Yes, I’m once again writing about Riesling. I love Riesling. When you taste wines a lot, your palate can get fatigued and you just crave something that will bring it back to life. With its high acid and refreshing character, Riesling does that for me. However, I generally like a dry (unsweet) Riesling. The acid and lemon tartness comes through and it is thoroughly enjoyable to drink at any time.
After seeing the Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling listed as one of the Top 100 best buys from Wine Enthusiast, I decided to give this sweeter Riesling a try. To my delight, I really enjoyed it. For Riesling, there is a sweetness scale:
Dry ➙Medium dry ➙Medium sweet➙Sweet.
This wine is medium sweet but the sweetness is just right and allows for the fruit to shine. It has a cornucopia of fruit-green apple, yellow pear, ripe peach and apricot. It also has this really high acid that lingers in your mouth but the residual sugar tones down the acid, making it not so biting. The acid, in return, keeps the wine from being too sweet. Because it is a Riesling, the alcohol level is low, at 9% abv, which makes it refreshing and very drinkable.
Most people generally associate Riesling with Germany but excellent Riesling is made around the globe. The state of Oregon has the perfect climate for Riesling. Oregon has cooler temperatures during the growing season, allowing the grapes to develop without losing acidity. The cooler temperatures also keep the sugar development under control, allowing for the ideal balance of acid and sugar in the grape. In addition, the marine and volcanic soils lend a nice minerality to the flavor background.
My favorite way of drinking it is with lightly flavored foods, such as Asian foods, or just chilled on its own. I paired this wine with pineapple fried rice and vegetable potstickers and it was great. The addition of the pineapple in the rice really complemented the wine and I think, made it a better pairing than a dry Riesling would. The bonus for me is that, though the meal is gone, the enjoyment of this bottle will last for the next couple of days.