Riesling 101: a guided tasting for Germanic Studies enthusiasts

(image courtesy of University of Maryland)

Last Sunday, my good friend and holder of an M.A. in German, David D., hosted an introductory tasting of German rieslings for a former German professor, grad school classmate and their respective spouses. Like myself, David D. is relatively new to wine geekdom, though his enthusiasm for all things wine is both genuine and contagious. With some hearty appetizers and a delicious, large, caterer's size pan of Kaesespaetzle (egg noodles, melted swiss cheese and onions), we tasted and discussed the following rieslings:

2006 Bassermann-Jordan Probus Riesling Trocken (Pfalz)

Personal Notes - Very clean on the nose. Direct, yellow stone fruits on the palate are at first simple and primary. Upon further review, some mouthfuls reveal themselves to be a bit leesy and savory in a very slightly woodsy way. This will probably be at its best in 2-3 years.
Official notes - "The vines for the Basserman-Jordan Riesling are planted on the slopes of the Haardt mountains, the hills that form the western brim of hte Rhine valley. The slopes are southeast facing and contain a lot of sandstone in the soil."

2005 Weingut Burgerspital Wurzburger Stein Riesling Trocken (Franken)
Personal Notes - Fruit cocktail and ripe tangerine scents leap out of the glass. Very clean and persistent on the palate, with a fuller and more mineral tactile impression. This wine is quite Ital to me. Ital meaning Italianate and similar to the Alto Adige, Collio or Isonzo (not 'Ital' as in the preferred vegan diet of Rastafarians).
Official notes - Quite possibly the oldest wine estate in all of Germany, founded in 1319, there is just a bit of tradition and knowledge floating around. This Franconian estate produces some of the best dry wines of this dry wine region -pure, firmly acidic, built for aging and showing the mineral elegance that Wurzburger, and in particular Stein, are known for.

2006 Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay Kabinett (Rheingau)
Personal Notes - A bit shy and muted on the nose, the palate is uber fruity, a veritable fruit cocktail. Though it's a bit tutti fruity for my taste, the wine goes admirably well with the kaesespaetzle.
No official notes available....

1994 Hauth-Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese (Mosel)
Personal notes - My more Teutonically inclined readers may recall this wine from my Top 10 rieslings of 2007 post This one right here was the consensus WOTN. A nose of orange soda and peach, with much slate. On the palate there is an array of rich, complex, shifting flavors, of which tangy naval oranges and strong, but not overpowering, herbal aspects (marjoram?) started to assert themselves. One of my current favorites.
Official notes - This happens to be the cousin and neighbor of Martin Kerpen of Heribert Kerpen. This is an old style Mosel wine from a vintage not shy on acid.

2006 Schloss Saarstein Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner Auslese (Saar)
Personal notes - Pure, crystalline nose. Spiced poached pear flavors, that are somehow intense and powerful while retaining clarity and delicacy.
Official notes - The Saarstein estate owns the oldest vineyards in the village of Serrig. At the beginning of the 19th century they were bought by an industrialist whose descendants built the imposing Schloss (castle) above the vineyards around 1900. Dieter Ebert purchased the estate in 1956 and established the foundation for its successful development. Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of the husband-and-wife team, Schloss Saarstein now ranks among the leading producers of the Saar valley.

Thanks to everyone for attending and for indulging me and David, allowing each of us to get on our riesling soap boxes. Thanks to David for picking a great line-up and to Cecilia and David for hosting. It was fun and worthwhile for me, and hopefully for everyone else who learned what we in the business already know:

GERMAN RIESLING IS THE GREATEST WINE VALUE OF ALL TIMES! IF YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT BUYING ENOUGH GERMAN RIESLING, THEN YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT.

Now go buy some German rieslings, alright?

Coming Soon: Review of Boredoms at The Fillmore

I can say with much certainty that this was unlike any other concert I've attended (after all they should all be that way, right?) Highly unusual, avante noise rock. Innovative and enlightening, or self indulgent and overbearing? Stay tuned....

Bass Culture: Mad Prof at Mighty

I love dub reggae. Its bass-heavy, sparse, echo-laden arrangements, with various musical and sound effect tracks weaving in and out, insinuate their way into your consciousness and move you in ways that very few other genres of music can. At least it does that to me, anyway.

