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September 2005 Wine Newsletter |
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Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 8:00am-10:00pm
Welcome to Westside Liquor’s monthly wine newsletter. It is our goal to spread the good word about new and exciting products in each and every newsletter. We also will give staff reviews of featured products to help you pick out a new beer, wine or cigar. In future issues we will also delve into informative articles so we all can better understand the contributing factors involved in bringing us our favorite wine.
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Announcements
Westside Liquor is now home to two certified Sommeliers. Jeff Anderson and Mike Casey recently passed their wine courses that spanned several years with the International Sommelier Guild. Sommeliers are traditionally the wine professionals found in some of the finest restaurants and hotels. Today we are seeing more people in the retail sector pursue this title. Westside Liquor is the only store in central Minnesota to have Sommeliers available to assist you with your wine decisions. This is just another great reason to buy wine at Westside Liquor.
Unfortunately, Mike Casey will be leaving on Sept 8 to move to Denver. Mike caught the study bug during his wine classes and will continue his education. Mike will be studying Food & Beverage Management at Johnson & Wales University.
Mike can be contacted at the address below.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Riesling by Mike Casey
Good Day! With this being my last newsletter, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite types of wine. While I am predominantly a red wine drinker I keep coming back to Riesling. Especially, German Riesling, I have found it difficult to find wines of such finesse and balance. It was two years ago that I had my first Riesling and I was blown away by the racy acidity that balances the sweetness of the wine. The complexity of the aromas awakened my senses and the finish was divine. While I have searched for similar wine experiences, I keep getting called back to Riesling. German Riesling is a study of excellence in wine that dates back almost a millennium. It was the Benedictine and Cistercian monks that meticulously studied the vineyards for hundreds of years. The monks found the best sites based upon soil and aspect of the slope to the South. German vineyards are some the most northern in the whole world. Because of this, Grapes need help to ripen. Slate soils provide heat past sunset, steep slopes provide more exposure to the sun, the rivers reflect sunlight to increase the grapes exposure to the sun and southern facing slopes tend to provide the most exposure to the sun from sunrise to sunset. It is because of these factors that Riesling can be harvested as late as December. There many terms involved but the most important are the ripeness levels. When you know these you can buy German Rieslings in confidence.
Kabinett – Grapes harvested at normal ripeness. Wines are usually crisp and off-dry. Aromas and flavors of minerals and limes tend to dominate. These are great for salads and seafood.
Spatlese – Late harvest, sugars build up but so do the flavors. Wines are tangy and noticeably sweet. Aromas of peach and pears waft around. These wines stand up to heavier foods and will compliment any sweetness in the dish
Auslese – Out-picking. Harvested approximately a week after Spatlese wines. The wines are ripe with canned peaches and apricots. Quite sweet, Auslesen can be used for dessert. Surprisingly though, because of it’s intense flavor and acidity these are excellent with duck or other fowl.
BeerrenAuslese – Noble rot has affected the grapes. Concentrating sugars and flavors by dehydrating the grapes. Very sweet dessert wines with hints of brown spice.
TrockenBerrenAuslese – All of the grapes have been attacked by noble rot. Thick, almost syrupy wine is an explosion of flavor. Apricots with clove and cinnamon dominate. These are some of the most expensive wines in the world and some of the most rare. If you have a chance to try a TBA, do so. Recently a producer for the Mosel valley sold his 2001 375ml bottles for over two thousand dollars.
Eiswein – Often referred to the nectar of the gods, Ice wine is made from grapes left to freeze on the vine. The freezing causes the water in the grapes to solidify while the sugars can be pressed out. This gives way to some of the sweetest and most delicious wine available. So precise is the method, that eiswein can only be produced about four times every decade.
With Oktoberfest coming fast upon us, who says you have to drink beer? All German Rieslings are on sale with a copy of the coupon from the bottom of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Thank you for letting me write my thoughts. I only hope that I was able to help you find some new wines for you to enjoy. |
Newsletter brought to you by Mike Casey.
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