Ball Square Fine Wines

Special Tuesday with Leitz wines at Ball Square

Rebecca and I took our places at the Tasting Station this past Tuesday to do what it is we do every second day of the week: meet with our vendors and evaluate the wines they have in tow. The pace was like the weather, mostly calm with bursts of activity. (Check out our Score Card below.)

Tom “the Professor” Welch got things started at 10:30am sharp with a line-up that looked promising. Sanford Chardonnay had me reminiscing in “old man Dan” mode about how this wine used to be a “real player” before the world was inundated with a million similar wines; unfortunately it didn’t live up to the memory. The 2008 Brancott Pinot Noir from New Zealand earned points for being varietally correct and affordable (would be $11.99 on the shelf) while the Wyndam Estates Show Reserve Shiraz 2004 and the Marques de Murrieta Rioja Riserva 2005 didn’t succeed in floating our boats. We told Tom we’d look to add the Brancott when we had room on the shelf. The day continued with similar batting averages from Asa at Horizon, Dan from Café Europa and Kurt from Masciarelli Wine Company.

The predictable highlight of the day was (drumroll...) our 1:30pm appointment with Brian Lamb from Atlantic Imports and his special guest Johannes Leitz from Weingut Josef Leitz of the Rheingau region of Germany. Mr. Leitz was a classic European farmer/ artisan winemaker with mitts for hands, broad shoulders and an obvious passion for his life’s work. He brought a huge, three-panel, panoramic photograph of the vineyards he farms on the banks of the Mosel river and used it to explain how this uniquely situated hillside was ideal for growing Riesling. We tasted six of his wines which ranged from bone-dry (Eine Zwei Dry Trocken 2008 $15.99 retail) to full fruited (Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spatlese 2007 $37.99 retail). All of his wines showed great purity, balance and finesse with varying degrees of minerallity, richness and vibrancy. I thought the Dragonstone (Rudesheimer Drachenstein) Riesling QBA 2008 at a suggested retail of $15.99 would be the best addition as it was affordable, easy drinking and had a cool, recognizable name. Rebecca preferred the Rudesheimer Klosterlay Kabinett 2008 $17.99 for it’s slatey minerallity and layered fruit. Truth be told, we would both have been happy to buy all six wines, but that wouldn’t be a good use of the wine budget!

You can check out our experience with Johannes (our first attempt at videotaping…) and then tell us:

1. Do you think we should go with my choice, Rebecca’s or both?

2. In a relatively small section like Germany (27 facings) do you think having multiple wines from a single producer is OK or would you prefer more diversity?

Score Card
Total wines tasted: 54
Wines that made “the short list”: 7
One addition you can look for this weekend: 07 Telegramme Chateneuf du Pape