South Stage Cellars 2013 Riesling, Rogue Valley, $20
Don and Traute Moore quickly emerged as one Oregon’s top growers when they entered the wine industry in 1989, and their remarkable fruit led Willamette Valley Vineyards to create the Griffin Creek brand. Acclaimed winemaker Joe Dobbes helped put the Moores on everyone’s radar with his Griffin Creek success, and Traute still calls Dobbes “our fourth son.” In 2008, the Moores — with son Michael — launched their own brand, and they hire various talents to make their wines. It was Dobbes who oversaw this bottling, which earned a gold medal at the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in the off-dry Riesling category. His Wine By Joe team worked with Quail Run and Crater View vineyards for this stunning Riesling that offers beautiful aromas of peach, pineapple and apple blossom. It’s deliciously complex as flavors of pineapple and baked apple are met by great acidity to balance the residual sugar of 2.6%. There’s even a sense of tannin in the finish. The Moores, who work with 28 grape varieties, offer not only their wines at their brick tasting room in Jacksonville, but they also sell wines made with their fruit by other wineries.
Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 207 cases
Alcohol: 12%
Sheila Nicholas says
Just one from Oregon? Over 40 of us recently conducted a technical tasting of pre-bottled 2014 Oregon Rieslings with exciting results. SmackDown?
Eric Degerman says
Greetings Sheila,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Actually, there are three 2013 Rieslings from Oregon in that slideshow — South Stage Cellars, Willamette Valley Vineyards and Mt. Hood Winery. We’re looking forward to seeing the Rieslings coming out of Oregon from the 2014 vintage.