Four Rieslings - a Long and Winding Road

The other night BrooklynLady and I went to dinner at Vinegar Hill House with Peter Liem and Dan Melia. We had a great time and I thought the place essentially lived up to the hype. Forgotten New York neighborhood, lovely decor, even if painstakingly mussed like a Williamsburg cool-cat's hair. Appetizers were fantastic, the rest of the food very good too, everyone was happy. And someone over there loves wine, because there are many enticing things on that list at fair prices.

While we were waiting for our table, and part of the way into our appetizers, we drank 2007 Romano Clelia Fiano di Avellino,"Colli di Lapio". Fiano is something that Levi Dalton has poured for me several times now, and he feels that it offers perhaps the best raw material of any white grape in Italy. This wine was so well made, and just delicious, vibrant and well balanced. And my last smokey sip was a ridiculously good match with grilled charred octopus. Our 1998 López de Heredia, Gran Riserva Tondonia Rosado showed beautifully too, and worked with everything on the table. Fleshy, oxidative, focused, pure, this wine is its own special thing and if you haven't yet had it, at about $25 retail it's just spiteful of you to continue not trying it. Especially now after a year or so since release - this wine has never shown better. We moved onto the 2007 Agnès et René Mosse Anjou Les Bonnes Blanches, and I'm just not a fan. I know that all the cool-cats love Mosse, and they are darlings of the natural wine scene, but for me the wines are hit or miss. This one showed a lot of volatility and simply wasn't very interesting, but it didn't matter - Opici "Chablis" couldn't have darkened our mood at that point.

Dinner with company like this is always great, but on this particular evening there was a nice little ancillary benefit. Dan arrived right from work, and his work is selling Mosel Wine Merchant Riesling. He schlepped 20 wines with him in a crumby red Toyota Tacoma (it might be in perfect condition for all I know, but in my mind's eye it's crumby) to Prune and TriBeCa Terroir and Blue Angel, and lots of traffic and other hassles later, he arrived at my house. He brought four great Rieslings with him for us to enjoy as apertifs, and then tired of the schlepping, Dan left the bottles with me. How cool is that?

These were all 2008's, all harvested at the Spätlese ripeness level, but they are all dry wines. Well, only two of them are technically trocken wines, but the other two drink as if they are dry wines. These are some of the top wines from each producer and it was quite a treat to enjoy them over the next few days. A few notes to follow, but since I have precious little experience with Riesling, my notes aren't all that interesting. What I can tell you, is that as a group, these wines have a common thread. They are remarkably pure, they are delicate and detailed, they have great intensity and length, and they are very much of the soil. They are great wines, and if they were Burgundies, they would cost upwards of $75. But they are dry German Rieslings, they typically require the hand sell, and none of them will run you more than $35 - honestly, a bargain.

2008 Peter Lauer Saar Ayler Kupp Riesling Fass 12 Unterstenbersch, $35, Mosel Wine Merchant. I suppose if I had to pick a favorite, this would be it. A bit of sponti natural yeast fermentation musk on the nose, deeply earthy and mineral too. Pure, vibrant, sweet fruit, a delicate springwater feel to the wine, but also intense and with great length. The thing that killed me about this wine is that is so intense and still is a wine of such finesse. Lauer is not using the typical German wine language, and the label says nothing about must weight at harvest or dryness level. Instead, Lauer describes the terroir, in this case at the bottom of a south-facing slope just west of the Saar river, from 50-year-old vines.

2008 Clemens Busch Vom Roten Schiefer, about $28, Mosel Wine Merchant. Vom Roten Schiefer means "from red slate," and Clemens Busch is also avoiding ripeness and dryness on the label, in favor of a statement about terroir. Again, amazing purity, a creamy sense to the wine, a bit doughy and spicy. I took a sip of this wine and then, rather unglamorously, had to go and change my older daughter's pull-up (a diaper for the mostly potty-trained to wear while sleeping, for you non parents out there). As I leaned over her on the changing table, amidst several other pungent aromas, she asked if I had been eating bread! The finish

is all herbs and rocks and bitter pits and the length honestly is rather startling. This wine is not yet available in the US, but it will be soon. A bit more about it here, from Lars at Mosel Wine Merchant.

