After a morning sampling most of the public bathrooms in Greenpoint, we finally made it over the bridge and dropped Meg of with her boyfriend's family for lunch. The three of us remaining (Han, Mon, and I) ended up in a little shop called Village Tart in Little Italy, in an effort to escape the heat of the city. After mulling over the wine list for a few, we hesitantly eyed a humble (relative to others) Riesling, but decided to talk to the server in hopes it was a dryer one. He assured us it was just a tad sweet, and despite his shiny gold t-shirt, we believed him. He lied. I swallowed at least three sugar cubes in the first two sips. This was a Riesling to end all Rieslings - everything we were hoping it was not. We actually told the waiter when he went through the tasting that it was waaaaay sweet, but he just shrugged and looked uncomfortable for a solid 30 seconds until we told him to go ahead and pour it. Halfway through our first glass, we were reduced to asking for soda water to cut the sweetness, which of course, the restaurant did not have. Though it was hard to tell with my tongue coated in syrup, there was a touch of pear and a light acidity on the finish that helped lift the sugar just a little.
This white is grown in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany, named for the three rivers that frame the region and known for limestone slate soil. The vineyards of the area are basically God-given for Riesling - most are on steep slopes, which are difficult to farm but allow for great rain drainage and sun exposure. Almost 60% of the grapes grown there are Riesling, and 90% are white varietals. You'd think that with the expertise that goes into Riesling from Mosel, this Spatlese would have rocked our world. And to be fair, maybe it would have if we had wanted something super sweet instead of specifically asking for the opposite. Oh, and I almost forgot the worst part of it all - 8% alcohol content. Cheers to really expensive grape juice in NYC.
I'm not a fan of Little Italy in general. But anyway, never trust anyone in a gold shirt or a bow tie.
ReplyDeleteWhy did you request a spaetlese if you wanted a dry Riesling? The server obviously didn't know what he was doing, but you should have known that spaetlese wines are almost always on the sweeter side, closer to the auslese category (very sweet). The only spaetlese wines that are dry would be marked as "spaetlese trocken."
ReplyDeleteWines in the spaetlese category are not allowed to be chaptalized (have sugar added) so what you were tasting was the natural sweetness of Graff's marvelous Riesling grapes, harvested late in September.
My advice: get to know your Riesling nomenclature and you won't be disappointed. If I wanted a dry Mosel Riesling, there is no way I would have ordered a spaetlese!
Daryl,
ReplyDeletePerhaps I should clarify my blog's MO. I started writing it because I don't know much at all about wine. By trying new wines and researching them afterward, I am chronicling my self-education. If I already understood the nuances of a spatlese vs. a spatlese trocken, I wouldn't be wasting my time with this blog. Thanks for reading.