Couple of Riesling at Sripraphai

A few of us enjoyed lunch in Queens for some delicious and spicy Thai food. Most of us brought Riesling, but there was one 1990 Vouvray.

The first of my two favorite wines was 2007 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett - The nose is citrus. The palate is punchy with pineapple and citrus with good balance and a nice finish. Fun to drink now. The other was 2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese “Anrecht” - Lovely floral nose. Lively acidity with mango, peach and honeycomb, and some herbal notes. A wine that shows some complexity already and a good foil for the spicy food at Sripraphai and a nice accompaniment for pasta with salmon, asparagus, and green onion a couple of days later.

Those Rieslings sound delicious. I was fortunate enough to try the great Thai food there with some Rieslings in November. The food is excellent and Riesling was a perfect pairing. Thanks for bringing back that great memory.

My pleasure.

They both were terrific matches to the food.

I have been loving Rieslings lately and keep trying them when I go out. The 2008 you described sounds delicious. I just had to look up one I had last week at this cute little wine bar called WineWorks in Southern California. “Dr. Loosen “Dr. L” RIESLING Mosel Germany 2008” it was fruity and light and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

For under 10 bucks, it’s a great value.

I used to “not get” Pinot, and then it hit. Now at last 25% of my cellar is Pinot. But I have yet to have a German wine that I have liked - maybe someday I’ll grow into that, too!

The German one? Yes, I will have to try it. I just looked up the Dr Loosen and it was around $20 (of course much more per glass at the wine bar where I had it!)

The “Dr. L” should be available for right around 10 bucks. There are other Dr. Loosen’s like the Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett that would be about 20.

I will have to check that out! Thank you!

I’ve been lazy about posting notes, so I’ll give a quick recap.

Ray brought a 2007? Pey-Marin Riesling “The Shell Mound.” It was a nice starter and definitely had a minerally edge to it. Probably a bit young. I liked it.
As we were going dry I opened the bottle of 1997 Dom Jean Aubron Muscadet 'Fief de l’Audigiere (sp?) corked. Damn you Michel!

Gil then whipped out a duo of 2007 Kabs, a JJ Prum WS mentioned above and a 2007 Selbach WS. The Prum certainly had the slate/petrol but the Selbach had more of that pure white peach, albeit a bit light.

The next flight was the 2008 Selbach Oster that Diane mentioned paired with a 2005 Selbach Oster Zeltlinger Schlossberg Riesling Spatlese which I brought. It showed plenty of potential but even with an hour it was completely tight, reticent and unforgiving. Finishing the last of it now, it shows expansive fruit lots of petrol, delineated acidity, and some creamy vanilla on the finish.

The recently reclusive Mikhail “The Count” Lipyanskiy brought a 1983 Erben Von Beulwitz Kaseler Nies’chen Spat that was DOA and the 1990 Clos Baudoin Vouvray which was a nice wine but should have been served at the beginning with the dry wines. It was not that sweet and after a couple of flights of Rieslings the blue slate, wet stone notes tasted a bit bitter. There was also a bottle of 2006 Anderson’s Conn Valley Pinot Gris that was corked.

I find that hard to believe, Merrill, as everybody knows that ‘chicks dig the sweet stuff.’

Regarding the 2005 Selbach Oster, I loved the vintage when it was released and for a couple of years after, but I wonder if it is shutting down now. All I got from that bottle was a whiff of petrol and not much else. Too bad.

Uh oh…

It would not shock me if the '05 was shut down. That usually happens at about 2 years post release (so 3 years post vintage) and last anywhere from 3-5 years (or longer for auslese and bigger spatlese). The Selbach Zeltinger Schlossberg is one of their more mineral driven wines, so it shows that closed character more readily than some of the more fruit forward offerings from Selbach (e.g. Bernkasteler Badstube).

I brought the 2006 Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris. This PG is very sweet, and would have fit in to lunch. Instead, it was corked (and fit it to our corked theme).

My favorite:

05 Selbach Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spatlese over the 08. The 05 had some minerals. Mildly sweet. Smoother, richer and darker than the 08. Just right. You could really taste the difference in age between the two bottles. The 08 had a hint of petrol and some minerals. Both are delicious.

07 J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett had some minerals and sweetness. A hint of petrol. Beautiful yellow color.

1990 Clos Baudoin Vouvray. Golden color. Smooth, and a tad sweet. I enjoyed this. It was much fuller and richer than the others.

Nope, no problem here. With the week I have had, I will gladly consider being called a chick a compliment and get on to finishing out this challenging week .

Not much to add – My favorites were also the 07 Prum and the 08 Selbach (and I agree that the 05 seemed closed to my palate, or at least, not showing much at the time). I thought the 07 Selbach showed simpler and with much less acidity than the Prum. Lunch was fun, as always. I think the Crispy Watercress with shrimp, scallops, and squid (appetizer) may be the best dish on the Sripraphai menu. Good to see everyone.