2008 Stein St. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen Spätlese-trocken, $26, Mosel Wine Merchant. Perhaps the most delicate of the lot, this wine also showed the most overt fruit - lots of apricots. Very pure and fine, intensely mineral, and the creamy mid-palate merges with the very mineral finish that lasts forever and buzzes with some sort of herbal honey. Such a delicious wine.

2008 Knebel Winninger Röttgen Spätlese-trocken, $36, Mosel Wine Merchant. More muscular than the others, more concentration. Also a bit more fruit on the nose, with green melon, but still a wine of rocks and bread. Energy, depth, finesse, purity - I've said the same thing about each of these wines, but it's true of each. One more thing I can tell you - this wine had already been open for 48 hours when I mistakenly left about a glass in the bottle, same for the Stein wine, overnight and out of the fridge with no stopper. And the next day at 1 pm they both were excellent with our fluke lunch.

How to Buy Excellent Cheap Wine

Is it possible to drink great wine on a daily basis if you're not rich? I'm talking about wines that cost between $8 and $12 a bottle? I think it it is possible, yes. I've been thinking about this lately because my wine buying budget has been cut in the past year, but also because Eric Asimov has written about this several times, most recently pointing to Mike Steinbergers' article in Slate that discussed inexpensive wines he recently drank with mixed results.

I can (and will) name some cheap wines that I think are excellent wines. But before that, I want to explain my general approach to this problem.

First of all, I reject the notion that as a consumer I should forgive a wine for being inexpensive and expect little of it. Regardless of the price point, if I buy a wine I want it to be excellent. Sure, a liter of Hofer Zweigelt and a magnum of Barthod Chambolle Les Cras are excellent in different ways. But for me to buy the Hofer Zweigelt, its excellence must derive from the smell and taste of the wine, and from its expression of place, not from the mere fact that it is palatable and costs $10.

Secondly, I don't think $10 is a rational way to define cheap wine anymore. You know this already - the dollar, although stronger right now, has been weak against the Euro for years. European wines cost more now that they did 5 years ago. That great Beaujolais that sold for $12 in the 2002 vintage costs $17 now. For me the new cheap wine cutoff is something like $12 or $13. Buying a mixed case allows me to buy $14 or $15 wines and pay $12.60 or $13.50 for them, essentially eliminating NY State's drastic liquor taxes, and keeping my average bottle price in that $12-$13 range.

Thirdly, the best way to get excellent cheap wine is by choosing your retail store carefully, not by identifying the best individual wines and then buying them wherever you can find them. I don't want to buy a case of any one cheap wine - who wants to drink the same wine on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then again the following week? And I don't want to buy a bottle here and there and pay full retail. I'd rather buy a mixed case, enjoy a greater selection, and pay a little less.

So how do you buy great cheap wine in NYC? Here's how I've been doing it lately. I've been putting together mixed cases at one of my favorite retail shops, Chambers Street Wines. There are other stores I like that stock great wines at the $12-$13 price point, but so far I haven't found another store where I can buy 12 wines in different styles, all of them excellent. Chambers actually has many more than 12 - the wines below are only some of the goodies that you'll find there for $12-$13. Here are my favorites right now (prices are with the 10% mixed case discount):

Whites

2008 Benaza Monterrei Godello, $11.70, Jose Pastor Selections, Vinos & Gourmet Imports. Chris, the Spanish wine buyer at Chambers has been filling my ear about Galicia for a while now. "Galicia is the new frontier for inexpensive great wine," Galicia this, Galicia that. If this wine is representative of what the region has to offer, then I wholeheartedly agree. Use this wine wherever you would use Sauvignon Blanc, but instead of being annoyed at how mediocre your Sauvignon Blanc is, you'll be thrilled with this wine. Godello is the grape and this version is fresh, balanced, and just delicious. Grapefruit and pith, spring water, coriander? Once I forgot a half-drunk bottle in the fridge for 3 days, and it was even better, completely harmonious.

