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1996 Dry Riesling Reserve

(updated 3/8/00)

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The Wine

This is our second vintage of a cult wine made in very limited quantities, in the style of Alsace, largely for top-end restaurants or Dry Riesling freaks; a big wine with brilliant fruit and a weighty palate, the acidity is reverberating in intensity and is therefore amazing with food and a great ager; should last forever, unless you have a corkscrew; it continues the viscous, intense, Alsatian styled wines that our Pinot Gris Reserve starts; it is harvested late with a touch of botrytis and full ripeness, giving the most intense dry riesling we can make; concentrated and viscous on the palate, it is packed with spice, apple/pear/apricot fruit, and floral accents; vinified in small lots with a selection of yeasts, it is dry and bracing in acidity; only 200 cases made in this vineyard designated wine from our Corral Creek Vineyard; several comments from retailers/ restaurateurs like, "I don't think I've tasted a nicer domestic Riesling than the one you make, and I'm a BIG Riesling fan."

NOTES: THE RESERVE IS BOTTLED IN THE DISTINCTIVE EXTENDED NECK ANTIQUE GREEN HOCK BOTTLE USED FOR PINOT GRIS RESERVE. THE WINE IS DESIGNED FOR THE TABLE AND WILL APPEAL TO TRIMBACH AND ZIND HUMBRECHT LOVERS. MORE THAN THE PRICE TELLS YOU IT IS NOT YOUR $7 RIESLING. COMES FROM A 1.1 ACRE PLOT AT CORRAL CREEK, THE VINEYARD SURROUNDING THE WINERY.

Stats

Harvested 11/12/96 @20.0 brix, 9.5 g/l TA, 2.84 pH; fermented with a blend of 4 yeasts (S6U, 71B, 1116, 3079, 1118) in small stainless vessels; left on lees until bottling; sweetness balanced slightly with 1997 Riesling sweet reserve; cold stabilized, filtered and bottled 11/24/97 @ 0.69% residual sugar, 10.8 % alcohol, 8.6 g/l acid., 2.95 pH; under 200 cases made.

Quotes

on our 1995 DRY RIESLING RESERVE:

Oregon Whites, March 1, 2000 (Michael Franz): It is distressingly difficult to find good Riesling from America these days, since its fall from fashion has led many vintners to replant or graft their vines over to other, more commercially viable grapes. However, Riesling can produce wonderful wines in Oregon's cool climate, which permits the grapes to ripen slowly. This dry rendition is impressively concentrated and authoritatively flavored, but retains the noble purity and elegance of all fine Rieslings.

Wine Spectator: 85. Ripe and warm, with a delicate frame bordering pretty apple, spice and floral flavors. Ready now.

The Sunday Oregonian, January 25, 1998 (Heidi Yorkshire): When winemakers claim they've made a wine in the style of some celebrated European region, skepticism is usually in order. But Harry Peterson-Nedry isn't blowing smoke when he says this riesling was inspired by the legendary rieslings of Alsace.The reasons are many: bone-dry style, silky viscosity, bracing acidity and a bliss-inducing nose-combining peach, apricot and orange blossoms, hints of ginger, and the trademark Alsatian aromas of minerals and petrol. It's a terrific wine to serve with light, assertive foods, like pork roast, a grilled chicken caesar salad, raw oysters-practically anything except hunks of red meat. This is Chehalem's first dry riesling and first wine to be designated from Corral Creek Vineyards, which surrounds the winery.