Just in Case

Balance in all things. Except when it's 15% off and free shipping.

My riesling stash had gone dangerously low, and I’ve been wishing I could go to the Finger Lakes. So when an email arrived from Fox Run Vineyards, I kiiiinda went a little nuts.

I may have bought a case of various rieslings.

Hey, it’s not as if it goes bad.

And as I’ve mentioned, riesling goes so well with so many types of food. Plus, you know, Thanksgiving and all. I definitely wanted some off-dry to take to the meal with me.

Fox Run is located on the west side of Seneca Lake in Penn Yan. Almost every winery makes at least some riesling as it’s the acknowledged signature grape of the area.

Constant Reader C. has asked in the past, how do you know if a riesling is dry or not? Fortunately Fox Run prints the riesling sugar guidelines scale right on their label. Not so fortunately, they don’t do it as much on the website.

So I wound up with a few more bottles labeled “medium sweet” than I expected. But I like spicy foods quite a bit, so we need something to pair with those too. Today I’m comparing their dry riesling and reserve.

Both of these are from 2019, which according to this vintage report, enjoyed a “dry and sunny September.” That usually makes for an excellent harvest!

With the dry riesling, I get pear and a little citrus on the nose. A little stony on the palate, and plenty of acidity. The reserve is definitely sweeter with more roundness, but it does clean up the palate nicely. The scale on the label puts this right on the line between medium-dry and medium sweet, and I don’t know if I’d like to go a whole lot sweeter than this. This will go over big with my family for Thanksgiving.

I also tried it with some slightly spicy veggie chili. As I expected, the fulness of the Reserve sort of “rolled” around the heat and worked nicely.

I can report that the wine also works with the cheesy potato accompaniment.

I think I’ll be taking one of the dry bottles for myself and anyone who wants to share, and one or two of the sweeter ones for the rest of the family. Now if only I could decide on the red…