Finger Lakes Riesling runs the gamut from very dry to very sweet, from steely minerality to tropical fruit. This one is on the dry, mineral side of the spectrum and is the most intense wine I tasted in my recent extended visit to this region.
It jumps out of the glass with lime, flint, and apple woven with ginger highlights. Intriguing, subtle earth notes show up as the wine warms in the glass. In the mouth, the introduction is surprisingly round, ripe and juicy with a hint of sweetness (.9% rs) although it doesn’t weigh on the palate but exudes kinetic energy. Taut and explosive, it is too intense to be called light but sweeps across the palate with bristling acidity in waves of lime and mineral notes, giving way to a long, crisp finish. A staunch backbone yet with some finesse in its nervy, tumultuous gestures, it is exceedingly well balanced never turning sour or biting.
#239 refers to the Gleisenheim 239 clone used to make this estate-grown wine. Boundary Breaks tends the vineyards and then hands the wine off to top local winemakers to be vinified.
Serve with something spicy but not too sweet. I successfully paired it with a green posole stew with Cod; its lime and mineral notes played nicely with cilantro and tomatillos.
Explosive and intense, not heavy, but with hard-bitten finesse like Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know
Score: 92
Alc: 12.8
Price: $20
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