Can a Skeptic Learn to Love Riesling? Trimbach Tasting

Hi, this is Nick and Chris here at SaratogaWine.com and I have the pleasure today of bringing a wine that Chris usually avoids. This is kind of fun. The grape variety, Riesling. Of course. Yep, yep. Now, in all fairness, usually you don't have an affinity for German Riesling. We're in Alsace today. That is correct. Let me first say to all my German Riesling friends and makers and everything, I get it. I get why it's great. There's that petrol note, I just don't care for. And I love it. He loves it. I'm going to throw our owner, Matt, under the bus here a little bit, who says he doesn't like Sangiovese. So who's the bigger problem here? I don't think it's this guy. But yes, I don't normally care for Riesling writ large. But as we say, Riesling is one of the noble grape variety. Absolutely. It's been growing for thousands of years now at this point, right? Yep, yep. For a very, very long time in Germany. And then kind of the Alsace region has straddled both German control and French control and then back and forth several times over the centuries. Right now it's still in France. So that's good. But this is an area known for their white wines, especially. Oh, sure. And this is a legendary producer that I know. I've had their Pinot Blanc a million times. I've never had the Closet Hume, which I would love to. Yeah, me too. But it's important to note all of the wines in Alsace are dry, bone dry Riesling, right? Riesling is actually one of the versatile grape varieties to be grown and produced. You can make very dry up to very sweet. So it really has that huge spectrum to it, which is important to know. So many people associate Riesling with just super sweet, sweet, simple wines. Again, apologies to Germany. It's a little less petrol. And so it's not like I dislike all Riesling, but I just in general, it's not my favorite. I just don't know that you've had it with like the the traditional German pork sausage and all the good stuff that makes it so amazing. But that's OK. I can be converted. Let's go. We can be on opposite sides at this point. Anybody in the Mosel wants to invite us out there for dinner. I'm down. To change your mind. Anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand. This is Trimbach. This is Frederick Emil, which is one of their amazing bottlings. For a little context here, Trimbach family goes back to 1626, you know, in the Alsace region. So clearly they have a firm grasp on how to make wine. You know, they've been making this since the 1960s as an homage to one of the founders of the, you know, the Trimbach states way, way back in the day. This is actually a single plot that straddles two different Grand Cru vineyards. Yep. And they're all old, old bunks. Now you do get that petrol note, but it's kind of balanced out. You know, there's a fair amount of, you know, citrus quality to it. There's a real great kind of green apple thing coming through, some white flowers. I mean, it's very, very complex and much to me, much different in the mouth. Like the petrol note is almost non-existent. It reminds me of pineapple lifesavers that pack with the tropical flavor pack. You know, mostly savory, a touch of sweetness. It's not sweet, but it's fruit forward in the mouth that really did, you know, I didn't really get on the nose. My goodness, that is great. Like a grilled white asparagus would be really awesome with that. But I'm thinking like cheeses with honey would be really awesome with this too. I can see this with charcuterie though too. Yeah. Oh yeah. Salami. I mean, the meats are a classic pairing, right? Yeah. This is, I mean, this is amazing bottling. Very complex here. It's certainly premium tier Riesling at its finest. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. Yeah. Not inexpensive, but I will respectfully say worth every penny. This is absolutely kind of one of the finest examples of Riesling that is out there. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. Plenty of acid in there. Wow. And then the food will take care of that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what makes them so great with food. Again, Trimbach here. Amazing classic producer. They've been there literally for 400 years now. Yeah. Literally 400 years. Let's do the math. 1626. This is the 400th year. So, you know, they know what they're doing. Bone dry, classic styles of Riesling. They have amazing single vineyard Grand Cru bottlings as well. Check them out. Trimbach, Riesling. This is Frederick Emil. This particular bottling is a 2019, which I believe is their current release because it's these extended bottle aging in their cellars before they released it. So, yeah. Awesome. I'm almost converted. I'm working on them. Cheers.