Macrae Cole Ranch Riesling 4-Pack
$54.99 $̶9̶3̶.̶0̶0̶ 41% off List Price
2009 Cole Ranch Riesling
CT link above
We had an opportunity to try a bottle of the 2009 Macrae Family Vineyard Riesling, Cole Ranch last week. It was a lovely pale straw yellow with a tinge of green color. Chilled just a bit below perfect temperature, not much nose initially, but a whole lot of flavor. I picked up a nice citrus, maybe lemon and lime, some honeydew melon, and a tropical fruit I couldn’t put my finger on immediately, but eventually decided was kiwi fruit. Had a tough time deciding if it was off-dry, or if the lush fruit up front just made it seem that way. As the wine warmed up just a bit, I discovered a nice floral nose coming through, maybe honeysuckle. We had paired this with a meal that was just full of flavor, grilled shrimp, sugar snap peas, grilled asparagus, farro with cherry tomatoes. I’ll leave the details of all that to the lovely bahwm, but suffice it to say that the wine held up admirably against some serious competition. A really enjoyable wine, terrific with a meal or just on the front porch on a warm summer evening. Looking forward to getting some more.
EDIT: I thought this would be a decent buy at $20/bottle. At this price, it seems to me a real bargain.
Earlier this week, we had the great fortune to taste the '09 Macrae Family Vineyard Cole Ranch Riesling. I got it well-chilled—perhaps too much so, because upon first sniff, there was nothing noticeable on the nose. However, upon tasting, it was wonderful! There were some wonderful citrus flavors, with perhaps a bit of honeydew melon. It was very smooth, from what I believe to be the barrel aging. However, as I read the specs from the winery, there was no malolactic fermentation. This wine was made using 100% stainless steel. As the wine warmed up a bit, a slight note of petrol was apparent on the nose—as one often gets in a Riesling.
Now, to discuss our menu for the evening: We decided to pair this wine with some grilled shrimp marinated with butter and some Old Bay Seasoning. ddeuddeg peeled the shrimp first—no other way to do it! We also had some leftover farro (an old Italian grain) — heated for one minute in the micro with fresh mixed cherry tomatoes added. I made a dressing of one Tbsp plain olive oil, one Tbsp Basil Oil, a short pour of Shallot Vinegar, a bit of sea salt, Grains od Desire mixed herbs and a bit of freshly grated pepper. We also had grilled asparagus misted with EVOO & sprinkled with some sea salt before grilling and steamed Sugar Snap Peas with a little Truffle Oil and pepper. This was quite a flavorful meal, but the wine really held its own.
This wine is a must buy even for us, with a cellar that is already way too full! At this price point, we are on it!
And looking at these makes this even more interesting.
Alcohol: 12.9%
Total Acidity: 6.4 grams/liter
pH: 2.94
RS: 2.49%
Those remind me of some bubbly I’ve had.
This may indeed be difficult to resist, if I even try.
I was just looking at the same numbers. Low pH, nice acid to balance the 2.49% RS. No idea why you’d even try to resist.
We were fortunate enough to be gifted one of these recently (you know, upcoming nuptials and all), and popped it open this past week. Well, unscrewed it open… not so much pop… Anyway.
I remember we tried it on its own first off as it was a hot day and we thought “Hey, maybe this will be a nice refreshing white to sip on and cool off a bit”. We couldn’t find any specs on it online anywhere (the winery website was less than helpful, but that may have been because we were on a mobile device at the time), so we pretty much had no idea what we were getting into. The wine came out of the refrigerator at about 63 degrees, which was apparently slightly too cold, as there was initially nothing on the nose. It had a beautiful bleached hay color which sparkled in the glass - but maybe sparkled too much, as it appeared to be slightly frizzante. Just a couple of degrees later, the nose opened up and yielded some honeysuckle and apricot, and something citrus I couldn’t place. On taking a sip, the flavors of lychee, pear and nectarine rolled across my palate, and I recalled it tasting sweet along with fruity. I called it off-dry (again, not knowing the specs until just now). I felt it was missing some acidic balance though - I don’t know if it just didn’t hit my palate or what, since a little research on the Cole Ranch vineyards said that it was known for its high-acidity wines. However, we were just drinking it all on its lonesome. The finish came across with honey. I noted that this was a fruitier Riesling than I’m used to, and it actually reminded me more of a still, drier Vidal or Niagara.
