J!

It's not that long to our wedding, so posts on here will become a rarity as we approach the big day. There has been plenty organised so far, but we'll soon be entering the mildly hectic final phase of preparation, if we haven't done so already.

Nevertheless, I do have some other things to report at this juncture. One concerns a wine I posted about in spring last year. I eulogised about it back then, and until recently, still had three bottles stored away in the basement. A visit from my dad and uncle a couple of weeks ago (the two were due to accompany me on my stag do) was reason enough to crack open another one. It was a good job I did, because the wine in question, Pfeffingens' 2005 Weilberg GG, is undoubtedly at its peak - and will stay this way for quite a number of years, I feel. This time, I served the wine in large round glasses - a move that paid off. The wine has gained an added richness and layer of complexity that impressed us all. The fruit is that little bit more oily but less forward, if you get my meaning. Top stuff.

I didn't want to fall to the floor with a thud after those lofty heights but rather glide down gracefully from vinous cloud nine. The following wine promised a feather-bed landing.

Weingut Benzinger, J! Riesling 2010, Pfalz
This is a wine by the daughter Julia Benzinger. Technically, it's hovering just on the limit of what can legally be called dry, hence the absence of "trocken". Given the more, shall we say, corruscating nature of the vintage, I was expecting a bit of residual sweetness to be just what the doctor ordered. However, this was a funny one in that it actually made me want the wine to be drier than it was (for a change). It certainly made for great quaffing in front of the television while Manchester United were busy throwing away a two-nil lead at home to Basel (didn't know whether to laugh or cry about that result). Yet, on close inspection, I found the sweetness to be ever so slightly cloying; there seemed to be a disconnect between that and the wine's other components, if truth be told. In view of the vintage, this was the last thing I'd have expected.

On the other side of the coin, the wine showed great fruit character very much in line with Frau Benzinger's credo on the bottle's "back label". In this respect, the packaging is very honest: the "front label" is a combination of black and shiny pink with "J!" shouting out in large font. I'll spare your eyes from looking at it. Suffice to say, I think the wine is targeted at a certain demographic and definitely succeeds in this regard. Not that this is a bad thing, I hasten to add.