Fielding 2005 Reserve Riesling

Click here to read the original review from August 2007

(Re-Tasted December 2012) ... August 2007 doesn't seem that far away to me, not sure why, but in truth it was over 5 years ago that I tried this wine, loved it then - was pleasantly surprised by it now.  Most of the 2005 Rieslings I have tried years later have been loaded with petrol - as if I were drinking them right next to the autobahn - this was and is because 2005 was a hot year and the Riesling grape does not like weather like that.  So when I opened this bottle I was expecting lots of gas ... and the truth of the matter is that it did have plenty of petrol notes, but they were just that, notes, hints if you will, it is what carried the nose but the palate was much different.  Palate was lightly petrol-ed with a whack of green apple on the mid-palate.  There was also a lovely hint of sweetness on the lingering finish and the more you tasted the wine it seemed that delicious apple and pear puree emerge from the light smear of petrol that coated everything.  The petrol note did continue on the nose but it diminished with some time while the palate seemed to get sweeter with delicious apple dominating more than any other flavour.  Very impressive and very delicious.  Not sure I would hold this much longer but it might have a few more years left in it.

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13th Street 2004 Riesling

Found December 2012

Not sure how a bottle of 13th Street Riesling got lost in the cellar, let alone a bottle of 2004, but it did and now I find myself popping the cork on a snowy Saturday in late December.  Not exactly the wine you would associate with pizza for dinner - but as it turns out the wine was picked before dinner was fully established ... as it turned out we decided to make a pizza delivery guy work (and drive in the snow) than moving ourselves to the kitchen and doing some work ourselves.  As for the wine:  I have to admit I was a little leery of the bottle because it had a super-saturated cork (at least three-quarters of the way up and was leaking - or at least the foil capsule was tough to pry off the top of the bottle.  We deemed it okay to drink and then the fun started.  There were hints of petrol on the nose and the finish was quite dry - even though the bottle declared it to be a semi-dry wine.  The flavours were the most telling with citrus, in the form of lime, poached pears, honeyed peaches and apricots which all make an appearance on the mid-palate before the sweet and sour sensation of bruised green apple took over the finish.  This was a lovely wine and showed great longevity (8 years) - especially for a wine with a leaky cork.   Lost & Found Rating: Treasure

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