Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Most experts do not look to California for Rieslings. I, too, have been guilty of that behavior. While some excellent Rieslings have been made in California over the last 40 years, the number of those wines have been spotty and had declined over the years. It was a delight for me to taste the charming 2015 Bishop's Peak Riesling. TASTING NOTES: The wine is medium sweet in style and nicely balanced. Its aromas and flavors of light petrol, fragrant flowers, and ripe apples are delicious and endearing. Its bright fruit should pair well with Chinese chicken salad accented with pickled scallions, toasted sesame seed, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. (Tasted: August 13, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.