November 14, 2009

Henry of Pelham 2005 Reserve Riesling


(Re-Tasted November 2009) ... Back to one of my favourite topics, the 2005 Rieslings and their development. I have quite a few bottles of this wine in my cellar (4 more to be exact) so I had really high hopes for it when I bought it ... and I have to say it is coming along nicely, though at first, I have to admit, I was a little nervous. The initial smell was very gassy, and when I say very gassy I mean it was like standing at the pump having just spilled gas on your pants. And then if you can imagine getting into the car with your pants on wet with car-go-juice then you'll figure out what it was like to smell this wine. It took about 15 minutes for that to dissipate, but once it did there was a very pronounced lime-mineral note that emerged. The petrol came screaming through on the tongue in much the same way as it did on the nose, being extremely domineering in the first few minutes, but then it quieted down and giving way to lime rind, mineral/stony nuances and with only hints of gasoline. By the time an hour had passed the wine was warm but quite drinkable ... maybe I should have opened and let sit out for a bit then put in the fridge, next time, and with four bottles to go there will definitely be a next time.

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