July 2009 - Mixed Whites

The Fermented Femmes tend to prefer red wines, but as it was summer we decided to try something different and do whites. We discussed doing one type of white (pinot grigio or chardonnay), but the consensus was that we should do mixed whites. Each lady brought a different white wine, and each prepared a little information about the wine to present to the group. (This IS an educational group after all!)

My recollection is that we had Thai food for our meal. Thai food goes very well with some of the whites that we had -- especially Riesling. We also had some veggie sushi. The food was great, but the company was even better.

You will note that in some of my wine comments I wrote "Dad would like." I feel I have to explain this... My dad - the infamous Norm Latner - is a die-hard Manishewitz drinker. That's what he grew up on, and that's what he thinks wine should taste like (ie: sweet). Now to his credit, over the last few years he has moved from Manishewitz (which he still thinks is the Holy Grail of wine) to White Zinfandel (ugg!) to Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Reisling. Yes -- he's made some progress, but he's not quite ready for a Cabernet. Anyway, some of the wines that we had this evening I thought he would really enjoy.

Wines for the evening were:

• Pinot Grigio: Sortesele Santi della Venizi. Italy. 2007 - Bright, almost lemony. Dry. Clean tasting. 3.5 stars.
• Sauvignon Blanc: Forefathers. Marlboro, New Zealand. 2007 - Grassy smell, vegetable like. asparagus, dirt, interesting!!! Good with sushi. Buy this again. 4 stars
• Chardonnay - Landmark. California. 2005 - Very good, light, smooth, easy on the palate. 3.5 stars
• Riesling - Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben. Germany. 2007 - WOW! High acidity, no oak, smells like cold flowers, sweet but good. Yum! Dad (ie: Norm Latner) would like. Delicious!! 4+ stars
• Gewurztraminer - Valckenberg, 2006 - smells like lychee, tastes exotic, tropical, mildy sweet/dry. Dad (NL) would like. 3.5 stars.

My personal favorite was the Riesling. I've never EVER had one as good as that. It tasted almost like an ice wine, but not cloying. A really fine wine -- I wish it were less expensive.