Every Monday, discover new wines, regions, and ways to understand this fermenting sea.
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Munching Vidal Blanc on Keuka Lake, New York
Dresden Part 2: Gluhwein, Ottoman Tents, and Stollen
Wayward Wine’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour continues today in Dresden (see last Monday’s post). We start the day armed with museum passes (since the night prior was a Meissen tease).
But we weary after a fine exhibit of Russian diplomacy gifts. We almost skip the Dresden Armory, but accidentally stumble into the Turkish Chamber. Amongst many Ottoman weapons, flags, and armor dating from 1591, we stop beneath a tent from August the Strong’s Zeithain encampment against the Turks.
From 1729, this 66 foot long tent of satin, cotton, gilt leather took 14 years to restore. It is amazing.
With the sun setting, we pop into the eclectic Jagerhof folklore collection.
At least the building was cool (the collection felt more like an estate sale). Hungry, we head to town center to hunt down Dresden’s famed Christmas markets:
We pass the WWII wiped out Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) that was only restored in 1994 (the white blocks are new). Soon we are in the thick of Dresden’s bustling Christmas Markets. On high sits the Stollen chalet, where Dresden’s best bakers churn out the freshest of freshest, most amazing baked good the world has ever seen.
No stale fruitcake here! We gorge on moist, sweet, spongy, rum-filled, powdered sugar magic merely disguised as bread.
Dresden is so belligerent in its pride for Stollen, it elects a Stollenmaedchen (stollen maiden) working at a bakery to promote this wondrous dessert and then cut it with a knife nearly her height.
To quench our stollen-laden thirst, we turn to Glühwein (see! Finally a wine review!)
Kelterei Elm, Hüttenfeuer Öko-Glühwein, red wine, sugar, spices. Germany. Organic €3.50 from our local, fairly communist, organic, cooperative, grocery store:
APPEARANCE: looks a hazy, med plus purple. AROMAS: smell clean, developed, and moderately of cinnamon, clove, orange, and black cherry. PALATE: feels very sweet, but also very acidic (this is cool climate Germany), with med minus alcohol 10% (ditto), medium body. FLAVORS: taste medium plus intense flavors of…well, it’s glühwein people, drink it hot with stollen. Very spicy and orange driven. Medium length. Good (3 of 5).
Next Monday’s post we visit Meissen and even some vineyards!
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Tagged August the Strong, dresden, Germany, Jagerhof, Meissen, Meissen Vineyard, Stollen, Stollen maedchen, Stollen maiden, Stollenmaedchen
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Say What? Teroldego Grape-Based Red Wine from De Vescovi Ulzbach
Today Wayward Wine goes to Italy: Noah’s Ark for native grape varietals. A nearly extinct grape grows almost exclusively in Trentino, a region where the Austro-Hungarian empire once summer-homed.
It is called, Teroldego. And no, this is not a Tarintino sequel to Django Unchained. But it hardly sounds Italian nor does it roll off my Anglo-Saxon tongue. Yet thanks to WWI and Woodrow Wilson, producers like today’s De Vescovi Ulzbach had to learn Italian.
Regardless, the Vescovi family has farmed this alpine bit since 1709, growing apples and grapes. They bottled briefly at last century’s turn but ended up had selling grapes to cooperatives thanks to a couple of world wars. Lucky for us, Giulio got a Viticulture and Enology degree at San Michele all’Adige and brought his estate vineyards back to life in 2003. Their 10 hectare estate only grows Teroldego.
The problem is that Teroldego grows like wild fire or teenagers. Most wines come from the rich valley of Piana Rotaliana. But Vescovi’s vines grow on the soil-stripped hills above: straining vines to produce only their best fruit.
Let’s see what their 2011 has to offer.
Appearance: looks clear but a dark, purple-tinged ruby akin to pomegranate juice. Lean legs.
Aromas: Tero smells like Merlot-driven St-Emilion, Bordeaux from a warm year. It has a medium plus intensity notes of ripe plum, blueberry, cassis, sprinkled with dried basil, vanilla powder, cocoa, and a black dried tobacco.
Palate: feels dry and austere up front, acidity feels medium and in place, medium tannins begin silken and turn grainy, alcohol feels warm but fine (13.5), the body is medium plus, the texture feels like fruit leather.
Flavors: taste akin to the aromas, but shift to something more serious. In addition to fruit, it tastes like the ripe skins of plum, cassis, and blueberry. At least at first. All that herb and tobacco dry things out.
De Vescovi Ulzbach’s Teroldego is a very good (4 of 5) wine with aspirations for greater things. At around $15 this is a great escape.
