Wine with Meg + Mel
The fun + frank podcast which helps you navigate the world of wine. Hosted by Australia's first female Master of Wine Meg Brodtmann, and self-titled Master of Sabrage Mel Gilcrist.
Wine with Meg + Mel
How to buy a german riesling - learn the terminology
German Riesling demystifies the often confusing terminologies found on labels by breaking down quality classifications based on ripeness levels at harvest and their relationship to final sweetness. We unpack the intricate world of German wine labels to help you navigate these complex yet incredibly rewarding wines.
• German quality wine is ranked based on grape sugar levels at harvest, not final sweetness
• Kabinett (11.5% potential alcohol) features citrus, green apple, and high acidity
• Spätlese (13% potential alcohol) shows more ripeness with red apple and apricot notes
• Auslese (14% potential alcohol) often includes some botrytis influence with marmalade character
• Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese represent noble rot-affected and dried botrytis grapes
• Eiswein (ice wine) offers concentrated sweetness without botrytis, yielding just 50 liters per ton
• Alcohol level on the label indicates residual sugar – lower alcohol means more sweetness
• VDP eagle symbol on bottles indicates membership in an elite producer group
• Vineyard designations like "Grosses Gewächs" represent single-vineyard, high-quality wines
• Wines with residual sugar provide perfect balance to high natural acidity
• German Rieslings can age beautifully, developing complexity while maintaining freshness
Next week: Is Nebbiolo the next Sangiovese? We explore whether this Italian variety is becoming Australia's next big alternative grape variety.
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Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We are here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Mel Dillacruz, joined by Master of Wine Meg Brotman. Meg, what are we doing?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sitting up very straight because I've been told that my posture was crap and you couldn't see my mouth. We are doing, we're going to do.
Speaker 1:Because we're recording, because I need to put videos on social media.
Speaker 2:Yes, Sorry, we are doing German Riesling, specifically focusing on the words yes, I think, isn't it the?
Speaker 1:terminology yes, the labelling terms. So we did get a message and I'm sorry, friend, I can't find the original. I can't remember if it was dm or email or whatever, but I remember there was a message from someone saying that, um, they, I don't know if they'll do it, I think they must be doing wesset. And the thing that they were struggling with it's hard was all the terminology yes, when you have to learn terms like schrock and bierenosch, lazy, it's not that easy.
Speaker 2:No, german language is hard to start with, but just be grateful that you don't have to learn ambergibierte, because we used to have to teach that in WSET. So that's basically a number on the bottle of wine qualitetswein ambergibierte saying that it's been tasted and that it's been approved. We don't do that anymore. It's a QBA wine, anyway.
Speaker 1:Well, if you are looking to get into German Rieslings and want to know what all the different labelling turns are, this will be the episode for you. But first, Meg, what are you being drink? Oh, I had.
Speaker 2:You sound excited. I did I just. I do love Aldi and I know that I talk a lot about it, but I had a. I'm just trying to find it. I photograph it now so that I know what I'm doing. Hang on, I'm just scrolling through the photos. A 2023 limited release Chardonnay from Margaret River, 13% alcohol, and the brand was Blackstone Paddock. Okay, so it was an Aldi wine that they had sent us and we didn't do it in the episode because I think we did the episode for quick Christmas drinks from Aldi how to drink well without breaking the budget. You'll have to have a look at the price. It was again, which is what we said in the Aldi episode Margaret River. It's like someone said bottle me a Margaret River wine.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And this is just the skill of their buying team. That would be a good job. I reckon. Buying for Aldi It'd be tricky, it'd be clever.
Speaker 1:It actually would be very hard and it'd really test your skills. It would. They make all their wines exemplify a place. Yeah, but doing that at a price range that they can sell it for $8 is some crazy stuff.
Speaker 2:I imagine this is probably more than $8, but it was just delicious beautiful, balanced oak, some peach sort of character, nectarine, moderate acidity. I don't know if it had malo. I didn't feel like it had malo I didn't feel like it had malolactic characteristics, but it wasn't a high acidity from a cool climate.
Speaker 1:I feel like healthy wines don't often have high acidity.
Speaker 2:You're probably right, because it's more general public kind of yeah, approachable wine, really, really delicious, and again, one of those wines that I think, if you're looking into ageing wines, put it down for five years.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not going to be the greatest wine, but it's going to show you some of that complexity of aged Chardonnay character.
