Afraid to Experiment

[Randy Caparoso]

Clearly, you like white wine, still or sparkling; and the fact that you like both the Piesporter Michelsberg Auslese (which is fairly sweet) and the Mumm Cuvee Napa Brut Prestige (which is fairly dry) tell me that sweetness/dryness doesn't matter as much to the two of you as the wine being fairly light and smooth.

So that's what you should stick to: whites or sparklers that are light, smooth, easy on the palate, fresh in the fragrance, and crisply balanced (that mouth watering feel you like). And believe me, there are lots and lots of great examples out there.

For German whites, for instance: Piesporter Michelsberg is actually what the Germans call a grosslagen, or blend of vineyards of not exactly the highest quality around the town of Piesport. If you want to sample the finest wines of Piesport, you should look for a single vineyard bottling such as the Piesporter Goldtropfchen or Piesporter Treppchen. Although you've been buying fairly sweet Auslese, I'd bet any money you'd also like a Spatlese (medium sweet) or even a Kabinett (just slightly sweet) bottling from these vineyards -- it's not the level of sweetness that makes these wines smooth and refined, but how well balanced they taste. Besides, a Kabinett style will give you even more of that mouth-watering taste you're looking for.

As for other German wines such as Eiswein ("ice wine"), I think you should forget them because not only are they super-sweet, they also run in the hundreds of dollars. Well, maybe you're wealthy; if that's the case, God bless you. But most likely you'd still have to put in special orders with your local retailer just to get your hands on a rare German Eiswein (many of which are reserved for auction sales in Germany as well as around the world).

But once you've investigated some of the better wines from Piesport, you're probably ready to explore the absolute finest from the rest of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany. My next suggestion would be for you to look for the wines from the village of Wehlen (the best sold under the full village/vineyard name of Wehlener Sonnenuhr), Graach (Graacher Himmelreich), Brauneberg (Brauneberger Juffer or Juffer-Sonnenuhr), Urzig (Urziger Wurzgarten), and Trittenheim (Trittenheimer Apotheteke). Then you're ready for the super-mouth watering stuff such as Scharzhofberger (so famous it's sold just under the vineyard name), and Maximum Grunhauser (Abtsberg or Herrenberg). Don't worry about running out of great vineyards to try -- there are several hundred more not only along the Moselle, but also along the the Rhine River. And when it comes to such wines, the finest are a lot smoother, crisper, more finely balanced, fragrant and flavorful than what you're used to.

As for sparkling wine, if you like Mumm Napa, I bet you'd flip your wig over the real stuff from France: Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut, or the ever-so-slightly sweet edged Mumm Extra Dry. Sure, you'll pay $10-$20 extra for French Champagne, but it's almost always a lot smoother than the California stuff. In fact, basically unfailingly so.

So why are you afraid to experiment? Beats me -- the stuff you've found you like was found totally by accident, and they are not the smoothest and finest to be found. Better quality "name" wines are not only widely known and accepted, in a way they are a lot less "experimental." In other words, they're highly regarded for good reason, which is all the reason in the world you should give them a shot.