Firestone Riesling 2009 Front Label
Firestone Riesling 2009 Front Label

Winemaker Notes

This Riesling is a testament to the variety and the cool climate of California's Central Coast region. The wine delivers a blast of apricot and honeysuckle quickly followed by zests of lemon and lime. The palate is full, but wonderfully refreshing thanks to the wine's low pH and high acidity.

The exuberant fruit flavors and smart balance of this wine make it ideal as an aperitif or as an accompaniment to Asian dishes, spicy Mexican foods or creamy cheeses.

Professional Ratings

  • 89
    California Riesling seems to be making a comeback and if it is, it’s thanks to inexpensive but wonderful wines like this. It’s dryish to off dry, with beautiful acidity and delicious flavors of citrus fruits, green apples, pears, honeyed jasmine tea and vanilla bean. Just beautiful for drinking now.
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Firestone

Firestone

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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.

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Central Coast

California

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The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.

Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.

While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.

CWC968613_2009 Item# 118530