home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Software Vault: The Gold Collection
/
Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
/
cdr11
/
wineinfo.zip
/
GERM1.RG
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-06-18
|
5KB
|
76 lines
THE WINE TASTER
By Robin Garr
The Courier-Journal, Aug. 23, 1987
If it weren't for the Gulf Stream, which delivers warm, moist air to
moderate the climate of Europe, it would be impossible for us to enjoy the
fresh, flowery beauty of German wine.
After all, Germany's best wine-growing regions, along the precipitous
hillsides of the Rhine and Moselle river valleys, lie on roughly the same
latitude as northern Newfoundland and southern Hudson Bay, Canada.
Fortunately for wine tasters, however, the European climate is tempered
by ocean currents, which keep summers cool and winters mild. Winters in
Germany, though sometimes snowy, seldom see temperatures below the upper 20s,
and summer days rarely top 80.
Even so, the Rhine ("Rhein," in German) and the Moselle ("Mosel") form
the world's northernmost wine region, and the weather is seldom far from the
consciousness of German wine makers.
Grapes ripen only slowly during the cool German summers, which is an
advantage in that time allows the development of subtle flavors extracted
from minerals in the soil, but a marked disadvantage if early frost -- as
it frequently does -- forces the harvest before grapes are fully ripe.
Under such conditions, vineyard location can make a significant
difference.
The ripest grapes come reliably from vines that grow on slopes facing
south and southeast, turned to catch the warmest rays of the rising and
midday sun.
Geography endows much of the Moselle (which runs generally northeast)
with such slopes. The Rhine, however, offers similar vistas only where its
bends and twists turn the northward-flowing river briefly east and west --
most notably in the great wine region called Rheingau, where the river bends
west between Mainz and Wiesbaden and ripples for the next 20 miles past
precipitous vineyards bearing some of the most famous names in the world of
wine: Hochheim, Hattenheim and Winkel, and the ancient wine castles Schloss
Vollrads and Schloss Johannisberg.
The white Riesling grape presides here as Germany's best wine grape, not
least because, as one of nature's latest-maturing grapes, it benefits most
from a long, gentle growing season.
If full ripeness is the measure of the finest German wine, then sugar
becomes the criterion by which it is judged. While virtually every other
wine-producing country's finest wines are dry, the top-quality German wines
(those designated "Qualitatswein mit Pradikat" or "QmP" on the label) are
rated on a scale of increasing sugar content, from "Kabinett" (the driest)
through "Spatlese" and "Auslese" to the syrupy and extremely expensive
"Beerenauslese" and "Trockenbeerenauslese."
Even those with considerable sugar, however, never cloy in the fashion
of wine coolers or our country-style fruit wines. Almost invariably, the
sweetness of German wines is balanced against a crisp, clean acidity in a
beverage as refreshing as fresh fruit juice, at its best overlain with the
subtleties of the Riesling grape and the German soil.
They're acceptable with food, but their refreshing quality and faint
sweetness makes them best for sipping by themselves, well chilled, on a hot
day.
For this week's column I tried two good Riesling Kabinetts of the 1983
vintage, a year in which mild autumn blessed Germany's vineyards: A Rhine
from the Winkeler Hasensprung vineyard in the Rheingau, produced by Schloss
Schonborn, one of the most respected German makers ($9.59), and a Mosel from
the famous Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard, bottled by the firm of N.
Schnitzius-Scheid ($8.99).
(4 stars) Schloss Schonborn Winkeler Hasensprung (Rheingau) Riesling
Kabinett, 1983. (Reece-ling Cab-ee-net.) This clear, bright brass-colored
wine has a pleasant scent of grapes with a faint overtone of canteloupe, and
a crisply refreshing flavor that mingles clean fruit and a suggestion of pine
needles. A slight, not unattractive musky quality lingers.
(3 stars) Schnitzius-Scheid Wehlener Sonnenuhr (Mosel) Riesling Kabinett,
1983. This clear, light greenish-gold wine has a light floral smell with a
hint of brown sugar, and a soft, sippable flavor balancing fruit and acid in
a nearly-dry wine.
Courier-Journal Wine and Food Critic Robin Garr rates table wines
available in the Louisville area, using a one- to five-star scale determined
by quality and value. Write to him with suggestions or questions in care of
The Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40202, or send EasyMail
to 73125,70.