After a cold night the day was crisp, bracing, bright, and sunny. That pretty much describes my feelings about the 2008 Willi Schaefer Mosel Riesling. The wine showed up in the local market a couple of weeks ago at $20 a bottle. Several came home with me, but Sunday was the first opportunity to try it.
The wine is bottled under screw cap and after twisting the cap and peeling the liner from the opening there was a small pop as the pressure in the bottle rushed out. It brought out a tiny whiff of kerosene, but it also brought out some tropical fruit, a hint of lime and even a bit of mace. The taste was definitely mango / papaya sitting on top of tart citrus and green apple. Great acid in this wine kept its focus clear and sharp. There was slight sweetness, but the acid was more than a counter balance. It just gave this wine a life of its own.
There was an experimental pork roast to go along with the wine. The roast was a seven pound Boston butt or shoulder roast. It was rubbed with salt, brown sugar and pepper and marinated for twenty four hours in the refrigerator. After coming to room temperature it was trussed and roasted for five and one half hours at a low temperature of 325 degrees. It rested for another hour after exiting the oven. The inter muscular fat and the cartilage literally melted into the meat.
Some of the pan drippings were combined with some vermouth, sugar, rice vinegar and papaya and cooked down to a rich but fruity sauce to go over the pork. The original recipe called for peaches rather than papaya, but after tasting the Riesling I substituted. The pork was succulent and earthy and the wine played well with those flavors but since the sauce was both tart and sweet, much like the wine, the two of them made some beautiful music together.
$20 and 9% alcohol.
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