Christie Kiley on June 16, 2014 0 Comments I love white wines. Wait, have I mentioned that already? When I first started out in my wine adventures and wine professional journey over a decade ago, I knew absolutely nothing about wine. When I started in the hospitality industry, it was in the kitchens. There was one restaurant I worked in, a high-end Swiss establishment in a ski town that served to equally high-end patrons. They knew their wine and they also knew good food when it was in front of them too. But really, who wouldn’t love any traditional Swiss dish put in front of them? I wanted to learn everything I could about the restaurant business, from front to back, so I asked if I could serve on my nights off from the kitchen. The owner handed me the wine list/book and I went home to study the wines and their tasting notes. It was all so foreign to me! I had no idea Pinot Noir, Merlot, Riesling, etc, were grapes! The next day I stood at a table with the owner posing as a customer and I failed selling wine to him, miserably. I vowed at that point to stay in the kitchen. A few years went by and the thirst for a little wine knowledge came back to me. I had become more than comfortable in commercial kitchens and had moved up to line chef from prep cook. I really only loved red wines at the time, but the more I learned, I realized that white wine had so much more food affinity than their counterpart reds. Their terroir, minerality, perfume and acidity profile just left so much room for so many pairings. This is why I might bring you so many more white wine reviews than the latter. This week, I bring you what is now an Alsacian favorite of mine, the Domaine Dirler Cade Pinot (Blanc) 2012. Alsace is located along the 49th parallel north. To give you an idea, it is as far north as the Canadian-United States border. This creates a cooler climate with shorter growing seasons and in mountainous terrain, daily sun exposure is only for a short period of time. There are only a few grapes you can grow in these conditions. As Alsace shares a close proximity to Germany, their varietals will be similar as well: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, some Pinot Noir and the one varietal of this wine, Pinot Blanc. A Little History The Domaine Dirler Cade winery is located in the humble village of Bergholtz, with only around one-thousand residents, inside of the appellation of Alsace. The winery goes back a few generations and began with the founder of John Dirler set up shop in Bergholtz. Originally, the winery specialized in sparkling wine. Five generations later, the winery operates on a modest 18 vineyards with 42% of them classified as Grand Cru. The name of the winery gained an additional half in 1998 with the marriage of Ludivine, the daughter of Leon and Nicole Hell-Cade winery in the neighboring town of Mulhouse. By 2000, the Dirler-Cade name was adopted. Since 1998, when they began a new chapter, they also decided to venture out in another way of how they grew their fruit, biodynamically. That was the turning point which brought their wines to a higher level. A Little Wine The biodynamic culture and practice is about representing the land and its fruits as naturally as possible. It is about producing something pure, unadulterated, as nature would have it. There is something wildly interesting about this wine, in that it contains a touch of unleashed pleasure. The orchard and stone fruits blend with spring flowers and a touch of Christmas spices on the nose. After a few more minutes, the wine truly opens up with more spice, dustings of chamomile tea with lemon and honey. On the palate it is rich and round with a silky lusciousness, showcasing mature apples and pears and the stone fruits noted on the nose. The finish is full with a subtle mouth-watering acidity and lingering perfume. It is a truly social and easy wine. Pair this with your spicy spring and summer dishes from shrimp kebabs to bratwurst and caramelized onions in brown butter. So amazing! More Wine Reviews: Fattoria Poggerino Chianti Classico 2010 Cape Bleue Rosé 2012 from Jean-Luc Colombo Cakebread Cellars Red Hills 2010 Zinfandel F X Pichler 2012 Loibner Loibenberg Smaragd Grüner Veltliner (Wachau)
