Delightful as rieslings always are, though this one was just plain sweet, and did not have the startling, sophisticated lemon cake-and-cinnamon effects that more exalted rieslings do. I must confess, I chose it for the label. And the provenance (Germany, specifically Nahe.) And the price -- retail, about $9.
Customer story: middle aged, in the act of taking a pinot grigio from the shelf, says she brought the same to her family's Thanksgiving and her elderly mother didn't like it. "I can't drink this!" "Mom, it's a Robert Mondavi pinot grigio. It's delicious."
"I can't drink this. Look in my refrigerator, there's a bottle of wine in there. I'll have that. It's a riesling."
"Mom. That one is from last year."
"So? It was never opened."
Middle-aged daughter dutifully opened the riesling that had been in the fridge for a year. Elderly mother sipped it happily, pronouncing it far finer than the fresh pinot grigio.
Telling me the story, middle aged daughter rolled her eyes and laughed. "I'm convinced it's the taste buds." She meant that old age wreaks havoc on them.
I weighed the story in my mind as I watched her depart. A very reputable but mass-produced California pinot grigio, not a grape to go tiger shooting with, versus a riesling -- unknown to be sure, but still -- a grape admired for age-worthy sugars and acids, that had been abundantly chilled for a year.
"Convinced it's the taste buds"? Yes. Yes, it may have been just that.
More on Two Princes here.
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