Last night, as part of a Spanish wine tasting dinner there was a foie gras course. Nobody in the group owned any appropriate Spanish wine for the course, so I volunteered to bring a couple of wines with "sweetness and good acidity" as was requested.
The menu item was seared foie gras with quince paste, Granny Smith apple & a balsamic reduction. The apple with the quince past made for a very sweet accompaniment to the foie, but both wines were up to the challenge.
The 2001 J. J. Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese** was initially quite mute on the nose, and I feared that it was totally shut down. Then I tasted it, and all fears were set aside. If there's one thing I can still sense about the wine it's the creaminess balanced by vivid, yet completely integrated acidity. This was the wine that could please acidity fans and people who love more richness of texture in their Riesling. The flavors were still quite primary, and the wine held significant sweetness which was absolutely needed for the food. In fact, the wine tasted nearly dry (yet still perfectly balanced) along side the quince/apple mixture. As the wine sat in the glass for a few extra minutes, some of the aromatics began to open up. I still think this bottling will be better off with another 2-3 years of cellar time, but it's no crime to open one now. In fact it would be a real shame to miss the fascintating texture that exists at this stage of the wine's evolution. It is truly living up to the 2001 hype.
The 1996 Domaine de Baumard Coteaux de Layon Clos de Sainte Catherine was nearly bronze in color, yet it showed no oxidative character on the nose or palate, instead being classicially honeyed Chenin with wooly and spicy elements that played off the apples and balsamic. This was a touch drier than the Christoffel, so it was not quite as good a match for the food, but it was a real pleasure to drink on its own or with bits of the foie sans accompaniments.
