Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
No purveyors of a language can combine words to form longer ones with the ease of those who use German. It's where we get today's dandy, Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA). Readers may recall that trocken means dry, so they might guess that we have returned today to dry Riesling. No, instead, what this classification refers to are dry, slect berries. In other words, the grapes have stayed on the vine so long that they have completely shriveled to appear as dried berries.
While we are drinking a variety of vintages today, some as much as 50 years old, we've started out in the vineyards with the vigneron as he looks at his grapes. Each has been shriveled with botrytis (noble rot) and the vigneron picks each by hand. In a TBA wine, quality is essential.
Many vintages do not produce TBA wines. The grapes must stay on the vine long enough to botrytize, but not so long as to freeze or to be rain-damaged. In some vintages, this never occurs. In some other vintages, the number of available grapes is so small as to not be worthwhile. But, there are vintages in which the harvests are plentiful and the flavors intense. These are the treasured among them.
Carrying the technical discussions from previous German Riesling posts, the TBA of the Rheingau must weigh in at least 150 Oeschle. This is an incredibly heavy must, yet some may weigh in at more than 200 Oeschle. The alcohol content must be, by law, at least 5.5% ABV, perhaps less than that of the IPA that beer drinkers enjoy. Most TBA, in fact, have alcohol content not much higher than that.
We notice something very different about the TBA than most other wines that we have tasted. While golden in color in the bottle and in the glass, around the edges, and in the more aged wines, even pervading into the wine itself, there is very noticeable browning. The bouquet of the wine is loaded with caramel and honey, stone fruits, particularly apricot, and the beeswax and ginger so characteristic of botrytized wines. [For the geeks among us, the beeswax and ginger are thought to emanate from the phenylacetaldehyde produced by the botrytis rot.]
On the palate, the wine is viscous in a luxurious way, coating the entire palate with a soft syrupy-like feeling that engages the senses. We immediately taste butter cookies, caramelized white peach and apricot, toffee, lemon drops, and ginger snaps all sweetened by the graces of noble rot.
If you must, pair your Riesling TBA with fine foie gras or poached fruit drizzled with honey. But, while food and wine go together, my real suggestion is to not pair it all.
A great Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese has a complex finish that may evolve for minutes after the sip. There is likely no food that can do this justice. Serve your TBA at 6C/42F and drink it alone. Take small sips and delight in the evolution from the moment it is poured until you finish your small glass perhaps an hour later.
So concludes our Riesling journey. Come back tomorrow for a new grape.
While we are drinking a variety of vintages today, some as much as 50 years old, we've started out in the vineyards with the vigneron as he looks at his grapes. Each has been shriveled with botrytis (noble rot) and the vigneron picks each by hand. In a TBA wine, quality is essential.
Many vintages do not produce TBA wines. The grapes must stay on the vine long enough to botrytize, but not so long as to freeze or to be rain-damaged. In some vintages, this never occurs. In some other vintages, the number of available grapes is so small as to not be worthwhile. But, there are vintages in which the harvests are plentiful and the flavors intense. These are the treasured among them.
Carrying the technical discussions from previous German Riesling posts, the TBA of the Rheingau must weigh in at least 150 Oeschle. This is an incredibly heavy must, yet some may weigh in at more than 200 Oeschle. The alcohol content must be, by law, at least 5.5% ABV, perhaps less than that of the IPA that beer drinkers enjoy. Most TBA, in fact, have alcohol content not much higher than that.
We notice something very different about the TBA than most other wines that we have tasted. While golden in color in the bottle and in the glass, around the edges, and in the more aged wines, even pervading into the wine itself, there is very noticeable browning. The bouquet of the wine is loaded with caramel and honey, stone fruits, particularly apricot, and the beeswax and ginger so characteristic of botrytized wines. [For the geeks among us, the beeswax and ginger are thought to emanate from the phenylacetaldehyde produced by the botrytis rot.]
On the palate, the wine is viscous in a luxurious way, coating the entire palate with a soft syrupy-like feeling that engages the senses. We immediately taste butter cookies, caramelized white peach and apricot, toffee, lemon drops, and ginger snaps all sweetened by the graces of noble rot.
If you must, pair your Riesling TBA with fine foie gras or poached fruit drizzled with honey. But, while food and wine go together, my real suggestion is to not pair it all.
A great Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese has a complex finish that may evolve for minutes after the sip. There is likely no food that can do this justice. Serve your TBA at 6C/42F and drink it alone. Take small sips and delight in the evolution from the moment it is poured until you finish your small glass perhaps an hour later.
So concludes our Riesling journey. Come back tomorrow for a new grape.
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