2011 Big Basin Vineyards Riesling Wirz Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 90.8 points

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  1/5/2014 - silton Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Roughly in an Alsatian style, but it's somewhat off-dry and less oily and compacted than many examples and perhaps better off for it. As another reviewer brought up, this doesn't match a Mosel's elegance or clarity; I'd compare it more to a drier version of a Donnhoff Kab with less gloss but about as much substance and a dusty grapefruit element on the back end. Balancing acids make for long finish. I see no reason why this won't age like most Rieslings, peaking in another 3 years followed by a slow fade. Good value on a domestic white wine.

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  7/30/2013 - Mtnmd1 Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Dry, good acidity. Too bad it's all gone

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  12/28/2012 - missionpk Likes this wine:

  It appears that this was basically a one-off endeavor by Big Basin, which is too bad. It's really quite good and better than so many Chards out there on the market. Not bone-dry like most Alsace or dry German Rieslings. Closer to the Austrian style of dry or near-dry with a lot of fruit. Nice acidity and very clean. Would make a great restaurant wine, if more distributors and restaurants (and diners) knew what they were doing.
  
  Update: Enjoying this a lot. When trying to map this to a Mosel style Riesling, the difference between actual sugar and ripeness comes into play. This is a quite ripe wine and at least gives the impression of sweetness. As ripe as a Spatlese or Auslese, but closer to a Kabinett (or less) in terms of actual RS. That means you don't get the magical weight of a good Mosel Riesling, but it is still very tasty. Looking forward to trying other efforts at good CA Riesling.

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