#RieslingRoadTrip Diary: Day 5 – Savannah/GA’s Kabinett Days and Spätlese Nights

That piece of meat on my plate in the Olde Pink House in Savannah/GA is a pork shank with a pineapple sauce and it was as delicious as it is filling. It is also a near-perfect match with medium-sweet, but crisp Riesling Spätlese. Savannah is a beautiful and charming a city with Kabinett days, Spätlese nights and some perfect trocken moments. And it has real long Riesling Season. The only problem is that awareness of these important facts is still limited and here too the symptoms of Riesling Deprivation Syndrome (RDS) are sometimes painfully visible. As your Drinking  Adviser I recommend you to forget all those vitamin supplements and be wary of those hormone therapies that are being handed out like candy these days. Eat well, exercise regularly, think positive, but keep one eye open for problems and DRINK RIESLING! For further information see: www.drinkriesling.com

As you can see from this picture, last night next to the sidewalk outside the Olde Pink House we opened up the belly of our Riesling whale, the Riesling enthusiasts of Savannah entered it and enjoyed our back to back presentations of German Riesling at 10:30pm and 11:30pm. They seemed mightily surprised by the contrast of two excellent 2012 dry Rieslings from Rheinhessen (with 65,000 acres Germany’s largest winegrowing region), the sleek and crystalline Nackenheim from Gunerloch and the richly textural and ripe Westhofener from Wittman. Then we entered the Riesling Time Machine that was the combo of the lithe and effusively aromatic 2012 Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese from Dr. Loosen in the Mosel followed by the broad and mellow 1992 Nussbrünnen Auslese from Schloss Schönborn in the Rheingau. They could taste exactly how five plus years of aging dry German Riesling out in the nicest possible way, even wines which taste honey-sweet in their youth turning into great wines for savory food (e.g. wild fowl and venison!) Several people pointed out that medium-dry wines like the regular 2012 Riesling from Prinz von Hessen in the Rheingau were ideal for that prototypical southern daily ritual, relaxed conversation on the porch. Further north we miss that and are probably suffer from another kind of deprivation syndrome…

Last night we met wine merchant Christian Depken, pictured left, and this morning we walked through Downtown Savannah to his Le Chai wine store (see: www.lechai.com). I’m not sure how many of the people of this genuinely fair town realize what a jewel they have in this store. Even in the context of New York or Berlin this would be a special place. The first thing is that it is so beautiful and it is so easy to shop there, because the bottles are displayed on table tops where they have room to breathe, rather than being crammed together on shelves like so many battery hens. This doesn’t look overly precious, much less is it tainted with that antiseptic feel of so many over-designed stores. Then there’s the enticing range of moderately-priced wines from France, Italy, Spain, Austria and most particularly Germany. Limiting himself to a few countries and excluding fancy wines with fancy prices help make Christian stand out, but additionally he’s really creative in his selections. For example, anyone who claims that they cannot find mature German Riesling in America, in contrast to Good Old Europe – often this is a mantra like that of Europe having the bigger and better history – need look no further. The entire stock is stored in a cool room that replicates cellar conditions, which must be unique in this part of the country. And the final clinching factor that makes this a truly great store is that it is all so personal, the range honestly expressing Christian’s own  passions. Thankfully, there seems to be nothing he seems more passionate about than Riesling. That made it hard for us to hit the road again in the direction of Charleston/SC, another city that’s new to me. Watch this Riesling Space!!!