Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Hallcrest Estate Riesling Santa Cruz Mountains 1997

As many of you may know, Hallcrest is the winery in Santa Cruz that I used to work for, and the wines there rock, and I'm not the only one who thinks so.  I no longer have any of this in my cellar, we had a good run, but I opened the last bottle for my great friend Jon Giuliano during his going away dinner last month, miss you buddy but you are going to kill it at Georgetown.
The story about this wine is unique.  The estate was originally planted in 1941, so the vines were 56 years old.  In 1997 though, John Schumacher the owner/winemaker and good friend of mine, Pierce's Disease was discovered in the vineyard.  Tis is the glassy winged sharpshooter disease to be broad.  The vines were abandonned and left for the vintage.  Then along came harvest time, and John decided to hand harvest clusters of the riesling and see what would become of it.  About 10 years later he released his 63 cases, that's right only 63 cases (that's 3 barrels people), into the tasting room and it sold out in about 3 months.  I may have had a big part in pushing it along, but who is to say.

Visually this wine is spot on for an old riesling, daybright and clear with a yellowish/golden color and a medium plus concentration.  Some sediment from bottle age with low tear viscosity and a very noticable rim variation.
This is not an amateur wine to say the least, if you like fruit bombs then this will be VERY different for you.  The wine is very classic for qualities of older Old-World Rieslings (Germany, Alsace, Austria).  Very pronounced off fruit aromas of petrol-rubber-pencil lead qualities, backed by spiced apple cider and white pear fruit.  The wine is clean, but it may not seem like it, and a wonderful potpouri spicyness lingers on the nose.
The palate of this wine is Dry, with a hint of residual sugar (Kabinett style from Germany).  Medium bodied with a medium level of acidity still, the fruit is confirmed but moves more towards the forefront.  All of the off fruit cahracteristics are confirmed but support the body of this wine behind the fruit.  The wine has a moderate finish with a wonderful balance of flavors preserved.

Enjoy this on its own, or with Spicy Shellfish or Thai food.  Cheers!

Sorry but no picture today
http://www.hallcrestvineyards.com/index.php

No comments:

Post a Comment