Sunset and Older Riesling

A cold day yesterday, but sunset was gorgeous,  All afternoon a skillet  full of pork, sauerkraut and apples braised away in a low oven.  The sharp, acrid smell of the sauerkraut and the sweet smell of the apples made it hard to wait until dinner - a true perfume.

Reaching back into the deep, dark reaches of the cellar I came out with a Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett from the 2004 vintage.  It's obvious from the picture that the wine had turned golden with age; it was no longer the bright green gold of its youth.  Deep aromas of ripe apples and grilled lemons filled the glass. 

While the color may have aged the wine was still tart and crisp with apple and grapefruit flavors.  There was a wonderful mouth feel to this wine, more like an auslese than a kabinett.  It was delicious with the food - sweet enough to counteract the sauerkraut and tart enough to cut through the fatty pork.  Wonderful stuff, but the last of my 2004 Rieslings. 

2004 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett.  8.5% alcohol and $22  eight years ago.