Whilst Caleb was in fencing camp last week, I made an excursion over to Total Wines. Tried these four over the weekend:
1. ArthurMetz GWT Ad'OP: Alsace Epice & Puissant (13%; www.ArthurMetz.Fr; Saranty Imports) Marlenheim 2016: Med.yellow color; bubbles that agglomerate around he edge & dissapate/dissolved CO2; some GWT/spicy/cheap hair oil/slight lychee bit candied/cotton candy rather quiet nose; soft/ripe/fat fairly sweet (1%-1.2% r.s.?) light GWT/lychee/rose water/slight hair oil somewhat candied/cotton candy rather fat/dull/quiet flavor; med.short soft/fat slightly sweet very light GWT/lyvhee/hair oil/rosewater very little spice dull/fat/porky finish; another TW DI taht fails to deliver; a pretty dull expression of Alsace GWT; no signs of dissolved CO2 on the palate...manages to achieve mediocrity on its own merits; dull as dishwater; way overpriced. $20.00 (TW)
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2. Schmitt Sohne Riesling Q Rheinhessen (9.5%; "Crisp & Fruity"; A.P.Nr.3 907 027 467 17; www.SchmittFamilyWines.com; Schmitt-Sohne.com) Longuich NV (2016?): Light gold color; lots of bubbles that agglomerate around the edge of the glass/dissolved CO2; vaguely fruity/grapey very light pineapple/R rather simple grapey nose; bit frizzante/dissolved CO2 some soft/fat fairly sweet vaguely fruity/grapey/R/pineapple/mango rather dull/fat/soft/simple flavor; slight frizzante/CO2 soft/fat/dull vaguely fruity/grapey/R/pineapple rather sweet finish; a pretty dull expression of R that takes me back to a better BlueNun; this is a case in which the dissolved CO2 actually freshens the wine somewhat and saves it from drowning in the swamp of mediocrity; way overpriced at $9.00 (TW)
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3. Gruber Roschitz GrunerVeltliner DAC: Weinviertel Reserve Muhlberd (13.5%; Hrvstd: early Nov; Organic grapes; TOA Selected/SarantyImports/Stamford) Roschitz/Weinviertel 2016: Light gold color; lots of tiny bubbles that disappate rapidly/dissolved CO2; light GV/floral/pear/peach/perfumed talc very light stony/mineral pleasant/light nose but just that; fairly tart/tangy slight dissolved CO2/piquant very light GV/floral/peach/pear bit perfumed talc slight stony/earthy rather simple/bland/bit watery/dilute flavor; med. some tart/tangy slight dissolved CO2/spritz up front very light GV/pear/peach/floral simple/rather blabd/watery very slight stony finish; a pleasant enough GV but altogether forgetable; good acidity its only redeeming feature; way overpriced at $32.00 (TW)
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4. Dr.Heidemanns-Bergweiler Bear Rheinhessen Beerenauslese Pradikatswein (A.P.Nr. 4907088000917; RS: 12.0%; SaH: 31.6%; 9.0%) Bernkastel/Mosel 2016: Med.gold color; fairly strong botrytis/peachy/grapey/ripe bit R/pineapple ligh earthy quite attractive/BA nose if a bit simple; quite soft/lush/ripe bit buttery/toast fairly strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight pineapple/grapey quite sweet slight metallic fairly attractive flavor; long very grapey/ripe/pineapple light botrytis/peachy/apricotty bit sodt/fat/overripe quite sweet slight earthy/metallic finish; shows some nice low-key botrytis character; quite a pleasant if a bit simple BA at an attractive price. $19.00/hlf (TW)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Hadn't had the BlueNun Liebfraumilch in quite a few yrs. Hadn't seen it around on the shelves. Didn't know if it still existed or not. And, of course, there it was on the shelf in TotalWines in its garish blue btl. But the label no longer had the classic Blue Nun on it playing tennis. Several times I reached up to grab a btl, but some squeaky voice in my head kept saying "Don't do it"...not even for ole times sake. So I went for this Schmitt Sohne in that same garish blue btl. I got every bit I paid for and then less. Any wnry that has a label called "Funf" and "Relax" and "DOM" should have been a hint. Didn't realize that Schmitt also owns Schloss Vollrads and FreidrichWillhelm Gymnasium. Ohhhh...how the mighty have fallen.
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2. Gruber Roschitz: I had a dessert Chard from this producer several weeks ago that was decent enough, so thought I'd try one of their high-end dry wines. Shouldn't have bothered. You can buy a delicious IngridGroiss at almost half this price.
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3. TotalWines: There was a lot of excitement in SantaFe several months ago when TW was about to open. I seldom ventured into the TW down in Albq, so didn't know what to expect. High expectations on my part, but a dreadfully poor delivery rate has been my experience so far.
They do a lot of DI's thru SarantyImports, which is a part of the William Duetsch company. So you find a lot of labels on the shelves w/ names of wineries that you don't recognize. My experience w/ these Saranty DI wines has been pretty poor thus far. Pretty overpriced for what they are.
And then loads & loads of commodity wines. And at prices that are not particularly attractive.
And the staff w/ which I've interacted are not particularly knowledgeable and somewhat on the pushy side. I asked one guy who stepped up to me and asked if he could help if tey had any Timorasso or Toreldego. He gave me this clueless look but went to get help. The wine dept manager then came up and asked what wines I was looking for, I told him, and he responded that they didn't have those particular wines in right now, and then directed me to the Chianti shelves and assured me they were very similar and even better. Uhhhh..yeah...sure!!
If you're going to go bottom feeding, I think you chances of success of finding something good at an attractive price are far/far more likely at TraderJoe's than at TW. My visits out there are going to be rarer and rarer,
They have a very nice venue for which they do wine seminars/classes there at the SantaFe TW. I'm not in the least bit tempted.
Tom