The Desert WIne Guy - 2019 Crestwood Barrel Riesling

 

2019 Crestwood Barrel Riesling

    What did I do today? Well, I had the pleasure (not) of going to Home Depot and dealing with a very happy (once again, not) cashier. Oh what a joy this women was to ......talk to (at). She was so much of a joy that when I left the store I realized ya know, it really is true, you do get the best answers talking to yourself. Why am I here in the first place you ask? Ya see, there I was, on my knees in the garden with sweat dripping down on top of my sweat (it was humid), with mud and soil all over my hands and up to my elbows. Every once and a while, I would I would have the pleasure of looking up to see that there were some beautiful rain clouds headed my way. Unfortunately, lately that is all I have been seeing in my part of Freedom Florida, beautiful clouds as the rain has been avoiding my area. Suddenly, what seemed out of nowhere, I realized that I was about to run out of drip irrigation heads and I needed them. In a hastily made decision, off to the computer I went, to re-buy a pack of 100 for $19 as well as a few other connectors and miscellaneous irrigation items.

Mosel Germany Riesling Wine

About five minutes later I realized that I could not (didn't want to) wait the 3 days it would take to get them so, what to do now? Take a twenty minute drive over to the dreaded Home Depot, that is what to do. Guys, $30 for 20 drip heads folks, yes, that's right, $30 for 20 as opposed to $19 for 100 on Amazon. Remember, I needed (wanted) these drip heads now and so I had no choice but to cancel the Amazon order of the same product which is made in the same country (China) and to not only deal with overpaying for the same product at Home Depot but had to deal with the fact that I couldn't even support an American business. Luckily, as a consolation, I decided to make myself feel better and review a Riesling. Would this wine brighten my day? That's a good question, so let's see just how this worked out for me.
   Today I am reviewing the 2019 Crestwood Barrel Riesling which is from the Columbia Valley in Washington State. I bought this wine at Aldi's and paid $7.99 for it. The wine is sealed with a cork and comes in at 13% alcohol.
   Looking at the label now, I actually like it. Where the ram on the label came from I don't know but I think the graphics were well done and really seems to fit the rest of the label nicely. I like the size as well as the font for "Crestwood" as well as all the other fonts of the other words. The Script used on the wines varietal is a nice touch as well and are well placed.

Riesling Grapes on The Vine

   Let's discuss the bouquet of this Riesling now. Honeydew and honeysuckle.....yep, that is definitely what I am picking up here. While there is a limited bouquet display, I can tell you that I am getting the impression that this is gong to be a very tropical and fruit forward white wine with a decent amount of sweetness to it as well.
   As I get to the palate now, I need to let you know that those bouquet notes I picked up definitely transfer over here and they are as expected, upfront and not shy about being there either. Those two notes also bring a super juicy tropicalness to the wine here on the palate and it turns out that juicy tropicalness is what this wine is indeed all about. At first, the wine left me with almost a slight palate feel of almost a peach/orange blossom type, sweetish nectar palate perception as it spread out across my tongue. In the beginning, I kind of sat back in my chair for a second as I really had to take this in because I was waiting (hoping) for the rest of the wine to "kick in". I have to admit, I did find it sort of.....weird and it kind of threw me off for a second or two. Luckily, the wine continued on and that nectar perception kind of lessened up a good bit and the rest of the wine did indeed, kick in. The wine continued to show itself off by presenting a unique note of a quick zippiness of sorts which itself lasted about two seconds and honestly again really caught my attention as well as I found it to be a sort of momentary shift, a distraction of sorts away from just tropicalness and into another direction. The wine wasn't done though as almost immediately and in keeping with the tropical theme, that peach note came on again only without the sense of nectar and seemed to latch onto that zippiness and wow guys, they get along so well. Have no fear folks as the wine was not harmed in any way by the abundance of a peach note. Another note that is intermixed here but also makes its presence known is that of orange blossom.

Riesling Palate Characteristics

I know I mentioned a combo type note earlier but this is different because the nectar note had clearly faded to a good extent which allowed both the peach and orange blossom note to stand on their own and really shine through. This standalone peach is a note which was almost hidden now and took a second to identify, at least for me anyway as I wasn't expecting it ti come back as it did. Once you do pick it up though, you see how it influences the rest of the wine in a subtle type of way. Now I have to tell you about a complaint I have with the wine and that complaint is that it is a bit over the top as far as sweetness goes. That nectar note was my first warning and I was alarmed a bit as it left a sweetness which spread across the wine and that did cause me some concern that I was never really quite able to overlook. Okay, so, Coming along next and at the same presentation level is a green apple note which is light yet certainly enough to be tasted and appreciated. Somewhere in this mix is some Meyer Lemon but you really have to sit back and investigate what you are tasting which I am not sure the average consumer (not my wine guys) will want to do. I know I was prompted to look into this note as it really bothered me that I couldn't at first get it. While it took me some thought, it was worth it. Following all of this up is a bit of nectarine which comes in at the same time as that apple. This is also a note that is ever so slightly more able to be picked up for the inquisitive wine drinker but nonetheless seems to make its mark here on the wine as well. Okay guys, you now have this review as it is indeed completed. Let's move onto the conclusion paragraph and wrap it all up.

Your Glass Being Poured

   Now that we are at the conclusion paragraph I will tell you that I wish the wine had a tad less sweetness to it. This sweetness certainly does have to be reflected in the final score this wine receives. As a positive, a big positive, I hope that I have convinced you that this is the ultimate Summer pool wine because it definitely is. I don't think there will be anyone who will complain about drinking this wine, wherever they are and whatever stage of wine exploration they may currently be in. If you gave me a glass of this at a pool I would be very happy. I bet you could even pass this wine off as way more expensive then it is just be careful you don't have any wine "experts" floating around on a raft when you do that :) On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I am giving this wine 92 points.

                                                                                              The Desert Wine Guy

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