Yesterday evening I returned to my Room with a View at the Hotel of Hope in the East 7th Street of New York Wine City’s (NYWC) East Village and immediately hit the Riesling trail. By a minor miracle I walked into Pearl & Ash at 220 Bowery and got a seat straight away, in spite of that rave review in the New York Times just a couple of weeks ago. (See www.pearlandash.com) I tried a bunch of sensationally flavorful and subtle dishes from creamy chicken butter with toast to wonderfully fresh marinated salmon, and from squid pan-roasted with seaweed to well-done and melt skirt steak in a richly savory sauce. Every one would have been flattered by one or other of the slew of Rieslings on the list that ranged from sweet Spätlese from Zilliken’s Rausch vineyard on the Saar to the Leitz of the Rheingau’s dry wines from the top sites of the Rüdesheimer Berg. However, even if you ignore those Rieslings which are just perfect given the current sub-tropical weather it’s a great wine list that’s neither trying to show off how clever the sommelier, nor to pander to the popular thirst for well established names. It was a great start to my long visit to the US during which I will be based here in NYWC, but seeing a large chunk of this mind-boggling country. I will, of course, be regularly reporting from the Riesling Trail here. WATCH THIS SPACE!
