Montauk Wine Club Holds Second Challenge

On August 19, we held our second Club challenge. The Club wines we challenged were the 2002 Schleret Riesling “Herrenweg” and the 2007 Cotes du Rhone, Manarine. As challengers, we chose wines from the new distributor’s catalog so that if we liked a challenger better, the Club would be able to begin stocking it once the Club wine inventories got low. It was a lively crowd with a lot to say, especially about the Rieslings.
The first Riesling we tried had a peachy color and just a few bubbles. Its scent was a light floral, but every bit a Riesling, just with the volume turned down a bit. After the muted floral aroma, we were a touch surprised by the fruity taste, smacking of golden delicious apples and, my favorite, bazooka bubble gum. This wine was sweet and not too crisp, very much like a spaetlese. All in all, we found it easy to drink and probably a good accompaniment to a variety of foods.
We couldn’t decide whether second white really was complex or we just had nine different palates in the room. It was a lemon yellow in color and a tad cloudy, with no bubbles. You’ll love the descriptions we had of the aroma, though they might turn you away from this wine. Words we used were smokey, gravelly, musty, dung, cigarette filter and unwashed gym socks. Wow! But we were undaunted and went ahead to taste it anyway. There was quite a bit more to the taste than met the eye or nose. We found green apples, leather, burnt rubber, watermelon and just plain old debris. Some likened it to retsina while others thought of a Kabinett Riesling. The mouth feel was strange with an almost unpleasant finish that made it seem like one was taking a spoonful of nutmeg. With all this, we decided it was complex and had character.
Our third white didn’t quite measure up to the second in complexity, but we found it a bit easier to drink. It had a gold-green color of straw with a few bubbles. Of the three this had the mildest aroma with a hint of butterscotch showing through. The taste was not a surprise, as it was a bit sweeter at first than the other two with a creamy, indeed, almost gummy mouth feel. Then some tartness began to come through that reminded us of Macintosh apples. In the end we thought that we tasted something like licorice Twizzlers which is perhaps the reason we thought this might appeal more to a college crowd. And perhaps that’s why this wine got more votes than the other two. Wine number three turned out to be a 2007 Covey Run Riesling from Columbia Valley. Number 1, which received the next highest number of votes, was a 2008 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling, also from Columbia Valley, and number 2, which received the fewest votes, was the Club’s selection.
The first red that we tried had the look of a syrah or shiraz in that it coated the glass quite well and seemed almost to have more solids. Its color had a browner tint compared to the other two. The smell was interesting with notes of vanilla cream, peat, popcorn with butter and fire-roasting. But where was the pepper characteristic of this varietal? Well it was hiding until the last taste when it finally came out a little. Otherwise, the flavor reminded us of black cherry cough medicine with the vanilla that we smelled showing up in fine form. Some of us thought this wine tasted more like a petite syrah.
Red number two had a surprising look to it because it was somewhat transparent and lighter looking than the other two – not what you’d expect from a syrah. When we brought it up to the nose, though, we almost started to sneeze en masse, the pepper was that strong. We wanted to marinate a strip steak in it then and there. Once we got past the pepper, however, we did catch the scent of strawberries. Then when we tasted it, we found a nice balance of pepper, blackberry and cherry.
Our final wine of the evening certainly had a syrah/shiraz look to it; it was inkier, leggier and more opaque than the other two. The nose, however, was not so distinctive as the second wine – i.e., not as much pepper. It was a tad on the funky side, more like the peaty smell of the first red, with just a hint of chlorine. The look had us a little surprised when we got to tasting though. The more neutral aroma seemed to carry over into the taste, which was a lot lighter than the look would have you think. Beyond the fairly neutral taste we did pick up some olives, but again, very little of the spice or pepper you’d expect from this grape.
When we got to voting, one of our members (who shall remain nameless of course) refused to vote in favor of any of the wines. The rest of the members were much more favorably disposed. While the first red got a couple of votes, number two was the clear winner. And it was the Club selection! Red number one was a 2005 Kendall Jackson Syrah from California, and number 3 was a 2006 Ravenswood South Eastern Australia Shiraz.
Our next Club meeting will be devoted to Tuscan wines when we’ll pit a few challengers against the Club’s 2005 Rosso di Montepulciano. Don’t miss it. We’ll get started around 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 16, 2010. Hope to see you all there.

Suzy Marquard