I don't know about you but for the most part, I am not into sweet white wines. There, I said it and I feel so much better. Now you might be asking, "why are you starting off this review by saying this Desert Wine Guy?" Well honestly guys, I am so tired of tasting both white and red wines that just love to come across as sweet and over the top as far as sweet fruit is concerned. Now, I don't mind a fruity wine to an extent but it has become so common place for wines to simply offer up nothing more then a sweet & fruity liquid, I feel like I am being played. I don't spend $20 for a wine for it to be a sugar or fruit bomb as I can spend $5 instead and get four of the same wines. Now, a lot of people will tell me that in reality, wine has very little sugar in it and I agree with that statement but whatever has my palate registering something as sweet that is enough for me to say it is indeed, sweet. I am not going to take the time to decipher or break down exactly what is causing that sweetness perception on my palate and to be honest, I don't really care as it is too late at that point and it wouldn't save the wine from a basement score anyway. This is why when I review a wine and tell you that it is overly fruity and jammy it really means that it is sweet. Those of you who drink wine enough to understand what I mean here will appreciate what I am saying and I think, agree as well. Well anyway wine lovers, let's talk about today's wine that is up for review.
Today I will be talking about the 2021 Fox Run, Dry Riesling. I paid $15.99 for this wine which to me at least for a Riesling is ever so slightly on the higher end of the price scale. The alcohol percentage here comes in at 12.5% and the grapes for this wine come from the Finger Lakes AVA which is located in upstate New York.
Let's start off here by discussing the label on the bottle but before I discuss that, I just want to let you know that the cap (foil) that is supposed to be over the top of the cork was not there. As a matter of fact, all the wines in the box had no cap on them. Now, as for the label, I don't really care for it. I just really don't care for the yellowish color as I think it just seems off for some reason. In general I think that there is too little writing on the label... it's just too blank. For me, I want a little business on my label, something to draw my attention and this label doesn't do it. I actually only bought the wine because I wanted a Riesling but was tired of the sweetness they were all presenting so when I saw the word "dry" on the label I jumped on it.
Let's talk bouquet now. As far as the bouquet is concerned, I really like it. Petrol starts off the nose here but it is well controlled. Following that petrol are notes of bright lime, and an ultra light yet fragrant note of cantaloupe. There is an overall florality note here that lies way deep in the bouquet and it just...works very well.
And now for the real deal, what does the wine taste like? Okay so, let me begin here by confirming that this is indeed a dry wine. At first I was thinking that the wine was too dry but as it warmed up just a hair, it did develop very nicely, it did expose more of itself while still living up to its label as "dry". A combo type note of lemon zest as well as lemon grass is expressed here thankfully however neither note is too astringent. While this combo type note may sound very acidic and overpowering, I promise you that it isn't, it is nice. Yes, you will taste these notes and they do dominate the wine but there are other notes that are allowed to express themselves nicely. So...Desert Wine Guy, you said "other notes", what are those other notes you are talking about? Well folks, that's a good question and I will continue here by telling you that the wine in general is bracing as it comes across the palate. While this is not my preferred style of Riesling I do appreciate it here. As amazing as it may seem even though the wine is very dry, if you take the time to think about what you are actually tasting, there is a light component of sweetness to the wine. At first, this component is felt but when you take he time to decipher the wine you realize that it is there and it works amazingly well. There is a floraly component to the wine as well and believe it or not, it really makes a difference in the wine and how you appreciate it. In my personal opinion, this florality allows this wine to be where it is on my palate. Acidity here is high and this also elevates the wine to where it will end up on the Desert Wine Guy rating scale (yes, my mind is made up). What really jumps on the acidity is the stone in the soil that these grapes were grown in, you can taste it in the wine guys. To me, this stone note is super evident and is truly amazing and brings a wonderful sense of a minerality note to the wine. That cantelope note I picked up on the nose is here as well and is more then content on lingering in the back but that doesn't mean it isn't tasted, effective in getting its point across, and above all, totally enjoyed. As a last note here, I found a sewmi brilliance to the wine, a brightness that I found to be refreshing.
On the wrap up now, what I find weird here is that this wine is not being reviewed more often. I have seen many reviews of the "semi-dry" version of this wine, however there are none for the "dry" version that I am reviewing. I have to repeat something to you guys, I am normally not a fan of Rieslings that are this dry however (that is a big however) I most definitely can see this wine being a very good and high rated wine for those who are. I'll just cut to the chase here. For me, I would rate this wine at 92 points however... if you enjoy a very dry Riesling I would definitely put this wine at 94 points which would mean it would be cellar worthy in my book for sure. As I said, at first, I was kind of put off by the dryness of the wine but give it a few to warm just a bit and it will open up very nicely to where it will become a wine that I think you will definitely able to work with, appreciate and above all...enjoy.
The Desert Wine Guy
