Riesling from Maximin Grunhaus

One cool summer day of San Francisco (it's cool in summer in SF!), I had a chance to try 2016 vintage German Riesling.

I like Riesling. Some people say they don't like Riesling because it's sweet, and every time I hear that, I protest that not all Riesling wines are sweet and even if it's sweet, it's good, decent, enjoyable sweetness as long as the wine is made well.

Maximin Grunhaus, the producer from Ruwer, was this tasting's my favorite.
Ruwer is a small district in Mosel (formerly known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer), one of Germany's 13 delimited wine-growing regions. This cool region in general produces lighter style of wine.

Maximin Grunhaus owns three vineyards on south-facing slope by the Ruwer river. This estate, including the vineyards, had belonged to a monastery St. Maximin for long time until it was confiscated by Napoleon.
Most of wines produced from here are Riesling.

I love the classic design of German wine label

Maximin Grunhaus Monopole Estate 2016
Refreshing citrus and citrus zest. Sweet aromas of white flower.

Maximin Grunhaus Herrenberg Kabinett 2016
Beautiful aromas of honey suckle and ripe stone fruit.
Hint of smokiness.

Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Spatlese 2016
Mikan (sweet and somehow rustic Japanese orange) and other citrus flavor.
Intense aromas of tropical fruits like guava or papaya.
Really good wine.

There was slight sweetness of residual sugar, but it was well balanced with acidity and quite pleasant.

Once & Future Tasting

Tasting of Once & Future with Joel Peterson at Solano Cellars.

Joel Peterson is the founder / wine maker of Ravenswood Winery of Sonoma.
Ravenswood is especially known for its high quality single vineyard old vine Zinfandel which helped to promote serious red Zinfandel in California (sweet white Zinfandel was more popular back then).
As winery grew bigger, it needed to make high volume wine to keep the sizable business going.
This wasn't what Peterson wanted to do as a wine maker.
He sold Ravenswood and started over again.

Once & Future is a small-lot winery where Peterson makes wine in the way he envisioned when he took first step in wine making decades ago: old world style with Californian twist.

Mr. Joel Peterson and his wine

Oakley Rd Vineyard Mataro Contra Costa 2016
Mataro is the another name for Mourvedre.
Vines were planted in 1800 and dry farmed.
Plum, strawberry and tobacco.Tannin is soft.
Mourvedre is the grape with high tannin and its varietal wine is usually very harsh when young. Probably because of sandy soil, this wine is very smooth and easy to drink.

Forcini Vineyard Zinfandel Russian River Valley 2016
Forcini vineyard is in warmer part of Russian River Valley AVA.
Ripe and juicy. Savoriness of cheese.
Texture is soft.

Bedrock Vineyard Zinfandel Sonoma Valley 2016
Wine is made with grapes from 128 year old vines.
Floral and ripe fruit. Nut, coffee and velvety texture.

Teldeschi vineyard Zinfandel Dry Creek 2016
According to Peterson, Teldeschi might be the best vineyard site for Zinfandel.
Strawberry, cherry and tobacco.
Jammy with freshness of mint.

Palisades Petite Sirah Napa Valley 2015
Black cherry, plum and inky.
Big wine with firm tannin.

We were the first ones to arrive at this tasting event, but soon the place was filled with an enthusiastic crowd.
Among them were Peterson's long time friends and his initial investors from when he started the first winery.

His own success once prevented him from making wine the way he wanted.
He put storybook success behind and re-started business where he could be true to himself.

This sounds quite risky and scary to a timid (and lazy) person like me, but looking at him pouring great wines to people who have believed in him throughout his career, I started to feel that life should be lived this way (when I'm born again...).

Pickling Nasturtium

I probably have a condition called "super taster".
It sounds cool but it is not, actually.
I taste bitterness, sourness or spiciness more than other people therefore can't eat food with strong flavors.

Pickling vegetables is fun. It's amazing to see the vegetable changes its shape, flavor and longevity with the simple process of pickling: however, I can't really eat them because they are usually too salty for me.
Nanohana-zuke is a pickled edible flower (rapeseed) which was one of few pickles I liked when I was a kid. I don't know why I liked... maybe those were not too salty or the idea of eating flower?

I wanted to make them but couldn't find the flower here, but there is one edible flower in my garden: nasturtium.

I decided to make pickles with this flower.

Boil water, throw flowers into boiling water and cook for a short amount of time, less than 10 seconds.
Drain and squeeze water from the flowers.
Add salt and diced chili pepper, mix and let them rest overnight.

It didn't taste like Nanohana zuke, of course, but this tastes good in its own way!

JC was somehow inspired by this new pickles and made a pasta dish.

Pasta with mushroom and truffle oil with nasturtium garnish.
The saltiness of nasturtium cut the greasiness of the truffle oil.
The wine for this pasta was Francois Chidaine Touraine Rouge 2017

A red blend of  Cot, Cabernet Franc, Pineau d'Aunis.
Purple flower and fresh red fruit.
Powdery tannin and good amount of acid for the dish.

This Loire Valley producer is known for white wine, but this red blend was really good.
It might not last long once it's opened, but no problem: it's so tasty and easy to drink that you will finish the bottle before long.