bone dry riesling

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Our latest installment on The Daily Meal. We (mainly me, Stephanie) write a bi-monthly piece called “Diary of a Start-Up Winemaker.” What we(well, I)’ve written to date are HERE.

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We’ve only been “in business” for just under a year, and are working on finding like-minded wine adventurers who appreciate wine like ours, as well as our endeavor. It’s a crowded, crazy market these days, as you all know, but we’re slowly reaching some of you individuals who dare to step off the well-worn route, or should I say, you’re discovering us, as true adventurers are apt to do.

Carl found us through Scott’s parents, out in Missouri. He was so interested in The Grande Dalles that he purchased six bottles of our inaugural wines: two ’09 Leroy’s Finest, our bone-dry Riesling; two ’08 Gampo, our sangiovese blend; and two ’08 Home Place, our tempranillo blend, just like that. Since his order, we’ve exchanged a few chit-chat messages, so imagine our surprise, when he told us he’d be out in the Pacific Northwest (a rare visit, he said) and wanted to meet! Our first fan from afar wanting to come and learn more! We were thrilled.

So off Sam and I went — Scott had to stay in Portland, holding down his day job that keeps this dream alive — to meet Carl.

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At least that’s what we’d like to think it was, The Grande Dalles’ Inaugural Release Party at the James John Cafe. People came, people stayed, no-one tasted our wines and then nervously hustled out, and no-one was spitting, except Scott, who had been “tasting” all afternoon/eve.

First on our tasting list was Leroy’s Finest, our riesling; which many people first declined, imagining it to be sweet, until we told them it was bone-dry. And weren’t they pleasantly surprised by it! Many imagined how Leroy’s Finest would do with oysters and seafood (excellent, of course -just ask David Rosengarten!). Moving along to our reds, there were camps that preferred one over the other, but we expected that. Both have their own qualities and flavours, Home Place maybe more robust, Gampo not so much, but critic/journalist feedback reinforced the wines’ integrity: structured, well-made, fine wines. And with the food that evening: roasted pig and some good home fixins to go with it, everyone seemed to be rather happy.

A big THANK YOU goes out to Joe and Lana: Joe was our pourer, and Lana, his wife, got rounded up for the “Welcome” table. And of course a big THANK YOU to everyone else, for making the event a lively time, and for all the kind words and sales (!). Your support is absolutely priceless.

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I tasted our wines with probably the most pedigreed sommelier in Portland the other day. As usual we started off with ’09 Leroy’s Finest and the first comment was “Bone dry? Why would you make it bone dry? Don’t you know that riesling should have some residual sugar (RS)?….” He went on to lecture me on the virtues of RS and how I should change what I’m doing to make a wine with broader appeal and more flexibility with food. Now, I’m quite familiar with off-dry or semi-sweet riesling paired with spicy food, but to say a dry white wine somehow is less food-friendly than one with RS is frankly just stupid. The problem is he had a preconceived notion of what riesling should be, and Leroy’s Finest was unexpected and therefore wasn’t “right.” And he even said, “This doesn’t taste like riesling from the Northwest, it tastes French or Austrian.”

Then came ’08 Gampo and ’08 Home Place. He liked the wines a lot, but thought they were too young, too structured, too much tannin. “Bring them back in 3-4 years.” He went on to say that if we were known like a few of the original famous Napa wineries making similar style wines (i.e., not fat and not jammy) then he could sell them. But not from someone new and not wines that don’t taste like they came from the NW.
As a side note, one of the most celebrated chefs in Portland tasted and loved Gampo and Home Place. He conceded,“There are some tannins there, but nothing that a little fat and protein won’t take care of.” He got it, but was trumped by his wine buyer who said pretty much the same thing as the “pedigreed sommelier.”

People talk a lot of talk about wanting new and exiting things, but when it comes right down to it, people want what they’re used to. The expected is comforting and it reassures us in our assessment of the world. Our wines are the unexpected and may cause one to rethink things.

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Before Summer gets away from me and it’s too late, I want to share a few recipes from Saveur’s First Annual Summer BBQ, eats we imagined when sampling them out on Chelsea Pier last month in New York that would pair wondrously with our wines. So no, we have not actually had this food with our wine, not yet. Why not, you ask? Well, it’s not like we could bust out our bottles at the fête (although I had considered the idea, some guerilla marketing, but then someone suggested it might be, well, tacky), and really, we gotta sell our wine, not just sit around drinking it – although we HOPE those days will soon be here.

Back to this recipe – the whole Saveur event showcased some of the best chefs from across the country, this one from four-star Italian restaurant chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago. We’d want to drink our bone dry Leroy’s Finest Riesling with it.

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It’s up to you, New York. Well, it is and it isn’t. It’s obviously up to our wine, but after the trip we just returned from, and all the positive feedback we had from the critics, editors and journalists we met with, you just never know.

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