Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [40]
Gooseberries Another British term that is classically used to describe Sauvignon Blanc from cool zones. It is an extremely tangy flavor. I have seen gooseberry preserves sold in gourmet stores, but they are very sweet, so you don’t quite get the pungently tart effect.
Quince Europeans use this term, although quinces are increasingly available in this country. When raw, they have a mouth-puckering feel that is almost tannic, so the description usually refers to quince when sweetened and cooked, as preserves or a candylike paste. It has a slightly spicy, rich apple-pear taste.
Lychee Rather than being local to a specific area, the lychee fruit description is quite widely used for one very distinctive grape—the Gewürztraminer. But since lychees, a native of southeast Asia, are so exotic, many who read the word lychee on a back label might not be familiar with it. Remember our taste of “spicy” Gewürztraminer in Chapter 3? Try canned lychees, which are available in Asian groceries and supermarkets (next to the Chinese food ingredients), and you will see that it’s the perfect fruit descriptor for this spicy grape.
WINE TASTING
Flavor Mapping the Big Six Varietal Wines
These tastings will put the Flavor Map into sensory terms, showing you the cool-to-warm climate range of fruit styles in our Big Six grape varieties. Although we’re tasting Big Six wines, my wine suggestions will not be limited to bottles with the grape on the label. That way we may include, as we have in past chapters, famous regional wines that are based on the Big Six grapes.
These tastings will also illustrate another enlightening fact about wine grapes—namely, that each has its own climate affinity. For example, Pinot Noir gives its best results in cooler climates, while Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in a moderate to warm climate. As you will see, these affinities for climate zone are a great clue to the basic fruit style of each grape—in other words, those flavors that make a Pinot a Pinot, and so on.
Riesling
Riesling is a grape that grows best in climates that are cool, edging into moderate–Germany and Alsace, France, are its strongholds. Austria, Canada, New York’s Finger Lakes district, and the coolest parts of Australia and New Zealand also achieve greatness with Riesling. California and Washington State make small amounts of good Riesling, too, including dessert wine styles.
Consequently, our tasting will feature just cool-zone and moderate-zone Rieslings. With the Flavor Map, you could predict what tastes to expect—apple and pear flavors from the cool zone, stone fruits such as peaches from the moderate zone. As any experienced taster would tell you, that is a perfect summary of the Riesling grape’s fruit style. Many pros find Riesling to have a floral style, especially in wines coming from the cool zone. (Wineries do not produce “oaky” Rieslings, because oak overpowers the delicacy of the Riesling style.)
Riesling Scorecard
Professional Riesling’s flavor and scent are very expressive. In fact, it could be said that Riesling presents virtually an archival rendering of its growing conditions—the vintage (weather), the soil, the region, even the person who made it. Nonetheless, its signature style always comes through—orchard fruits, from apple and pear to citrus to stone fruits, and sometimes floral character, thanks to its home base in cool-to-moderate climate zones. Also thanks to the cool climate, its style is marked by vibrant acidity.
Personal I adore Riesling. Hopefully, this tasting has highlighted some of its virtues for you, too. You already know how I feel about acidity, but I also love the depth of fruit flavor you get on such a sleek, ultralight frame. The late harvest versions are some of the best dessert wines in the world. Try them, too.
Sauvignon Blanc
Like Riesling, this is