[Leica] Lika Drinka Leica - Rhine wine / Alsace

[robertbaron1 at gmail.com (Robert Baron)]

Thanks, Jean-Michel and Phillipe, for expanding this discussion and
shining the light on some wonderful wines.

In the seventies and eighties I drank a lot of German and Alsatian
wine and still have some of the really good ones in my cellar.  They
slipped off my radar for a while but I am beginning to re-investigate
them.  One of my favorite importers has a decent selection and some of
them even make their way into Oklahoma; see
http://kermitlynch.com/blog/2010/10/14/a-crusade-for-alsace-part-i/ .

Since I moved to a new computer last summer I delayed updating and
reinstalling my wine inventory software.  Because my memory is
receding faster than my stash of wine I guess it is time.

When I saw 'trocken' on the label my mind clicked to
'trockenbeerenauslese.  A real mental misfire.

To keep this on topic, I guess I'll have to try to find and scan my
slides and negatives from trips that included Alsace in the seventies
and eighties.....if that won't be too boring for the rest of the
group....

Thanks again,

--Bob



==On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Jean-Michel Mertz <j2m46 at hotmail.fr> 
wrote:
>
> Thank you, Philippe, for citing me! I can only agree with your comments on 
> Rhine wines and the specificity of "dry" riesling. Yes, we (we = wine 
> lovers of the Alsace winegrowing area, on the French side of the Rhine) 
> keep our "dry" riesling, pinot gris and gew?rtztraminer bottles much 
> longer than is generally assumed. You won't believe this, the oldest white 
> wine ever (Guinness Book of Records?) is kept since mediaeval times in the 
> cellar of the Strasbourg city hospital and it is ... about 600 years old. 
> Yes. And still drinkable, I've seen that wine, I've smelt it but I wasn't 
> allowed to drink even a small drop because that privilege is left to the 
> people who are in charge of preserving this treasure.Now, concerning what 
> we call here the "Rhine wines", that is, the ones grown on the German side 
> of the Rhine, we feel they are a bit too sweet to our taste, too easy to 
> drink, contrary to the "Alsace" ("les alsace" as "les bordeaux" or ?"les 
> bourgogne") whose main charactistic is the balance between acid / sugar 
> components and, I would add, between the mineral / flowery / fruity 
> aspects of such wines. Cf. Philippe.Try and taste a vendange tardive 
> (grapes harvested late in November or December - wines generally compared 
> to the better Sauternes) or better still a vendange tardive + s?lection de 
> grains nobles and you will see the world as a different place, where S&P's 
> ratings and similar irritating issues, will appear so much less important 
> than the utter pleasure of discovering the complexity of what's in your 
> glass - just one single glass, of course.Sorry, I'm being carried away, so 
> very far away from the Leitz world and reality!Jean-MichelNB. There are 
> wine shops in the US selling wines from Alsace. The producers exporting to 
> the US I can recommend are Trimbach and Beyer. There are many others, 
> though. Have a try! (to be served cool - with no ice!)
> ?> Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:33:19 +0100
>> From: philippe.amard at sfr.fr
>> To: lug at leica-users.org
>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Lika Drinka Leica - Bob
>>
>> Message du : 14/01/2012 00:05
>> De : "Robert Baron " <robertbaron1 at gmail.com>
>> A : "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Copie ? :
>> Sujet : Re: [Leica] Lika Drinka Leica
>>
>>
>> ==On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 3:06 PM, EPL ?wrote:
>> > Weingut Josef Leitz in Ruedesheim on the Rhine, in the Rheingau region, 
>> > is
>> > one of Germany's better wineries. Today in the hands of Johannes Leitz 
>> > but
>> > with origins back in the 18th century, the estate owns vines in several 
>> > of
>> > the best vineyards on the Ruedesheimer Berg, including Rottland and
>> > Schlossberg.
>> >
>> > The estate grows only Riesling grapes and specializes in late-harvest 
>> > white
>> > wines, including some which are intensely sweet, although the property 
>> > is
>> > also following the German trend towards dry wines too.
>> >
>> > The Leitz wines can sometimes be found at retail in the USA and the UK.
>> >
>> > There is apparently no connection to the Leitz family of Wetzlar. Most 
>> > of
>> > the remaining Wetzlar Leitz descendents moved to Canada some years ago.
>> >
>> > Emanuel
>> >
>> >
>>
>> The 'normal' price at the store in a suburb of Oklahoma City is
>> $18.99, which I don't consider particularly high for a good German
>> wine.
>>
>> The tasting notes posted on the bin said 'dry' but as it is identified
>> on the label as 'riesling trocken' I assume it has a sweetness
>> component.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Trocken means dry Bob.
>> Yet "dryness is a matter of local/personal taste; I consider most German 
>> "dry" wines as (way) too sweet, and good for the icecubes and sparkling 
>> water treatment :-
>> This might be due to the addition of plain sugar, or to over-ripeness of 
>> the grapes, depending on the producer. It fouls your taste just as Coke 
>> does. No structure, no details, no pleasure.
>>
>>
>> A "proper", "fair" Riesling should be a highly subtle balance between 
>> sugar (yet sweetness declines over time), ?acidity (the wine keeps longer 
>> then, up to 30 years contrary to common belief), and even sourness.
>> These three basic components give the wine its skeleton/backbone.
>> Then the place it was grown will bring in more fragances and tastes - 
>> minerality, flowers, etc.
>>
>>
>> I bet the expert on the list should be Jean Michel who's been cruising 
>> the Alsace region for years on, even if for other reasons.
>>
>>
>> In the meantime my tip is to buy them by the dozen and open one every two 
>> years, unless at some point you feel it will be to late, and decide to 
>> invite friends.
>>
>>
>> Happy tasting :-)
>> Philippe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --Bob
>>