December 31, 2009

Stonechurch 2006 Dry Riesling

Found December 2009

In my New Year's write up I mentioned three wines that we had that were very good and a number (without names) that were not up to snuff or, most likely, not what most people wanted to drink ... but this one took the cake. I know I said I would protect the names of the innocent but this is not an innocent wine, this was just plain and simple sloppy wine making, a bad marketing decision, or both. This Dry Riesling from Stonechurch was a "pre-release" wine, in fact the label had been handwritten on with a silver Sharpie marker. Over time I had noticed a little sediment in the bottle, odd for a Riesling, when I asked at the winery about it they said that was because it was a pre-release and they may not have filtered it as finely as they normally would. This should have tipped me off that something was wrong with this wine, but I wanted to believe, and I know I liked the wine when I tasted it at the winery. Tonight, I opened it and the cork made a bigger pop than the Champagne I opened later in the evening. The wine, when poured into the glass, fizzed and bubbled more than a can of warm coke and the taste, ick. The wine had re-fermented in the bottle and had transformed into an undrinkable sparkling wine, where once a still wine should have been ... no wonder the next few wines didn't go over well, most were still remembering this Riesling disaster. Turns out I still have a bottle left, this will be good for clearing clogged drains and cleaning the toilet. Lost & Found Rating: Trash

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