8.31.2007

Ridge Petit Syrah and Zilliken Riesling

Tonight, The Boyfriend is away, so I intended to have a little wine, read some magazines and just hang out after a loooong week (I made a former nun cry during a deposition, for starters). I began over analyzing the wine selection and finally settled on a 2001 Ridge Petit Syrah Essence. I completely f'ed up with my choice. I was aiming to try something new in the apartment (yes, we have so much wine crammed into a 550 sq. ft. apt that we find "new" things when we do a wine search) and I decided to give the Ridge a chance. It started out well, the wine has a great aroma of black, black cherry and a bit of chocolate and it showed a bit of raspberry once the wine was given a good swirl in the glass. Then there was the taste. UGH. I doubt Robert Parker or any other wine authority condones a rating such as that, but Oh God, it was horrible. It was like a bad glass of Welch's, with notes of tobacco and hell. The label says it can be cellared for 10-20 years, but I would be scared. Ridge no longer produces Essence and I can only venture a guess as to why.

The palate having been busted by the Ridge, I settled on 2005 Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Riesling Spatlese. It was a solid choice, with a clean, almost astringent aroma, with flavors of mineral, steel, apple and a little pear. Not overly heavy on the palate. Random leap from the Ridge, but it was light, refreshing and helped to ease my Petit Syrah disappointment.

Update: The Boyfriend disagrees with my verbal assessment (although he did not taste) of the Ridge. He claims it should have been enjoyed as a dessert wine. Oh well, I noticed we have another bottle in the apt, so we will see....

2 comments:

goodnevili said...

Riesling have always been my standby. Due to the Health/foodie movement here in the queen city we've had an influx of German "Organic" wines. Larry and I have also found a sparkling red that is great as an appertif with dessert called Rosa Regale. Its a bit on the sweet side, but thats how we roll.

jac said...

Rieslings were always my "okay, I will drink it" sort of wines, until I attended a tasting at Union Square Wines and I tasted some really phenomenal rieslings. I will have to check out your suggestion, we have some friends here that are always on a search for decent red sparklers!