The day all of us acid loving sommeliers and great white wine lovers look forward to finally came upon Graileys on Thursday-we got our shipment of Deutsche Weisswein von sechs verschiedene Grosses Gewachs in ein ganz trockenisches Stil. Die sind ausgehtzeichnet!!! Or put another way, the Dry German Grand Cru Rieslings have arrived and they will literally blow you away! We had to open one to see how it was drinking (oh darn!) and the results were not disappointing in the slightest. We decanted the 2013 Von Winning Kieselberg Grosses Gewachs in Deidesheim in the Pfalz. The Pfalz is called the Palitinate in English and this is a beautiful, ancient area. I used to live in this area of Germany for 2 years in the town of Worms on the Rhine River. Those were some fun days that I look back on fondly. Way before I knew how freaking awesome their wines were! The new(ish) movement in Germany’s warmer areas for Riesling (Pfalz, Nahe, Rheingau) is to craft dry riesling from the best plots of the best vineyards at extremely low yields under the Grosses Gewachs label – or Grand Cru. We drank 3 or 4 of these GGs in March and everyone was so floored we bought/sold them all in a day. This is round two and we bought more! This wine tasted like Grand Chablis on the palate with more slatey minerality on the extremely dry, expansive finish. The nose was exotic like great Riesling can be with citrus blossoms, lime, peach, apricot and even salt and sweat. There was a certain lemon/lime/cantaloupe sherbet thing for me that was killer. Beguiling, delicious and powerful-this stunning Grand Cru Riesling will drink like a champ for 30 years. These might be the best value in Grand Cru wine in the world!
After my Riesling euphoria we drank some other rocking wines. The 2000 Krug was as delicious as ever! This bottle of 2000 has a rather shy personality with a tilt toward subtlety, complexity, charm and openness. Autolytic and toasty with baked apples and pears, Krug is my favorite Champagne House today. Next up we had the 2004 Blankiet Estate Merlot Paradise Hills made by Helen Turley from a primo vineyard in Yountville. Exotic notes of crushed raspberries, violets, black cherry and mocha filled the glass and the tannins were silty smooth as the wine is drinking at its peak and was quite enjoyable. These Blankiet wines are pretty badass. We finished with a bottle of 2010 Switchback Ridge 100th Anniversary Blend that is 60 Cab Sauv / 40 Merlot and aged in French Oak for 24 months. Robert Foley crafts this stunner and this might be my 6th bottle to drink. That signature Foley nose of toasted nuts, chocolate, brambly black and red fruit and coffee bean exudes class from the glass. Slurpable and generous in every way. I can’t wait to see this wine evolve. All in all-a wonderful wine day at Graileys!
Other Great wines from the evening included:
NV Krug Grande Cuvee
NV Krug Brut Rose
2006 Favia Cerro Sur
2009 Favia Cerro Sur
2012 Gargiulo Money Road Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Jack Quinn Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 Tortuga Cab
2005 Buccella Cab from Magnum!
2003 Brovia Garblet Sue Barolo
1999 Dom Caillot Batard Montrachet (pre-moxed)
2013 Montagu Bacigalupi Pinot Noir