Riesling tasting

Last night we had a large and lively group for the class and wine tasting. In the class, we discussed our recent visit to Geneva, NY and discussed some of the interesting hybrid wines we tasted there, especially the Seyval, the Noiret and the Regent. Last night we tasted 6 wines wrapped in aluminum foil. One wine was not a Riesling but a 2005 Gewurztraminer. Most people could not distinguish it as a different grape variety from Riesling although they knew that one wine was a different variety from the other five. However, some people did distinguish it as different. This Gewurztraminer was surprisingly fruity and fresh for a 5-year-old wine with floral-honey aromas. Other people got peach and apricot aromas from this wine. Amongst the Rieslings there was no clear winner, but there was a clear loser, the Drought-stressed 2008 Riesling was an almost unanimous loser. It had distinct petrol aromas, which most people did not like, but according to the German literature these petrol aromas are characteristic of high quality wines and drought-stressed Rieslings. Clearly this group, including myself, did not like this wine. The well-watered Rieslings had some slight floral notes, particularly in the well-watered wines. Next week we will be trying some Lembergers and will mix in a couple of commercial wines from Washington State. Hope to see you there!