Then I thought, “This wants food. It wants cheese and crackers. And a charcuterie plate.” On second thought, maybe there was acidity in there if I was wanting fatty stuff to go with it…hm. Anyway, we pulled out some salami and Swiss cheese, and once a few nibbles were sampled with the wine, I definitely noticed an improvement in the acidity. Still less than I thought there would be, but knowing now the specs of it, it all makes sense.
For you “give me a score” people, we had initially rated this at an 87 (again, no specs, didn’t know if it was supposed to be sweeter or not), but today on having full knowledge of the wine (HAK is staring at me) (stop staring at me), I would bump that up to a solid 89.
Overall, it’s a nice wine. We unfortunately cannot make a purchase today as we’re slightly tapped out for money. You know, upcoming nuptials and all :happy:
As my lovely bride to be just posted above, we had a chance to taste this wine the other day. It had spent a couple days in the wine fridge and after pulling it out of there, knowing we were going to want to drink it soon I had placed it in the regular fridge for about half an hour or so while we were putting together a desk. Needing something refreshing, I then opened it up for us to have a few sips.
Most of what I would have to say has already been typed up by her, as I was writing down the notes while she was doing most of the speaking of the aromas and flavors…she’s much better at picking out all the nuances anyway. For me it’s usually the generics of “light fruit”, “dark fruit”, “earth”, or things like that.
Anyway, back to this wine. We both immediately noticed the frizzante and were having trouble picking up anything on the nose. That’s when I went to get the laser thermometer to doublecheck the temp of the wine. Finding out that it was at the appropriate temperature, I just hoped it simply needed to be a bit warmer. As it did warm up slightly more, that did come to be the case as that’s when I began picking up the tropical fruits and such. My first reaction was pineapple, but as she started rattling off apricot & pear & such, those things clicked in the brain too.
It is not a mineral Riesling, as you often find, since I detected almost none of those types of notes on the palate. The honey on the finish, an some of the other parts of the palate did give way to its being somewhat of an off-dry wine.
With the difficulty we were having with the acidity coming through for us, that’s when I pulled out the salami and swiss. It certainly went much better with some food, so I would suggest as such for anyone buying it. This would make a nice wine to have with a meat & cheese plate during appetizers.
That’s about all I can think of for now…back to finishing putting together desks and such. 
An interesting contrast to our experience. We noticed no frizzante at all, yet a lot of the same taste sensations. Except I got none of the reminders of Vidal or Niagara, neither of which particularly appeal to me. Biggest surprise of all was the high rating you gave it, since frizzante usually equates with flawed bottle. Apparently not always.
Having run across a few fizzante bottles in the past, and generally not caring for them (a particular cab especially), ~could~ the low pH give this sensation, an acid tingling resembling fizzante?
Maybe, but it sounded to me like she was describing an appearance, rather than a taste sensation.
It was more an appearance, yes. Like there was a top layer of bubbles in the glass, but definitely didn’t come across frizzante on the palate. Might’ve been the way it was poured. Maybe a residue of something in the glasses. I wouldn’t say it was a flaw, aside from the look, it didn’t seem to affect the wine itself.
Thanks for clearing the non-IH bubbles out of the way so I could see this.
Does it also work on wine goggles?
…I wish I still had a bottle of the Esterlina Cole Ranch Riesling. 'Twould be an interesting comparison with this one, sourced from the same vines…
You taunt me. There were two of the '10; the Ranch Riesling and the Ranch Riesling DRY. Some of both still in the cellar. And these with an additional year…
You’re gonna cave anyway, might as well do it now and be done with it
What took you so long?
Last Wooter to Woot: ddeuddeg
Last Purchase: just now
Someday soon I am going to do a side-by-side of the 2010 Bodegas M Albariño Querida Jack Ranch Vineyard and the 2011 Bodegas Paso Robles Albariño Galicia Jack Ranch Vineyard.
Would be happy to see more wine.woots from either of these producers but especially Bodegas M as I really enjoyed their Tempranillo.