Wine with Leslie: The perfect wines for summer dining - including an €8 Riesling
Summer sipping season is nearly upon us
Our run of recent good weather has sent many of us out to the garden for our evening meals in recent weeks so this week I thought I would focus on two grapes that are perfect for summer dining.
Riesling and Pinot Noir are two of my go-to grapes at this time of year - I love their lightness of touch and their freshness. I’m not really talking Burgundy as prices have just gone too crazy, I’m thinking of European alternatives from German, Austria and Romania, and lighter new world Pinots from Chile, Australia and New Zealand.
Riesling and Pinot are found together in a number of wine regions, most notably in Baden and the Pfalz in Germany. In fact, all German wine regions that are warm enough for red wines grow Pinot Noir (or Spätburgunder as they call it) beside their Rieslings and their Grauburgunders (Pinot Gris)
Only one AOP region in France is permitted to grow Riesling and that is Alsace where the red wine is of course Pinot Noir. Alsace never seems to put as much focus (or effort if I’m honest) into their Pinot Noir, but nevertheless, they often represent good value and are always drinkable if rarely ‘fine’ - Trimbach’s Pinot Noir is a solid example.
In New Zealand, of course, Sauvignon is the white star beside Pinot Noir, but you will find excellent Rieslings in Central Otago, Marlborough and elsewhere. In Australia, you will find many an excellent Pinot Noir and Riesling in Tasmania, but in classic Pinot regions such as the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula they tend to favour Chardonnay which I think is a pity. Similarly, the Eden and Clare Valley make brilliant Riesling but tend to focus on Cabernet or Shiraz as a companion grape.
Recommendations below are either Riesling or Pinot and I’ve sought out good value examples. If shopping in your local Independent off-licence watch for the Hans Baer range (€12 - €14). I recommend a new bargain Mosel Riesling from Aldi below and don’t worry it is Trocken (dry) but if you miss those old-school semi-sweet German wines of the 1980s try the Aldi Landkastel Mosel in the blue bottle (€10.99). Serve it well chilled to reduce the sweetness, perhaps with spicy food or cheese.
Mosel Riesling has to be the perfect Summer lunch wine, ideally suited for picnics, lunches in the garden or for serving with barbecue grilled fish. This is dry and comes in at 11.5% (higher than many a Mosel). Lemon zest and green apple aromas, lemony white fruits on the palate and a salty dry finish.
This will work best served a little cool I think, as will Aldi's Chilean Pinot Noir which is a tad drier with some leafy touches. This is packed with bright cherry fruits with a background note of forest floor earthiness, dried red berries on the palate with a tang of cranberry and plum skins on the finish.
Dunnes Weinhaus range has featured here before - the Schiefer Steillage Riesling and the Kalkstein Pinot Noir Rosé are both worth trying. Baden is probably more famous but Pinot Noir also likes the limestone and loess soils in the Pfalz. Red fruit aromas mixed with some earthy fungal notes - textured and fruity with good concentration and balancing freshness.
I featured this producer's 2018 Pinot Noir here this time last year and the 2020 is equally good with pleasing floral red fruits. This has lots of chalky lime-lemon minerality on the nose, tangy lime fruits burst on the palate with layers of apple and citrus with a touch of kiwi fruit. Lively pure and zingy.
I’ve consumed dozens of bottles of Trimbach Riesling over the years and I consider it a benchmark and a bone-fide classic. Made in a bone-dry (but not austere) style with citrus and stony mineral scents and a hint of TDN (diesel), dried lemon and limes on the palate, textured and layered with purity and zing.
Baden is the most southerly and warmest of Germany’s wine regions and the best Pinot Noir here rivals village Burgundy. This is unoaked and packed with floral red fruits, brisk and fruity on the palate with some earth tones and pleasing linear freshness. Wassmer’s single vineyard Maltesergarten is worth the extra tenner.
Over the past few years, Aldi have teamed up with the Old Carrick Mill Distillery in Co. Monaghan a few times to create solidly made small-batch spirits. This Passion-Fruit & Mango Gin is their latest and is available in all 156 Aldi stores for a limited time. Besides the titular tropical fruits the gin uses juniper, lemon, lime, coriander and angelica.
Tropical fruits dominate the nose with juniper in the background, bone dry on the mid-palate with pepper and spice, and a citrus and mango finish. The bottle suggests using this in place of Vanilla Vodka for a Pornstar Martini and I can see that working - also try with Gin-Fizz or Gin-Sour style cocktails.
