Kendall-Jackson Reisling 2005

Tonight, I will not be getting much in the way of work done. Not only is it already getting late, but we decided to open a bottle of wine with dinner, and after the mint julep previously, that has knocked me into the tipsy stage (not a great place to try to get real work done from).


Six Onion Soup and Kendall-Jackson Riesling
Originally uploaded by Neenabeena

The bottle, however, was well worth it. Kendall-Jackson, a common grocery-store label, really does produce a nice, balanced Riesling. I started to enjoy wine by drinking German Rieslings, so I tend towards the picky side with this varietal (okay, I tend towards the picky side with most varietals, but this one is especially bad). This bottle of KJ did not disappoint. The acidity is on the middle-palate, which is very comfortable for stand-alone drinking, but it has enough acidity that it can stand-up against reasonably robust dishes. The fruit flavors are mellow and some-what blended - I could taste green-apple and maybe melon, but nothing else really stood out. The sticker price of $12.00 places it a little high compared to some of its competition, but it is well worth the price (and much safer than most of the $8.00 Rieslings one finds - some of them are great, but it requires a lot of searching to find them).

We had this wine next to a five-onion soup, that Neen cooked. The acidity of the wine let it stand up against the cream that was used to thicken the soup stock. Since the wine is a little light on acidity for a dinner wine, the sweetness and cream of the soup made the wine taste slightly more acidic on the front palate. Overall, a nice pairing - the soup brought out the acidity that the wine needed to function as a refreshing foil to the cream.