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Tag Archives: Mosel

Budget Wine Review: Nik Weis St. Urbans-Hof Estate Old Vines Riesling Mosel 2016

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by Dwight Furrow in Budget Wines, Wine Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

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German Wine, Mosel, Riesling

nik weisNik Weiss represents his family’s third generation at the helm of St. Urbans-Hof, which was granted VDP classification in 2000.

Intensely aromatic, impressive flint, nectarine and apple with lime and white flower highlights pop from the glass.

On the palate, an introduction of enticing sweet, round fruit gives way to the Mosel’s characteristic slate-like minerality which provides midpalate lift while encouraging emerging grapefruit notes. A long, refreshing finish of citrus and hints of salinity wrap up this impressive package.

This is an off-dry wine that shows its sweetness early and finishes with savory, crisp, acidity.

An excellent value and an ideal pairing for any dish with some spice and sweetness.

Generous and intense, full of good vibrations but with a cryptic edge, Joni’s Big Yellow Taxi (2007 version) is a match.

Score: 90

Price: $15 (at Bevmo)

Alc: 10%

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Budget Wine Review: Loosen Bros. “Dr. L” Riesling Mosel 2016

29 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by Dwight Furrow in Budget Wines, Wine Reviews

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Tags

German Wine, Mosel, Riesling

dr loosenWho is Dr. Loosen you ask? Ernest Loosen, a n’er do well college student studying archaeology, was called home in 1988 when his father became ill. A middling, deeply indebted winery and vineyard along the Mosel River was among his father’s interests, and Ernest was the designated “rescuer”. Along with his friend Bernie Schug, they plunged into learning the wine business transforming his father’s hobby into one of the largest wine companies in Germany.

Dr. “L” is their non-estate, entry level wine and it is classic semisweet German Riesling.

The wine is expressive and aromatic with dominant peach and tangerine aromas mingling with honey and ginger highlights. Wet stone minerality plays in the background amidst bare hints of petrol. Semisweet, round and full upfront, the midsection becomes progressively lighter and more angular as the agile acidity glides forward introducing a fresh, tangy, faintly chalky finish. It manages to feel elegant and sinuous despite the forceful transitions.

A bit of exotica at a great price.

If you’re wondering what to pair with your Asian dish spiced with ginger, chilies, and some sweetness look no further. This is the wine. It’s perfectly designed for the spice table.

Spicy and whimsical as it dances between fulsome and angular, the sinuous Havana by Camila Cabello captures the mood.

Score: 89

Price: $11 (widely available, Bevmo carries it or search here)

Alc: 8.5%

If You Love Iconic Wine Regions, Drink Now

03 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Dwight Furrow in Wine Culture

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Burgundy, California wine, climate change, Mosel

diseased grapesAs a general matter we know that temperatures in traditional wine regions are steadily increasing, and it is highly likely that the cause is anthropogenic climate change. But when you look at specific data the threat becomes all the more real.

This article in Punch provides the gory details. In Burgundy, they have suffered debilitating hail storms and torrential downpours the last three years that have substantially reduced supply. Is it climate change? We can’t be sure about the causes of short-term fluctuations in weather. But about the general trend, there is no doubt:

Since the second half of the 20th century, the growing seasons are, on average, 1.4°C (2.5°F) warmer, and harvest starts around two weeks earlier. Built from this data, his formula shows that each degree increase in temperature pushes the harvest ahead by ten days.

The Mosel region of Germany, home of the finest Rieslings in the world, has experienced a similar warming trend. According to  Dr. Hans R. Schultz, president of Geisenheim University, a horticulture and viticulture school in Rheingau

These light and elegant wines will be a challenge to preserve under the climatic changes we are undergoing,” he says. “We’ve already seen higher alcohols and a concerning drop in acidity.

Some vignerons welcome the higher temperatures in these cooler regions that in the past have struggled to get their grapes ripe, although the higher temperatures and wet weather invite new pests and diseases that pose new challenges. But the style of wine we are accustomed to enjoying from these regions may no longer be available in the near future. Burgundy and the Mosel have both made their reputations based on age-worthy,  lighter-bodied wines with complex herbal, earth, and floral components, clearly defined flavors, and high acidity that gives them a fresh, lively aspect. It is hard to preserve that character when the grapes ripen too quickly.

But while the style of wine is likely to change in France and Germany, California may face more dire circumstances.

According to Schultz, end-of-century forecasts by regional climate models leave Germany squarely within a temperature framework that “we can mitigate and adapt to,” he says. “Even if there is a 3°C change in 70 years, there will be a change in style, but not necessarily a loss of riesling vineyards. The margins are much tighter for regions already at the warmer end.” Regions like California.

Lack of water and the resulting increase in salt content is already producing challenges. But if the temperatures in already warm regions like California should spike, photosynthesis will shut down—making wine will be impossible.

Research published in the Environmental Research Letters by leading American climate and viticulture researchers Noah S. Diffenbaugh and Gregory Jones predicts prime wine growing land in California will shrink by 50 percent in 30 years.

Who knows. Maybe in 30 years some combination of 3D printing and artificial intelligence will allow us to produce perfect replicas of  1990 Romanée-Conti. But don’t count on it.

The take away message is to drink the wines you love now. Or if you’re an investor buy wines from the iconic regions and hold on to them. You’re children may pay a fortune for a taste of the old world.

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