WTN: Great pink fizz

Weingut Reiterer Schilcher Sekt Traditionelle Flaschengärung, Handgerüttelt von Schlumberger label

12% abv; 14€; Weststeiermark; from the Blauer Wildbacher grape. I think I love this grape! It smells like the rare red I wrote about here: a mix of tart lingonberry and darker, sweeter berries, even blueberry (not the euphemism for massive oak as it sees none). Decent enough mousse. Crisp but fruity. The evaporation rate was extraordinarily high. A "soft" version of the grape with only 6g/l acidity and 12g/l sugar, but it is still racy in comparison to almost anything else. I loved it.

... even blueberry (not the euphemism for massive oak as it sees none)....

I didn't know about the blueberry and the euphemism for massive oak - why is that? I have a blueberry bush that produces delicious berries in the summer - never ever correlated them to oak.

... even blueberry (not the euphemism for massive oak as it sees none)....

I didn't know about the blueberry and the euphemism for massive oak - why is that? I have a blueberry bush that produces delicious berries in the summer - never ever correlated them to oak.

Actually, blueberries can be made into a proper dry table wine reminsicent of a syrah or zinfandel. Wonder why it isn't done more often.

[David M. Bueker]

Wine euphemism pedant alert:

Blueberry isn't normally a euphemism for massive oak. It's a euphemism for the massive fruit that accompanies the massive oak. Blueberry milkshake is the euphemism for the combination of massive fruit and oak.

Gotta get your wine put downs right Otto.

Wine euphemism pedant alert:

Blueberry isn't normally a euphemism for massive oak. It's a euphemism for the massive fruit that accompanies the massive oak.

Or just comes with massive ripeness, regardless of oak at times.
I've had a bunch of old vine Shiraz from hot areas like the Barossa Valley - Massena's 11th Hour comes to mind (95% old French oak, 5% new) - that didn't get much in terms of oak treatment but still tastes like a blueberry pie. Not always a bad thing at times though...

Wine euphemism pedant alert:

Blueberry isn't normally a euphemism for massive oak. It's a euphemism for the massive fruit that accompanies the massive oak.

Or just comes with massive ripeness, regardless of oak at times.
I've had a bunch of old vine Shiraz from hot areas like the Barossa Valley - Massena's 11th Hour comes to mind (95% old French oak, 5% new) - that didn't get much in terms of oak treatment but still tastes like a blueberry pie. Not always a bad thing at times though...

Goign off on a tangent here - when I think of massive ripe fruit in Shiraz it reminds of the succulent fully ripe mulberries - almost 3 inches long - that we ate straight from a tree at Coriole Estate in McLaren Vale - rich ripe fruit - the staining juices almost the colour of Shiraz as they dripped down the chin and down the hands on to the arms. But then I've never had blueberry pie - we don't get enough to squander into a pie. Just love them fresh off the bush or when they have been in the refrigererator for a few days - that somehow seems to concentrate them - yum.

Cheers,
Sue

[David M. Bueker]

Ah. Only a month or 6 weeks until blueberry season here. There's a great farm just a mile from our house.