Mad Professor is one of the true masters of dub production, right up there with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Scientist, Dennis Bovell and Bullwackie. So you can imagine my excitement when a friend invited me to check him out live at Mighty in San Francisco. Big shout out to Chiara and Derek - thanks again for everything.

Mighty, located in Potrero Hill, is a medium sized gallery and club, which as partner Derek Hena mentioned to me, has invested seriously in its sound. And it shows. While I have seen and performed live music with some unbelievable sound systems, I have yet to experience a set of dub music run through such impressive, booming, chest vibrating, leg buzzing sound, all while maintaining great crispness, clarity and punchiness. If you are a musician or DJ and happen to be looking for a 500ish capacity venue in San Francisco that is serious about sound, then Mighty is definitely worth a look.

Back to the man that brought me to Mighty, Neil 'Mad Professor' Fraser. Best known for his 12 part 'Dub me Crazy' series of records, Mad Prof was in top form DJing live. Along with him was a toaster and hype man, who would occasionally stir up the crowd and throw in some toasting over the music. I would best describe Mad Professor's style as driving, mid to upper tempo and highly percussive, with some of the most unusual sound effects I have heard in dub thrown in for good measure. In between songs, or sometimes alternate versions of songs (the remix, by the way, is essentially a Jamaican concept derived from different artists' takes, or 'versions' of classic hits), Mad Professor would introduce a song with a brief anecdote, a quick check-up on the crowd, or a plug for his record label, Ariwa. All delivered in a heavily processed alien sounding voice. Awesome. My favorite aspect of the set was that Mad Professor was not just merely spinning records and punching effects buttons, but essentially mixing, dubbing and arranging on the spot, as he was able to isolate each channel and mix or add effects to the various instruments as he saw fit. It's an art that requires a high level of coordination, and above all a great ear.

I left Mighty feeling like I had satisfied my long lingering primal urge for taking in some top notch dub music, as conveyed by a legendary practitioner of the 1's and 2's.

MAD PROFESSOR LIVE @ GALA HALA

Last night I went to check out Mad Prof, and the performance was very, very solid. Energy level high, the Professor in top form, and the bass, prodigious. I'll describe the show in more detail in an upcoming post.

Heather B. - All Glocks Down

Heather B!! Remember her on the real world, first season? Speaking of hip-hop luminaries, writer Kevin Powell was also a cast member.

Heather hard....

Two from Contino

Well, I promised a comprehensive CVNE, Vina Real, Contino post, but fate would not allow it as the notes are spread amongst two different tasting books, one of which is currently residing in Rockridge, where my tasting group recently met to taste through some wines, double blind (look for that post very soon). So, for now, two notes on some pretty amazing wines from the famed Rioja estate, Contino.

Contino Rioja Gran Reserva 1996

For the detail oriented, this cepaje is composed of 85% tempranillo, 5% Mazuelo, 10% Graciano. Fermented in stainless, with a 15-20 day maceration, followed by 2.5 years in a mixture of French and American oak barrels. After 2.5 years aging in bottle, the wine is released to market. Mineral, dried cherry, spice, and everything nice that you would want in a Gran Reserva Rioja of this caliber, from such a well regarded vintage. There is great acidity and structure in this wine, and though it's tasty now it should continue to develop for a number of years.

Contino Rioja Graciano 2001

While this is decidely more modern, aged in barrique (new American and, per the website, 'semi-nueva' French oak), the wine nonetheless is impresionante. Bright, bursting purple fruits show in this single vineyard Graciano. It's intenser than a muv, with great acidity and length. Tight, though, and has a lot more to show. I'd love to see the wine in a decade. Only 3,034 bottles were produced - for between $130-$150 a bottle (I'm guessing based off the wholesale price) this wine could be yours.

Husker Du - Pink Turns To Blue

I started listening to Husker Du five or so years after this performance, so around '92. As I recall I was reading an article about Sugar, which of course mentioned the importance of Husker Du in the development of alternative rock. Since I was then around 13 and had an older brother feeding me a steady stream of cool music, I was excited to have made my own little discovery. First I bought Warehouse: Songs and Stories, an oft dismissed, poppy major label effort that I still maintain is underrated. Then I got a Rhino Records re-release of the Everything Falls Apart EP, which also included a few assorted singles and B-sides. Then I finally bought Zen Arcade, which to this day sounds as fresh, innovative and inspired as it did when it was released 24 years ago. Pink Turns to Blue is one of the tracks on Zen Arcade, which ranks amongst my favorite all-time records.