2007 Domaine des Pothiers Vin de Pays d'Urfé Fou de Chene, $12.60, Fruit of the Vines Imports. This is Chardonnay, technically from the Loire Department, but we're talking closer to Lyon and Burgundy than to Vouvray or Chinon. Perhaps not terroir specific in the sense that the wine would be identifiable as a Loire Valley wine, but that's okay in this case. It's not easy to find delicious, varietally correct, old school Chardonnay at this price. Here is one. Ripe lemony orchard fruit infused with minerals, well balanced and fresh. The finish is surprisingly long and stony.

2008 Knebel Mosel Riesling Trocken, $12.60, Mosel Wine Merchant, USA Imports. An expressive and unmistakably Mosel wine that treats you gently but also cuts like a knife. I've been drinking a lot of this wine lately and I love it every time. We did split pea soup - very good. Crab boil, not as much, as the wine is lean and got a bit lost amidst the Old Bay. Pork cutlets with mustard and kale - excellent.

2009 Weingut Hofer Grüner Veltliner Wienviertal, $10.80 (1 liter), Michael Skurnik Imports. This delicious Grüner is a bit simple on day 1, although it is well balanced and shows some of the lemongrass lift that is typical of the grape. On day 2 (get your own stopper, this is a crown cap) the wine shows more complexity and harmony, with herbal tones, more depth of fruit, and an intriguing sour cream like note on the finish.

2007 Laurent Barth Pinot Blanc, $12.60, Louis/Dressner Selections. This is the delicious Alsace Pinot Blanc I drank the other day with a Vacherin-style cheese. Such an expressive and delicious wine, focused and mineral driven.

2008 Michel Brégeon Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, $12.60, Kermit Lynch Imports. I really like the '08 Muscadets so far. This one is quite intense with citrus and creamy lees on the nose. The palate is piercing with minerals and acidity, but is approachable with lovely herbal and citrus flavors. Quintessentially Muscadet, we had it the other night with cornmeal crusted fried flounder and it was great.

NV Pedro Romero Manzanilla Sherry Aurora, $10.80 (500 ml), Frontier Wine Imports. This wine offers a combination of brisk salty tang and the rich vinosity of very old solera wines. It feels weightless but is quite intense, especially on days 2 and 3. I've yet to encounter the food that this wine doesn't compliment.

Reds

2009 Weingut Hofer Zweigelt, $10.80 (1 liter), Michael Skurnik Imports. I've gone through almost a case of this wine since November. Beaujolais starts at $15 now, and this wine, although most certainly not Beaujolais, fills the cheap Beaujolais role these days in my house. It has the texture and body of a well made Beaujolais, and like Beaujolais, I prefer this wine served cool. It shows smokey, medicinal, and herbal flavors. There is fruit in there too, black currants maybe, but this is not a fruit-driven wine. We've enjoyed it with mushroom omelets, with a spicy tofu dish, with turkey burgers, and all by its lonesome. You could have this wine with lighter fish dishes.

2008 Domaine Guion Bourgueil Cuvée Domaine, $9.90, Fruit of the Vines Imports. I've actually not had this vintage yet (my bottle waits for the right meal in the fridge), but I like this wine each year. This is slightly rustic Cabernet Franc. Typically everything you'd expect in a red wine from this place - pure ripe fruits, earth, mineral, raspy tannins that are easily tamed by whatever food you're eating.

2007 Château la Grolet "G" Côtes de Bourg, $12.60, Fruit of the Vines Imports. This wine is 90% Merlot from Bordeaux. I'm going to let that sink in for a moment. On a recent trip to San Diego my interest in Bordeaux was piqued, and if David Lillie says he has a couple of excellent and cheap Bordeaux wines, I'll try them. Honestly, this wine is great. Gravel, tobacco, damp soil, pure dark fruits. fresh and balanced, just delicious wine, and improves on the second day, becomes very harmonious. Not a light wine - think roasts or a steak or a burger, but not in any way overwhelming.

2008 Domaine Rimbert Saint-Chinian Les Travers de Marceau, $13.50, Jenny & François Selections. This is a blend of Mourvedre, Carignan, and Grenache from the western Languedoc. For a leathery and dark wine that sheds grains of soil with every sip, this wine manages to have great purity and poise. Think thinly slices dry sausages, or roast chicken with potatoes and mushrooms.

