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Free wine tasting at Hilltop House Restaurant - Printable Version

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- wondersofwine - 04-25-2007

Pasta salad, seafood salad, and fresh fruit were available along with the wines.

1. Clean Slate Riesling, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany 2005
A pretty decent basic Riesling with some slate on the nose and palate along with citrus and stone fruits. I would score it in the low 80's as a good wine or maybe 85-86 in the very good category. However, I was surprised to learn that it achieved double gold at the 2006 San Francisco International Wine Competition of 128 Riesling entrants. It's made in a partnership effort of Seattle-based Click Wine Group and Moselland of Bernkastel-Kues, Germany and is technically classified as Qualitatswein/QbA. Peter Click has simplified the wine label and may make it more appealing for non-German speaking wine drinkers to give it a try. This retails for about $9 to $14 a bottle in different USA markets so could be a good alternative to Yellow Tail and the like.

2. Schlumberger Riesling, Alsace 2003
Perhaps because of the vintage (the excessively hot summer in Europe that year), I found this wine atypical and didn't particularly enjoy it.

3. Montecillo Rioja Blanco, Rioja, Spain 2004
I found this a little bland with some mineral, some subdued fruit. Contrast that to the description on the tasting sheet: "beautiful nose of banana, stone, green herbs, plantains, baked bread and yeast, spice and pear. The palate reveals much of the same notes as the nose with poignant flavors of yeast and baked bread, pear spice, melon, lime and lemon. This wine is richly textured with excellent depth of flavor and a lingering finish." (I obviously wasn't discovering much depth of flavor.)

4. Big Fire Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, Oregon 2005
This is a reasonably priced Pinot Noir from R. Stuart, in the $15-$19 dollar range. I enjoyed the 2002. Was eager to try this as 2005 is said to be a very exciting vintage for Oregon Pinot Noirs. It had a nice raspberry scent but I was also getting tobacco scents which puzzled me as I think of that as more a feature of some Bordeaux wines and varieties other than the Pinot Noir grape. It's possible the tobacco scent was clinging to the walls of the garden room of the restaurant where we sat. (I bought a bottle for $19 to take home so will see if the tobacco disappears when opened in a tobacco-free environment.) On the flavor palette (and on my palate) I found raspberry, cherry and spice, and maybe a bit of earth. I didn't get the "loads of vanilla" in the tasting description handed out to us but for me that is a good thing. If this is indicative of the 2005 Oregon Pinots at the lower price points, this may indeed be a vintage to purchase and appreciate.

5. Torres Sangre de Toro Catalunya, Spain 2005
I had tasted this the previous night (WTN on Spanish wines) and so skipped on to the final red.

6. Scott Harvey Barbera Amador County, California 2002
I'm finally finding some Barbera I really like. (The last one was from Italy, the 2004 Rive Barbera d'Asti Piedmont Langhe region). Red fruits on the nose. Red fruits, cherry elixir and subtle spice on the palate. Really nice. Some velvety elegance but structure to carry it forward. I jotted down my notes before reading the description on the handout. I agree with its verdict of "silky and seductive Barbera that still has plenty of stuffing." It goes on to mention red fruits, a hint of dusty earth, a touch of coffee and mocha flavors and a gorgeous, lingering finish. I'm afraid I didn't pick up on coffee or mocha this time. I purchased a bottle of this to take home at about $24+ (including tax). May repost when I open it.



[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 04-26-2007).]


- TheEngineer - 04-26-2007

Wow, I'll look out for the Clean Slate wine. It is still a German import or a US domestic? Also for the price, would it be on par with Dr. L and R (from Kesseler?)


- wondersofwine - 04-26-2007

Yes, an import. Retails for about $9-$14. I've had the 'L' once and wasn't that impressed with it. I'm not sure I've had the 'R.' I think it might be on par or even a notch ahead of those wines. Others might disagree.
Apparently another German Riesling trying to simplify the labels in the less expensive category is Bloom Riesling (I haven't tried this yet but view the bottle at: http://www.preceptbrands.com/wines/Bloom.asp

The attractive bottle for Clean Slate Riesling can be viewed here: http://www.cleanslatewine.com/ (enter site)

These brands may succeed in introducing more Americans to German Riesling. Precept Brands which exports the Bloom Riesling also has a Red Petals from the red Dornfelder grape from Mosel region. This might be a unique wine for a wine tasting of unusual varieties, etc. I haven't tasted any of these. The Red Petals is only 10.5% alchohol which contrasts with many red wines.
(Wild bottles--I prefer the Clean Slate look but Georges du Boeuf hasn't done so badly with his flowers bottles.)


- TheEngineer - 04-28-2007

You are rignt, nice bottle design and definitely instantly recognizeable on the shelf....will look for one.


- wondersofwine - 04-30-2007

Visited Grapes and Hops, a fairly new wine shop in town, Saturday and lo and behold they had the Bloom Riesling and Red Petals. I may try the Riesling later but bought the Red Petals Saturday and will open in the next few days. They said it is a bit sweet which is not what I was looking for but I'm still curious to try it. Will post a note after I open it.