Image:Riesling (part 1)Once again I was invited by my friend Wim of Wijnkennis to participate in a tasting. This time he managed to gather 40 different Grand Cru Rieslings 2005 from the Alsace in France. On top of that, they originated from 25 different Grand Cru regions! A great accomplishment indeed. We're blessed to get a selection like this under our nose, and on our palate!
I've never been a big fan of Riesling, preferring Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer from the same region, but I was pleasantly surprised. The quality was overall very good, with a couple of highlights. Riesling from the Alsace is generally rather mineral and has a decent amount of acid. The minerality was indeed dominant in most wines (which I like), in both nose and taste, while the acidity was luckily (for me) mostly subdued. Wim managed to reserve most Rieslings with residual sugar for the end of the tasting. But even if the first wine had less than 5 gr. sugar, and the last one over 50, the sugar was never prominent or 'sticky'. They were always nicely balanced with acidity.
Here are my evening favorites:

  • Valentin Zusslin, Grand Cru Riesling Pfingstberg 2005
  • Frédéric Mallo, Grand Cru Riesling Rosacker 2005

I will most certainly give more Alsace Rieslings a try in the future !

BTW. Notice the 'Part 1' in the title: Next week I'm invited to a tasting of more Rieslings. From Germany this time, all of them older than 10 years !
I'll tell you more about them later.

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