Ancestry Cellars 2012 Renaissance Riesling, Columbia Gorge, $18
Underwood Mountain Vineyard, north of Bingen, Wash., is one of the state’s most underrated sites for cool-climate varieties. This young Woodinville winery reaches into this steep-sloped planting for its Riesling that brings aromas of apple, watermelon, lemon bitters and Scotch Tape. Inside, it’s rounded, rich and filled with sweet fruit flavors of pear, orange juice and Uncola, backed with ample acidity to balance the residual sugar of 3.7% The low-alcohol Riesling earned a silver medal at the 2014 Seattle Wine & Food Experience Wine Competition, and pairing ideas include Riesling and Chutney Spinach Salad, a recipe courtesy of Spokane cookbook author Ellena Conway.
Rating: Excellent
Production: 800 cases
Alcohol: 9.5%
Hard to omit mention of Chehelam Riesling in nay such listing. Harry Nedry-Petersen made this , in my opinion, the ultimate in a dry , yet luscious version, more Austrian style than the boring sweet,”same old, Same old” versions more typical in the NW. While nice, I think /Eroica is overrated and a little overpriced-doesn;t touch Harry’s product!
Hi, Robert.
The Eroica is not mentioned here, either. As we indicated, these were Rieslings we’ve tasted in the past few weeks. Chehalem’s was not among those.
That said, we did review Chehalem’s 2011 Three Vineyards Riesling last fall – and loved it:
https://greatnorthwestwine.com/2013/10/11/chehalem-wines-2011-three-vineyards-riesling-willamette-valley-24/
Greetings Robert,
Andy & I remain huge fans and supporters of Chehalem Wines.
Perhaps you are unaware, but I wrote the profile of Chehalem Wines for the current issue of Wine Press Northwest, in which Chehalem was presented as Oregon Winery of the Year for 2014.
http://www.winepressnw.com/2014/03/11/2874609/2014-oregon-winery-of-the-year.html?sp=/99/1644/1668/
Harry Peterson-Nedry long has been one of my go-to winemakers for insight and history on many topics, and I’ve enjoyed interviewing Wynne during the past couple of years.
Chehalem is indeed a fascinating winery on many levels — including Riesling — and we look forward to watching how the next chapter is written.
I’d be curious to know which Riesling produced by Chehalem is your favorite, the SEXT or the Three Vineyard?