Mosel is one of Germany’s most noted regions for riesling, and it’s worth bearing in mind it tends to be huge.  Rieslings from this region of Germany can range from austere, mineraly, and dryly engaging to fruity, sweet, and mouth coatingly round.  While there is some Germany terminology that can help with this, it’s generally limited to trocken and halbtrocken, or dry, and sort of dry.  Unfortunately sweet doesn’t fall into this pattern, so that is generally guess work unless you look up a whole new set of German words.  All of this of course can get in the way of enjoying the wine, so is 2010 St. Gabriel Riesling enjoyable, or just austere?

Sight:  It’s a very clear wine, with only a slight hint of gold to it.

Smell:  Wet stones and yeast abound, with touches of salt, lime, and green apple.  It’s an amazingly dry and sort of spicy smell.

Sip:  The sip changes the dry smell into a light but sweet taste.  There’s a strongly minerally flavor running through the background, almost like the taste of a river in the background (cough, terroir), but it sits behind unripe apricots, fresh picked in season apples, and a wink of gooseberry.  This wine has a good balance between crisp and sweet. [A.B.V. 9.5%]

Savor:  It doesn’t seem as though it’s going to have a strong aftertaste, but then, it starts kind of sneaky in the back of the pallet with a bit of apricot, and it gradually builds getting a little melony with hints of apple skin.

Overall, this is a delicious German riesling.  The fun part about Germany riesling is that it’s so hard to go wrong.  Sure the cost is a little higher, and sometimes you buy dry when you wanted sweet, but even when you got it wrong, the German’s get it right.  If you haven’t had a German riesling, this is a nice place to start.

Verdict:  Das Good
Price: $8.99
Mosel, Germany