2010 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling

We’ve been working on a miniature wine cellar in the house for about two months now. Since we started building a more extensive wine collection, including a selection from favorite producers to keep around for a decade or two, we’ve been carefully picking out wines and keeping track of the temperature in our closet to ensure that it keeps our wines at the perfect temperature. It’s pretty ideal so far, and is in a dark place away from sunlight, unexpected heat, or the roving paws of curious kittens. And we’ve been judicious about keeping our collection sealed…so far. When a selection of the 2010 Wiemer vintage came over a few weeks ago, I wanted to save a few for a rainy Riesling day but was too tempted by the weather!

2010 Hermann J. Wiemer Gewürztraminer

Last October, my girlfriend and I took a trip to the Finger Lakes to tour some of the wineries and do some research for a project I’d been working on. We stopped at a few different wineries but mainly went to check out the selection at Hermann J. Wiemer. We enjoyed an amazing weekend and even got to help harvest and process their latest batch of Pinor Noir grapes. A rousing time was had by all and we left with a mixed case of what I believe to definitively be some of the Finger Lake’s best wines, in quality and value. The 2008 Wiemer Semi-Dry Riesling and 2007 Wiemer Gewürztraminer rivaled some of the nicer Mosel wines I’ve had and the price, $18, just could not be beat.

2006 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling

A few months ago, my girlfriend, father, and I had a miniature Dönnhoff vertical with a few special bottles we had picked up on a whim at a wine store. This was one of the best cheaper finds we’d come across. The store was selling two of these, the 2006 and 2007 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spatleses, for $35 apiece, marked down from their original prices of $73 and $70, respectively. Arguably two of the best vintages for this particular vineyard since the famed 2001, these tweak my buttons in the perfect way. Who doesn’t love quality wine at cheap prices?

1990 Weingut Günther Steinmetz Kestener Paulinsberg Riesling Spätlese

“If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” Or is it? As I’m mired in my LSAT exam preparation, I’ve been taught to sniff out buzzwords like “probably” and “likely” as baited quantifiers that could either drastically minimize or overstate the scope of an argument. Sometimes these words can aid in helping find a middle ground between an argument that limits a theory or one that is too vague, but other times, they serve as blinking red lights leading me to doubt their usage in a question.

1997 Château d’Yquem

Some wines reel you in, while others soothe you. Some wines serve only for the purpose of complimenting the dishes they are paired with, and some work themselves into the intricacies of an evening, lubricating an awkward social event or enhancing an already wonderful one.

2012 Mohegan Sun WineFest

Casinos are no strangers to entertaining events: whether you’re scoping out the buffet lines and catching The Family Stone (missing Sly) in concert or making big cash on the slot machines, there’s always something to check out. My home state hosts two of the world’s most famous casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Having enjoyed some events and restaurants there in the past, I was quite pumped to visit Mohegan and serve as a press correspondent for their annual Sun WineFest.

1998 Château de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape

For every quirky outsider of a wine, there is a classical, downright Baroque bottle  that presents itself simply, like an antique desk, yet is so utterly beautiful in its minimal presentation that it trumps its younger counterparts every time. And that wine is the 1998 Beaucastel. There are few words that come to mind when one drinks this wine. It speaks for itself impeccably.

2010 Frisk Prickly Riesling

No bubbly for us this year, at least none featured on this site. In true Nobly Rotten fashion, we’ve eschewed the champagne for a sparkling Riesling, an Australian offering described as “prickly.” Indeed, Frisk is a peppy send-off to a peppy year, and a fine way to celebrate the end and beginning of what should prove to be a successful year for the site. Frisk was recommended to me by a good friend’s father and seemed like an appropriate way to bade farewell to 2011 in the only way we know how: friskily and with a bit of gusto.

If you’ve heard the rendition of Aud Lang Syne hearkening back from the World War I era, “we’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here,” originally sung by soldiers in the trenches in defiance to the destruction and horror of the war around them,  you have a good idea as to what Frisk evokes when consumed. Not to diminish the trials of war or to compare a simple Riesling to the death of an era, but Frisk seeks to redefine Riesling in a bold, but simple fashion and succeeds despite all odds. Frisk is here because it’s here, and although it’s got one foot in the Riesling door and the other in a handful of other varietals, it proves to be a starkly resilient wine in a world of classic Rieslings. Not that I’m not a fan of classic Rieslings, but Frisk is plucky without riding on its own marketing scheme to propel it.

2010 Willi Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett

Bargain bins get me every time. I’ll let you in on a little secret- I’m kind of glad that some of my local wine stores are less than well-versed in the art of deciphering German wine labels. I found this eye-raising gem in the “last of the summer wines” bin at an unnamed establishment for a mere $12 and snagged it immediately. Not that there was a whole lot of clamor for white wine in the middle of December, but you never know who’s scouting. Yup, dropped the ’47 Lafite right where I was standing and headed for this. Who needs Bordeaux when you’ve got Brauneberger Juffer? 

2007er Muller-Catoir Breumel in den Mauern Riesling Grosses Gewächs: AKA, Irreparable Riesling Done Right

Wine isn’t always perfect. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s the risk you take when you buy it. In my defense, I rarely take risks on wines I’m not as familiar with, but this one seemed too good to be true. A 2007er Muller-Catoir Grosses Gewächs, the German equivalent of a Grand Cru, from one of the best ‘Clos’ vineyards in the Haartder-Bürgergarten estate, the likes of which had nothing short of rave reviews detailing unusually organic flavors- earthy, dirt-like scents were a persistent theme in all the reviews I read, a factor that intrigued me quite a lot. With a $29.99 price tag marked down from a cool $90, we were almost inclined to take home a few more to sit on.