Helfrich Vin D'Alsace Riesling

Name: Helfrich Vin D'Alsace Riesling
Color: White
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2007
Country/State: France
Region: Alsace
Price: $13
Stars: 3.5 (out of 5)


The Helfrich Riesling is a clear, bright yellow in color with a rather muted aroma. Nothing specific came through on the nose for me, except maybe a little bit of light citrus. The flavors are crisp and quite dry. We drank it with a tex-mex style soup and then finished the bottle after dinner. I drank most of this one myself. Krista had only one glass...I enjoyed it, but wasn't necessarily blown away by it. I appreciated the medium body, dry style, and the minerality, but just wasn't as impressed with the overall taste.

Kung Fu Girl Riesling

Name: Kung Fu Girl
Color: White
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2009
Country/State: Washington
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $15
Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)

We've been trying to buy the Kung Fu Girl Riesling for many weeks, but it's been sold out due to high demand. I can see why. Krista and I both loved this wine...We drank it last night with grilled fish and pasta. This wine is extremely tasty, with bright citrus notes, a nice peach/pear aroma and taste, and excellent acidity. It had a touch of sweetness, but not the over the top sugar that some Rieslings are known for.

I can't imagine someone not liking this wine. (The picture is from the 2008 vintage, but we had the 2009).

This wine was scored 89 points by Wine Enthusiast, for those that care.

Eroica Riesling

Name: Eroica Riesling
Color: White
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2006
Country/State: Washington
Region: Various
Price: $16 (on sale)
Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)


The Eroica Riesling is the result of a collaboration between Washington's Chateau St. Michelle and Germany's Dr. Loosen and is apparently named for a Beethoven symphony. Grapes from all over Washington state were used in the 2006 blend.

I had read terrific things about this wine and had been meaning to try it for some time. When I saw it on sale at Leuken's, I picked up a bottle. I think it normally sells for just over $20, but I bought this one for about $16.

The wine was a light straw color in the glass, with a nose of melon, pineapple, and honey. It had a nice, medium body weight in the mouth and was really well balanced with good acidity. The taste was pretty fruit forward, tasting primarily of green apple, pineapple, and citrus. It had some slight sweetness to it, but was still bright and fresh. The finish was exceptionally long. The taste lingered quite nicely after each sip.

We drank this wine tonight with dinner (pork and pasta) and quickly finished the bottle after the kids were in bed. Krista and I both highly recommend the Eroica Riesling.

Clean Slate

Name: Clean Slate
Color: White
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2007
Country/State: Germany
Region: Mosel
Price: $12
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

This wine was very enjoyable...It was clean, fresh, and crisp with great balance. It is probably considered "off dry" because of it's relatively low alcohol content (10%), meaning less of the sugar was converted into alcohol. However, the sweetness was more of a hint, not at all overbearing or overpowering. We drank this Riesling with Chinese food (steamed dumplings and sesame chicken) and it paired quite well.

The aroma was nice --- green apples, pears, and a stone-y quality that I was excited to actually pick up on. I've read several times about wines smelling like stones or stone fruit, so it was exciting to be able to smell it in the glass. The taste was similar to the nose with flavors of apples, peaches, and pears. The finish was quite long and refreshing. I bought this wine at Publix as I haven't seen it available at the other wine stores that I usually frequent.

Hogue Riesling

Name: Hogue
Color: White
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2007
Country/State: Washington
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $10
Stars: 4 (out of 5)


Another winner from Hogue! The 2007 Riesling was very crisp, clean, and refreshing. The color was a pale yellow with a hint of a green tint. On the nose, I picked up pear, green apple, dried apricot, and a little bit of banana. The taste was very similar to the nose, expect that I didn't get any hint of banana taste. We bought this wine at Total Wines and enjoyed it with a grilled chicken salad (ironically, this was one of the suggested pairings on the back of the bottle). We loved the Hogue Pinot Grigio on a couple of previous occasions, so I was not surprised at all by the quality of their Riesling. I definitely will try other wines by Hogue in the future.

As far as a comparison to a UK basketball player is concerned, I really wanted to go with Mark Pope here because of the connection to Hogue. Pope came to Kentucky via Bellevue, Washington and Hogue is a Washington winery. However, I didn't want to reuse Pope so soon after I used him to describe the La Vieille Ferme red. I like the guy, but let's not get carried away....So, I'm going with Scott Padgett, if for no other reason than his clutch shot in the 1998 Elite Eight comback victory over Duke. I was at that game in St. Pete with my wife and parents. When UK was down 17 with 10 minutes to play, I never would have thought that we would come back to win. But then Wayne Turner completely abused Wojo, Heshimu Evans and Cameron Mills nailed some huge shots, and Padgett iced it with his clutch 3 from the top of the key. I'll never forget that game. The next weekend UK won its 7th National Championship.