It’s hardly original to suggest that lobster loves Riesling, but back in Europe lobster is generally a luxury food and saying that could be interpreted as an elitist statement. Here in the land of the lobster roll that isn’t necessarily the case. Pictured above is the lobser roll (with red beats and goat cheese) that was my lunch yesterday at the Thames Oyster House in Baltimore/MD. It was the most delicious lobster roll I ever had, not only because the lobster meat was perfectly cooked, but also because that roll had a delicately sweet taste and a wonderful texture that made the whole damn near perfect. What was missing? Only a glass of medium-dry Riesling feinherb from the Mosel, Nahe or Mittelrhein regions. That would have been an electrifying combination and if carefully chosen the wine would not have turned the whole into a luxury food experience. Feeling slightly disappointed by not being able to enjoy that combo we headed off to DC.
Just a few blocks from the Capitol we had a totally different lobster experience at the James Beard Award winning Rasika Restaurant which has the finest Indian food I’ve eaten in the US. The lobster dish is the one in the late white bowl in the middle of the table. Thanks to somm Simon Stilwell there’s a great Riesling list here, most of it German. The 2012 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett form J.J. Prüm in the Mosel was just perfect with that lobster in its creamy sauce with a gentle spicy warmth thanks to its great balance and enormous vitality. That’s a combination it would (sadly) be extremely difficult to experience in the many fine restaurants in India as that nation’s burgeoning hi-end gastronomic culture has yet to discover what German Riesling can do for their food.
Our tasting yesterday evening was outside Plume Restaurant in the Jefferson Hotel and for the first time on this Riesling Road Trip it rained and our whale got wet. The group of somms and distributors inside were OK though because of the angle the rain struck the container, but water was running down the outside of the metal grill that covers most of the “open” side. In the steamy heat of DC, which the rain didn’t make any better, the 2012 Leiwener Klostergarten Riesling Kabinett from Carl Loewen, also Mosel, really shone. I’m beginning to understand how well this category of German wine fits this climate. Medium-sweet they are, which is one of the least sexy wine descriptors going, but the taste under these conditions is seriously sexy!
PS Riesling Road Trip 2 is fast approaching it’s end in New York Wine City. It may take me a day or two, but after I return to NYWC I will write one more story that about our adventures that tries to draw conclusions about what we experienced. Be patient and watch this Riesling Space!
Rasika is indeed a great place. I had a very nice dinner http://schiller-wine.blogspot.de/2013/05/riesling-pinot-noir-and-indian-cuisine.html with Ernst Loosen there.