Covey Run Dry Riesling Vintage: 2005 Purchased: Apr 12th 2007 Price: $5.99 Purchase Location: Safeway Categories: Riesling - Washington - White

Tasting Notes:

I decided to make coq au riesling for Sunday dinner. Since I've read that it doesn't matter all that much the quality of the wine you cook with (as long as it isn't 'cooking wine'), I needed a cheap bottle of riesling to use. Luckily I live in Washington were we have at least 5 or 6 kinds of riesling for under $8. I picked up this one because I'd never tried it before and for the fact that it was dry. I figured the off dry riesling might sweeten the dish too much.

This also gave me the opportunity to compare this to the wine we would be drinking with dinner, a more expensive Rene Barth riesling from Alsace. The Covey Run was lighter in color. This was probably due to it's younger age. The nose of the two wines was very similar: green apple (faint), lemon zest, and honeysuckle. The Covey Run wine was much more muted in its honeysuckle aroma though. On the palate, there was a burst of citrus and a racing acidity. Not a lot of sugar here at all. It did really seem dry. It was great to drink, but seemed to fall apart on the finish. It wasn't bad, it just didn't leave you with much to think about. And for less than $6 can you really complain. If you need a simple white wine for a weekday meal you can't go wrong with this. I'd also be curious to see if it became more complex if it was allowed to age for another year as the Rene Barth had.


Comments(0)

Ste Chapelle Riesling Vintage: 2005 Purchased: Feb 8th 2007 Price: $5.99 Purchase Location: Safeway Categories: Idaho - Riesling - White

Tasting Notes:

I bought this because it was cheap and I'd never had it before. I need a whole bottle of riesling to poach pears in for my Valentines day dessert. Both this and the Chateau Ste Michelle were the same price, and I'd never tried this before so I picked it up.

I only tasted a small bit, since I needed the whole bottle for the dessert. I wouldn't say it was bad, just not exactly my style. It had ripe peach and apricot flavors. I didn't detect any mineral or spice flavors at all. It also was fairly sweet, at least 2% residual sugar. I didn't feel like their was enough acidity to balance all that sugar.

If you get a chance try the dry riesling that they make. I much prefer it to this one. It's about the same price and much more interesting.


Comments(0)