I wish there was less new oak action and modern methods. However, you could not mistake this for Napa Cab. This wine dips its fingers in modernity but has its feet planted in the past. Now if only I could pronounce what’s on the label…
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Tagged Alto Adige, De Vescovi Ulzbach, grapes, Italian wine, italy, Teroldego, travel, Trentino
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Sparkling Riesling in Dresden Zwinger Palace: EU Austerity Drinking Tour EU Austerity Drinking Tour:
152 days of travel have gained a sort of normalcy. We book a place. We pack. We train. We walk until our feet fall off, eat, visit museum/church/site/brewery/distillery/winery and then collapse. A few days later it begins again.
Today, we leave fabulous Prague and its beer for Dresden: which is in Germany: which makes wine, wine worthy again of writing about: unlike Prague’s wine, which was horrid.
The train ride takes us through fog shrouded forests, past villages, along snapping river bends.
The eclectic, Eastern feel of the Czech Republic fades into quaint yet orderly spa towns and clean roads.
We reach Dresden, realize that museums pack the city, and buy a 72 hour pass. They kindly keep our bags and we tour Zwinger Palace:
Each grand hall of the palace holds famed examples by famed artists. We fall into a guided tour of Rapheal’s Madonna and Child, charmed by it scale and simplicity. But the porcelain wing astounds us.
Grandma’s china cabinet never had life-sized tigers or statues of Alexander II in fired porcelain. Each piece presents a mind-boggling level of craft. We go on top of the patio along the arcade, sun setting, just as the porcelain bells chime. The Meissen factory becomes a must visit.
Overstimulated after fours hours in the museum we grab a snack/dinner at a Christmas market and then head to our Airbnb apartment. With keys and the place to ourselves, we head out for groceries.
We grab a stollen at our neighborhood bakery, thinking “since Dresden claims to have invented this fruitcake why not?” Little do we know our minds are about to be blown.
At our organic grocery we get potatoes and eggs for omelets, as well as a bottle of something rare stateside: Riesling, sparkling Riesling.
Now in theory, Germany’s cold climate and Rieslings retained high acidity just might match Champagne’s continental perfection of miserable weather and tart fruit, let’s see.
Kloster Eberbach, Riesling Brut, Hessen, Germany, 2010. €11.90 
Appearance: looks clear, medium minus lemon, with a mixed size but steady fizz.
Aromas: smell clean, with youthful and fascinating, moderate aromas of apricot, lime peel, violets, and slate.
Palate: feels off dry, but tidy and tart with medium plus acidity, mild alcohol 12.5%, and a small dancer’s lean body.
Flavors: taste of fresh ripe lime, apricot, slate, honey, and mint and last a medium plus length. Kloster Eberbach is very good fizz (4 of 5) and too complex for such a simple wine.
Check back next Monday as we explore more of Dresden, Germany’s fabulous wines, and visit Meissen (which has more than just pots).
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Tagged Brut, Champagne, dresden, Germany, Kloster Eberbach, riesling, Sparkling riesling, Sparkling wine, travel, wine
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Thirsty Thursday: Ravines, Dry Riesling Argetsinger Vineyard, Finger Lakes, New York 2011
A few Thirsty Thursdays ago I did something I promised myself never to do: join a wine club. New York’s steely wines rarely make it to the West Coast. So frustrated and fueled on nostalgia, I got my first shipment from Ravines and rather liked their Keuka Red Blend (see review).
Today, we open what the Finger Lakes do best: Riesling. But not just any Riesling, Ravines single Argetsinger vineyard from 2011.
Sam Argetsinger had worked tirelessly to resurrect his family vineyard above Seneca Lake since 1996. A former logger, former lit student, he learned viticulture from this plot. The Riesling from here was consistently New York’s most precise. I heard him talk a few years ago. Regrettably he died in December.
So a toast to Sam.
Dry Riesling, Argetsinger Vineyard, Finger Lakes, New York 2011
Oh, and we brought a gorgeous artichoke and two fabulous French mustards along for the ride.
Appearance: looks a pale, steely lemon, with a slight petillance and streamer-like legs.
Aromas: smell of pronounced, high quality rubber, petrol, wet slate, and a resounding lime peel. This wine have evolved far beyond fruit.
Palate: feels dry and taught, with relentless, drool inducing, high acidity, moderate alcohol 12.5%, a plump medium body, and a dualist sprite-like yet silken texture.
Flavors: front a laser guided, taste bud seeking missile of intense French lemon candy, super precise, eye-watering citrus, and that salt on a lime-rimmed margarita lip, followed by anise that lasts an astounding long length.
Ravines’ Argetsinger Vineyard Riesling is outstanding wine (5 of 5). It slakes the palate as we peel through the artichoke leaves like oysters. The tart chablis in each mustard rings in synchronicity with the Riesling’s high tones. This is bright, brilliant shining, aggressive but not angry: a perfect wake up after a long day. I would expect nothing less from Sam.
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Tagged Argetsinger, Finger Lakes, New York, ravines, riesling, Sam Argetsinger, Seneca Lake, wine, Winery
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