalist; tight harsh lemon/lime acid with acid and more acid. From Clare Valley to Geelong to the Great Southern and the Derwent Valley, Riesling has been produced in a way where it should be labeled 'Australian citrus wine'. Its a harsh call, but its all I have seen in a bottle for quite some time now.

Enter Larry Cherubino with his Ad Hoc Mt Barker Wallflower Riesling 2009. He has pretty much taken to this sterotype with a crossbow and gone whack; not that you would whack something with a crossbow of course. Yes, there still is the citrus about the wine, but it is not the dominant character, with the minerality of a German Trocken the most appealing character here.

Brimming with soft floral notes, this wine is a lot more feminant than the garden variety Riesling I was talking about at the start, with gentle white oliander prominant on the nose. There is no harsh ascerbic acid up front, instead a lovely and clean addition of river bed pebble - yes, minerals, but I like to describe it as river bed pebble! As with the nose, there is a little citrus, but it does not strip the palate like so many other Rieslings. A seriously good wine.

Drink with pickled octopus
drink till 2014
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Screwcap 12.1%v/v $22 @ Blackhearts & Sparrows Brunswick