Tasting - Karl-Josef Piesporter Michelsberg

Name: Karl-Josef Piesporter Michelsberg

Variety: 100% Riesling

Region of Origin: Mosel River Valley

Country of Origin: Germany

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: ~$11

Winery Review: Juicy lime and gooseberry notes abound in this very fruity, easy-drinking kabinett. Off-dry and blossomy in style, it's a bold, primary sip with just a hint of salty minerality on the finish for elegance.

Wine Folly: An aromatic white variety that can produce white wines ranging in style from bone-dry to very sweet. Germany is the world’s most important producer of Riesling.

Off-dry Riesling wines make a great pairing to spicy Indian and Asian cuisines and do excellently alongside duck, pork, bacon, shrimp, and crab. 

My Review: The wine smells bright and quite similar to apple juice. When tasting it the same apple juice flavor comes out. It is a dryer wine as the moisture is sucked from my mouth when a sip is taken. I get a slight beeswax smell and taste also. There was a slight lime aftertaste which was pleasant when paired with the others. The wine was nice and acidic with my mouth watering after having a sip. This was paired with shrimp scampi and it accentuated the salty taste of it quite well and worked well with the shrimp, helping mellow out the seafood taste of the shrimp. I liked this wine with it being slightly and I would try this wine again especially paired with food.

I tasted this on its own and paired it with shrimp scampi.

Tasting - Chateau Ste. Michelle

Name: Chateau Ste. Michelle

Variety: 91% Riesling, 9% Muscat 

Region of Origin: Columbia Valley, WA

Country of Origin: USA

Vintage Year: 2021

Price: ~$11

Winery Review: Our Harvest Select Riesling is made in a slightly sweeter style than our Columbia Valley Riesling but still shows the classic Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling's character. It offers rich flavors of ripe peaches balanced with crisp Washington Riesling acidity. It’s like a bowl of fruit in a glass!

Wine Folly: Pg. 370 An aromatic white variety that can produce white wines ranging in style from bone-dry to very sweet. Germany is the world’s most important producer of Riesling.

Off-dry Riesling wines make a great pairing to spicy Indian and Asian cuisines and do excellently alongside duck, pork, bacon, shrimp, and crab. 

My Review: The wine smells bright and quite similar to apple juice. When tasting it the same apple juice flavor comes out and it is definitely a sweet wine. It is sweet but it isn't overly sickly sweet. I get a small aftertaste of petroleum at the end. I don't really get much of the lime or beeswax but those could have been mixed with the other green apple or petroleum flavor. The wine was nice and acidic with my mouth watering after having a sip. I liked this wine with its bright apple juice-like taste and I would try this wine again.

I tasted this on its own and not paired with food.

My Experience with Wine

My name is Calvin. I myself personally grew up with a family that preferred beer, so the most experience I have is with beer. I haven't had much experience with wine in my life until I reached university. Most of the wines I've had then were mainly sweeter wines (which were mainly white wines) just by themselves as I didn't have a liking for drinks that weren't sweet till recently. Those were the most I've had normally and maybe one or two red wines at wedding dinners though I didn't like them at the time because they tasted very bitter to me. 

I personally now like wines that are dry and a little bitter after having additional experience with many different types of beers. This has introduced me to many different types of wines and I've picked up a preference for dry wines. I personally like Rieslings especially with a nice dinner due to that being one of the wines I've had staying in Germany for the first time and one wine I actually enjoyed Apart from that, I don't have a large amount of experience with other wines apart from the sweeter white wines like Moscato.

I hope that in this class. I find more wines that I can enjoy regularly as I only have one type currently along with that I hope I can be the one that can introduce wine to my family gatherings. I additionally hope that I can understand the labels on the wine bottles and be able to talk the talk about wines, when at any dinner or family gathering.

~Cheers!!!