"I'll take two of those," I said to the clerk, grinning from ear to ear, oblivious to my dyslexia.
I had visions of the French author Anais Nin, writing erotica in her diaries.
The wine, I discovered, was arousing, but the appeal was more to the intellect. This is a wine to think about.
The wine Eroica was named for Beethoven's Third Symphony. It is unique because of the partnership of German and American winemakers – Dr. Ernst Loosen from Mosel and Erik Olsen from Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington.
Rieslings still have not caught on with the American palate, although there appears to be a Riesling Renaissance and much excitement about current releases. You could not pay me enough to drink a Riesling 12 years ago. I thought, like many people, that the majority of Rieslings were cheap and sweet with little character or complexity. It washed down potato salad and was left completely out of conversations.
But good German wines, made from the Riesling grape, can be a good alternative to the heavier white wines that taste more like wood than grapes. The best ones balance the sweetness with acidity, giving it a light feel, but layered with subtle flavors.
Based on a recent tasting of the 2000 Eroica, I am quite happy to tout the beguiling appeal of this wine. It comes at a time when spring hits the Northwest, gently blowing in fresh smells of blossoms, cut grass, citrus and earthy musk.
Eroica smells like spring. The taste is full of white peaches, apricots, jasmine and honeysuckle. I remember childhood days that smelled like this, sitting in tall grass, watching delicate white clouds drift by on a spring day, surrounded by the smell of flowers and warmed by a tepid sun.
As a winemaker, Olsen said he had very little experience with Rieslings when he started as assistant winemaker at Ste. Michelle in 1993. Gradually, Olsen began to explore ways to improve the fruit character and flavor of Riesling.
“Each year I designed a huge array of experiments to look at all the possible ways we could improve the quality of the wine,” Olsen said. “As a result, this wine is perhaps the most food friendly wine we make.”
With Eroica, Olsen and Loosen developed a wine that exhibits the character of the Columbia Valley, yet has the style and finesse of a European Riesling.
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