Patience Pays
An Update from the Cave

Cellar your wine! Like children, they love stability. So even if you don’t have kids, dig deep for that mama and papa in each of us and take care of a few bottles. My rule is never drink from the store as even the most banal wine will profit from 6 months in a stable environment. As proof positive, here’s a review from a year and a half ago (has it been that long?), and the same wine drunk last night.

Thursday April 29, 2004

Riesling Grand Cru 2000, Furstentum, Blanck ($36…saq)
According to Fred Blanck it was a challenging year with respect to weather, ie. reduced crop size, and for me, the complexity of the wines. Compared to the 1999, this Grand cru while still in it’s youth is a very acceptable drink. None of that over the top petrol nose, just a delicious and balanced Reisling (though softer than the 99, less mineral and perhaps lacking a bit of cut). For the intellectual Reisling crowd, it’s definitely not the 99.

Tuesday December 6, 2005

I remember it being completely dry but there now seems to be a touch of sugar showing itself. Richer and with less acidity, the minerality of the Furstentum terroir shows itself more. It had the same petrol nose though it shows much more fruit than it did the last time we drank it, green apples mixed with apricots. Still a great balance between acidity, minerality and richness, my last bottle will sit for at least another year.

(Drunk with pan seared Dorade, served on ratte potatoes with caramelized cauliflower and ratatoulli)