Wine Review – 2007 Yalumba Riesling
Full disclosure: We watch ABC’s reality show “The Bachelor”. Who knew that woman with “Botox Gone Really wrong”, a hot Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, a Latino flight attendant and one normal guy could make for great television on Monday nights.
The Riesling grape may very well be just as offbeat. It’s definitely not a Chardonnay and its nowhere near being a Pinot Grigio. You can’t even say it’s somewhere in between. It’s just different. So tonight would be a perfect night to try something different.
Tonight we opened a dry styled Riesling from Australia.
We use this term “dry style” because Rieslings can be extremely different. We have found that most Rieslings made in Australia tend not to be on the sweeter side. However, Rieslings made in Germany and in the US can be very sweet or bone dry.
Riesling may very well be the most unknown and underappreciated of all the white wine grapes. This grape’s homeland is Germany (“Germans are the best”-inside joke), where it has been cultivated since the 1400s or earlier.
The Riesling grape is also widely grown in other places such as Alsace, France and California appellations in Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Mendocino. Washington and Oregon have also had tremendous success with the Riesling grape as well. Other countries that are experimenting and successfully growing this grape are Australia, South Africa, Chile, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Yugoslavia, and Italy.
What makes this type of white wine so different from other white wines is its spectrum of uniqueness that it can deliver. Rieslings can range from being super sweet to being bone dry or even light and crisp. Flavors can also range from being flowery to being spicy. Rieslings can taste like apples, others like apricot or even grapefruit. This grape is very expressive and allows each winemaker that works with it an opportunity to showcase its many facets.
The 2007 Yalumba Riesling from South Australia was a zesty wine that tasted like lemons and grapefruit. It did not have any oaky aftertaste and was not overly sweet on the tongue.
This Riesling was very nice. However, it didn’t make us forget about how cold it is outside where we live. We’ll try this Riesling again when the weather warms up to see if it really wows us.
WineLife365 Rating: 3-Stars
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