2008 Muddy Water “Dry Rielsing”

Waipara, New Zealand

$4 Berkeley

I was very excited when I read the story on the back label of this wine.  I had never tried a New Zealand Riesling and it sounded like the people behind the wine were fanatical perfectionists, and maybe they are.  But from this example, at least, they have more work to do.

There’s initially yellow apple and gentle pear, but the main thing is the slightly viscous lemon candy acid that follows.  If there’s green apple in this Riesling (see Schild Riesling comments), it’s even unripe green apple — yes, that strong and tart.  So, this is better than the last high-acid white wine I reviewed, but I won’t get any  more of it.

Nevertheless, the evening was fine because I used a quarter of the bottle to simmer some pork rib meat (after slicing and browning it) with ground fennel seed, ground coriander, tarragon, thyme, and white pepper (lemon grass would have been nice).  It was delicious, and fairly fatty, so the rest of the wine was a nice accompaniment.  As I’ve seen often commented in wine reviews, so much of how good a wine is depends on the company it has, food-wise and human-wise, what the occasion is, etc.  And, of course, the wine can improve those other components, too.  🙂