2008 Clos la Coutale Cahors, $13.50, Kermit Lynch Imports. I always enjoy this wine, a meaty Malbec with a bit of Merlot in the blend. It offers lovely fragrance and texture, and achieves an elegance that I find lacking in most Cahors. Of course it's great with beef, but there's something about the way it works with duck that really pushes my buttons.

An Evening with the People and the Wines of Mosel Wine Merchant

Lars Carlberg and Dan Melia, the two fine gentlemen of Mosel Wine Merchant, are in town this week with a few of the growers they represent. They hosted a dinner last night at Prune in the East Village, and I was lucky enough to attend.
I know so tremendously little about German Riesling that it simply wouldn't be proper for me to try to discuss the wines in a meaningful way - I have no context to share with you, nothing to say about them other than how delicious they are. And they are very delicious.

Instead, I can tell you a few things about Lars and Dan, and the work they're doing. Mosel WIne Merchant is not a large company. It's Lars and Dan - that's it. They're a couple of smart, well-educated, well-traveled, genuinely kind fellows who love wine, particularly Mosel Riesling. They could be doing many things that would probably be far more lucrative, but they run this little company together, bringing naturally made, small production Mosel Riesling to the US and other markets. They really believe in these wines, and it's easy to understand why after drinking them with dinner.

Lars grew up partly in Germany and partly in the US - he lives in Germany now and runs all of Mosel Wine Merchant's European operations. Dan managed Prune for 8 years and left to travel in Germany. He's completely fluent in German - "his German is better than mine now," says Lars. Dan is the guy who schleps the wines all over NYC and the rest of the country, making sure that we have the chance to buy them in retail shops.

Dan, left, and Lars, with 2007 Lauer Kern magnum.

I sat next to Mattias Knebel at dinner. As he poured the first of his wines, the absolutely delicious 2008 Mosel Riesling von den Terrassen trocken, $20, I told him how much I enjoy his most basic wine, the humble 2008 Mosel Riesling trocken, $14. Matthias turned to me and smiled and said "I love making that wine. It's from our estate grapes, spontaneous fermentation, I make it the same way I make all my wines. We make no money on it at all, but I love it." The $14 Riesling Trocken is excellent wine, absolutely of its place, and should be part of everyone's under $15 wine repertoire. But the von den Terrassen is a serious step up for a few dollars more, with an expansive nose of ripe fruit and rock, and an ultra-clean palate that continued to grow even as we finished the bottle. It was perfect with seared monkfish liver finished in lemon and soy.

Matthias Knebel

The 2007's were lovely and interesting wines, but might now be entering a shutdown phase. The 2008's were showing beautifully, ripe but controlled, pure and elegant, and with a great balance of fruit and mineral. I loved drinking Knebel's 2008 Röttgen trocken next to his 2008 Uhlen trocken, the more muscular and concentrated Röttgen working perfectly with marrow bones and rock salt, while the wipsy and graceful Uhlen was delicious with a Parmesan omelet. I don't know how much those wines cost, but I would eagerly welcome both of them into my cellar. They drink so well now that it seems a shame to age them for 20 years, which Lars assures me is a great thing to do with these wines.

Lauer's Rieslings were also delicious. They seemed to me to be more ethereal and less concentrated than Knebel's wines. There was a 2005 Lauer Kern with a mature and mellow nose that initially showed some peach and floral elements, but after 15 minutes in the glass, had morphed into liquid slate. There were two sparkling wines by Lauer that I thought were great. It's not often than inexpensive sparkling wines show textural finesse and elegance, and these wines were both wonderfully textured. The current release was lovely, with a good balance of fruit and mineral character, but the 1994 Sekt Reserve was for me, one of the wines of the night. Disgorged in December (although the label says March), it was fresh and lively. Changing constantly in the glass, it was about the bitterness of the pit and the saltiness of rocks, with this great lacy texture. I was sorry to see it go.

Lars, Dan, and the growers are in NYC this week sharing their wines and stories at places like Chambers Street Wines, Uva, and Crush. These are good people doing good things, and their wines taste great and are reasonably priced. If you can make it to one of these tastings, you really should.