Wine Tasting:
2003 Claar Cellars Late Harvest Riesling
Winery: Claar Cellars
Brand/Type: Late Harvest Riesling
Vintage: 2003
Country: USA
Region: Columbia Valley, Washington
Alcohol content: 12%
Closure: Synthetic cork
Appearance: Golden straw
Aroma/Bouquet: Pears, cotton candy
As you might expect, being a late harvest, this is a sweet Riesling. What you wouldn’t expect is 12% alcohol content nor the complexity that this wine has.
It has a strong but short lived acidity that is overtaken at the finish by sweetness. In between you are treated to a distinct presence of (in order) orange, tangerine and pear flavors. They cascade upon each other well and there’s a hint of mineral as well.
It has an 8.9% residual sugar and is indeed sweet. Appropriate as a desert wine or aperitif.
Wine Tasting:
2002 Hogue Chenin Blanc
Winery: Hogue
Brand/Type: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: 2002
Country: USA
Region: Columbia Valley, Washington
Alcohol content: 13.2%
Closure: Synthetic
Appearance: Light golden straw
Aroma/Bouquet: Honeydew
Fruity but not sweet, this is a dry to off-dry wine. It has a sharp and crisp finish. This is a nice “safe†wine you can serve and not have to worry about guests that don’t like sweet or don’t like dry. While it’s a dry white it doesn’t have the overly dry taste that some Chardonnay’s have and has enough fruity character to satisfy (trick) the palate of someone who normally prefer a sweeter wine.
This is one of Hogue’s low-end wines. It’s by no means a lowly wine. It has plenty of character and is a great value. Priced like a table wine, tastes much better.
Note: Hogue now produces their wines with screwcaps.
Wine Tasting:
Badger Mountain 2005 Organic Riesling
Winery: Badger Mountain
Brand/Type: Riesling, Organic, NSA (No Sulfites Added)
Vintage: 2005
Country: USA
Region: Columbia Valley, Washington
Alcohol content: 12%
Closure: Screwcap
Appearance: Light straw
Aroma/Bouquet: Melon, apricot, and tangerine
This Kabinett style Riesling is one of the best west coast Rieslings around. It’s dry to slightly off-dry (2004 was off-dry) and nicely complex. It delivers a sweet-tart melon/green apple taste then bounces to a tangerine-citrus sensation and leaves with a distinct but pleasant (and very even) mineral finish. It’s not syrupy like some Rieslings but very crisp and mature.
Badger Mountain uses 100% certified organic grapes for this NSA (No Sulfites Added) Riesling. In fact all of Badger Mountain’s wines are certified organic and many are without added sulfites. This is fantastic choice for anyone who suffers from a sulfite allergy. All wines contain sulfites, they’re a naturally occurring part of the fermentation process, but only a few vintners go out of their way to avoid adding them. Badger Mountain proves that you don’t really need to add them to make an excellent wine.
This year Badger Mountain has also moved to screw caps. This is a good thing. We’re happy to see more wineries moving to this closure. Cork is for snobs and Luddites. Maybe you can eBay your Campagnolo corkscrew if enough wineries abandon corks altogether? Then you could afford a case or two of Badger Mountain Organic Riesling!
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