Today’s wine, the Rippon Jeunesse Young Vine Riesling 2006, is quintessential Vancouver. I say this not because this is a B.C. wine, but because it is the perfect accompaniment for Vancouver’s favourite food: sushi. Most of us don’t think about drinking wine when we eat sushi, but the right pairing can be truly exceptional. One of my favourites is a dry riesling, which helps cut the fat of the fish while also being clean and crisp enough not to interfere with sushi’s delicate flavours.
This wine is from New Zealand and is made in an almost fully dry style (although there is a touch of residual sugar here). For those not familiar with riesling, this wine has one of the grape’s classic smells, which is kind of like petrol or plasticine. Now, this is not an offensive or negative odour, it is just unusual for the uninitiated. I also smelled nuts and some citrus. Basically with this wine you get crsip and clean citrus, and a dry and minerally finish. As an add value, this is a biodynamic producer, so you know that the wine maker is thinking about the vineyard as a holistic organism.
I love this kind of riesling, but not everyone will love it and it’s bound to be a bit strange for some. However, once you start pairing wines like this with the right foods, it’s hard to go back.
$29 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars
*Shea Coulson is the author of Justgrapeswine.com, a Vancouver based wine blog focusing on wine and beer reviews, education, and wine industry trends and developments.
Last modified: March 11, 2010
