As previously noted, there’s been a lot of wine in my life lately. (And probably a lot of whine too, but we’re not going to explore that here.) I always supposed myself to be a red wine kind of girl, mostly because my experiences with non-red wines were limited to California chardonnay and white zinfandel, two types of wine I have found to be nigh to unbearable no matter how much I’d had to drink beforehand. Thankfully of late I’ve been lucky enough to experience the wonder of a perfectly chilled Marlborough sauvignon blanc, and to enjoy the magic of perfectly delightful German riesling.
While in San Luis Obispo on holiday, we stumbled into a bar with a great wine list. We worked our way through all three sauvignon blancs on the menu (one excellent, one good and one not-so-good) before hitting upon the magic-in-a-glass that is Schloss Schönborn Erbacher Marcobrunn Kabinett 2005. I don’t know if there are enough gushing words to encapsulate how much I love this wine. It’s like drinking a honeyed peach nectar with hints of lemon, like late afternoon sunshine in September, like evenings sitting in the dusk and listening to the crickets with a cat asleep in your lap. It’s everything kind of pleasant emotion I can think of, in a glass.
That’s how much I like it.
Upon returning home, we decided to do a little comparison shopping. We picked up some other rieslings and did a taste test to see how the rest of the Rheingau stacked up. Anything in the name of science!
In the end, we picked up the August Kesseler Qualitätswein Mit Prädikat Kabinett 2002 and the JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese 2003 (a recommendation from a friend). The Kesseler was good. Not buy-it-by-the-case good, but I enjoyed it, though it was much drier than the other two rieslings. The fruit tones were much more muted and the sweetness was very mild. The Prum was excellent—peach and nectarine flavors, hints of honey, with a lovely mouthfeel and a lingering finish. I will definitely be picking up another bottle, since my beloved Schloss Schönborn is nearly impossible to find in Southern California.
