by Patrick Ogle

Pinnacle Ridge's Grunder Veltliner (2017) is made from an Austrian Grape that has found a new home in Eastern Pennsylvania.

This wine's nose is like a clear, crisp summer day right after a sun shower.

Yes, I actually thought that.

The smell is also lightly green and a tad astringent. The taste is quite, well, Gruner-like.  It is deceptive on the first sip because you get fruit and roundness before the bracing acidity smacks you in the face. There is stone fruit--like a ripe peach--here and maybe a hint of some sort of citrus. This wine compares favorably to  Austrian Gruners that cost about the same amount (around $18.99 retail, $13.99 from the winery). It has solid fruit, a sort of big mouth feel but also quite solid acidity, which is why this wine is so good with food.

The first time I had it was with Japanese food and it worked wonderfully. I confess I'd already had a few so I bought a second bottle to try out later. If anything my opinion of the wine rose. 

Pinnacle Ridge is a winery in the Lehigh Valley AVA in Kutztown in Eastern Pennsylvania. In addition to this lovely Gruner they produce an excellent 100 percent Chardonnay sparkler that retails around $25 and $19.99. Judging from this small sample size the winery is one to keep an eye on. One gripe with smaller wineries from states not generally associated with wine is price. Small producers often have to charge more but these wines are value priced given the quality. 

Of course my writing that this wine is "Gruner-like" above is a broad statement. I've had light Gruners that were fairly fruity and light on acidity, gruners that were sparse and super acidic. There are Gruners that are citrus-y or that taste 
like peaches. I've had a few golden-colored oak aged Gruners that should have been aged much longer than I aged them. Gruner can produce large yields. This sounds like a GREAT thing but with wine grapes? The more grapes the lower the 
quality.When growers go for large amounts of grapes they get a lesser wine. Likewise when the grapes are harvested makes a difference. Early harvest means less sugar and possibly more acidity. Find out more about the grape HERE. Gruner is grown all over the area of the former Austro-Hugarian Empire and, in recent years, is being grown in the Pacific Northwest.

It isn't all terroir (the land and climate etc) and grapes as some say. It is winemakers and Pinnacle Ridge must have solid ones.

​by Patrick Ogle

Castell D' Age (Penedes, Spain)'s Xarel-Lo is a still white wine mad from the premiere grape used in Cava, Spain's primary sparkling wine. Indeed, Castell D' Age is a producer of excellent Cava.

This is a tart, nicely acidic wine with medium/medium full body with  citrus fruit and green apples. Xarel-lo can have herbal characteristics but I did not really get that here although there is a hint of something floral in the wine.

This wine did call to mind how I have repeatedly heard that in Cava production, Xarel-lo is the "Chardonnay."  That is to say the highest quality grape. I could quibble with this given the wonderful Viura/Macabeo wines I've had but for the moment let's run with the notion.

In part I suggest this because this wine calls to mind moderately priced cold weather Chardonnays which isn't what I've had in past versions of Xarel-Lo wines. There isn't opulence here. There is Malic acid and lemon zest. It is a wine that has the power and acidity to cut through richer foods but also pleasant enough to drink on its own.

I picked this not necessarily to talk about it but to talk about Xarel-Lo in
general. This isn't a rare grape. It is, in fact, widely grown in Southern Spain. Several sources say that around 20,000 acres of the grape are grown in Spain. Yet, despite its being regarded as a high quality grape, it isn't on the shelves of every wine shop.

Why?

​One reason here is that a lot of Xarel-Lo winds up in Cava. Another is probably because we tend to drink the tried and true. Yet, with Xarel-Lo, even those wedded to wine orthodoxy can find a patron of the grape. So search it out. There are plenty of good examples.