Speaker 1:You heard it here first McBrutman MW says that you can age Aldi Chardonnay. Yeah, for sure. Anyway, we love an Aldi Reco because he lives.
Speaker 2:I know it's just crazy at the moment. I'm sorry, it's ridiculous and I'm one of these people that just ignores prices pretty much, but I'm just like, oh no, I know, the price is everything. Yeah, I've even reverted to going back to Costco. That is sad, I know.
Speaker 1:Okay, fun fact.
Speaker 2:OIV World Wine Production in 2024 is estimated to be the lowest since 1961.
Speaker 2:production in 2024 is estimated to be the lowest since 1961. Yeah, even lower than the previous record low in 2023. It's not well. It's obviously changing economic conditions, in that people are drinking less, but also climactic conditions. There's been a lot of drought around, there was a lot of frost, there was a lot of storms. It's good. I think we need to be in balance, but you know, you see that Bordeaux is ripping out. What's it? 8,000 hectares or something crazy that they're ripping out. Oh my God, I mean they've got 124,000 hectares. Okay, so it's big. But yeah, I think we need to get back to that balance and just concentrate on I sound French, but that regionalisation where this is good for the volume, and I'm talking even countrywide.
Speaker 1:Regionalisation. Yeah, those French. They're not very good at their regionalisation, are they?
Speaker 2:Well, they are. But you know, the Languedoc shouldn't have so many bloody wines that they do, and they should just focus on doing wine well at a good price. But yeah, we are definitely drinking lower. But the US, interestingly, they maintained their harvest levels and I know that they're ripping out vines in the Napa, so I don't think they're getting the message.
Speaker 1:No, no, no Things is.
Speaker 2:Well, the tariffs are going to hit them pretty hard. Anyway, we won't go into that.
Speaker 1:I could talk about that for hours. No, but I have a feeling that our next wine news we might be who knows? Anyway. So let's get to it. Do you want to give us the overview first?
Speaker 2:Right. So the Germans have 13 wine-growing regions, right from which you can make quality wine. So qualitats fine. Within those 13 regions, they rank the quality of the wine based on the sugar level at harvest. It's got nothing to do with how sweet the wine is, it's just got to do with the ripeness of the grapes at harvest.
Speaker 1:Right, so even if it is picked with a higher ripeness, it could still be fermented to completely dry. Yes, so we are talking about sugar at harvest.
Speaker 2:Harvest, not sugar in wine.
Speaker 1:Despite how it comes out as the final one, the finished product.
Speaker 2:So the lowest level is Cabernet. With a K, it equates to about 11.5%. They work in Erkshla, which is a different scale of sugar that we measure, but I'm equating it to Bome or percent of alcohol to make it easier. But it does vary region to region, so Mosel will be different to Rheingau, but I'm going to say about 11.5%. So I'm using Riesling as an example. This applies to all the grape varieties that are called a Tetz vine. Riesling at 11.5%. What's your flavour profile?
Speaker 1:Riesling at 11.5%. What's your flavour profile? Riesling at 11.5%? Lime lemon, like pithy, grapefruit, floral notes, green apple, green apple, high acidity. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So 11%, you know generally Not a lot of concentration, generally light bodied.
Speaker 1:Yes, but yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see where you're going with this. So if it was Australia and I saw 11%, I'd say, yeah, this hasn't been picked very ripe. It's going to be super citrusy and mineral and stuff, exactly.
Speaker 2:But gotcha, yep, but if they leave the sugar in the wine, the alcohol on the label will naturally be lower, because for Qualitats wine you can't add sugar to sweeten the wine when the wine has finished fermentation, so you might want to leave the wine with some sugar in it. So what we have here is a Schloss Vollrads cabinet Riesling Semi-Dry.
Speaker 1:Yes. So, Harb Trocken, Should we do a quick overview? We're going to talk about what six? Should we talk about six terms?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll keep going, we'll keep going.
Speaker 2:So as you move up the ripeness scale, you start with Cabernet, then you move to Spatlaise. Spatlaise just sort of means a little bit sort of later harvest. Riesling is riper, so your fruit profile may start to be moving into a little bit of apricot. There'll still be some green apple but you may have some red apple. So more riper characters. They can be dry. Spadlese wines can be dry. Then you move to Auslese. Now in Germany they have pretty much long dry summers. Most Auslese wines have a little bit of botrytis fruit in them. That's not the point. But because they've been hanging out for so long it's getting colder. It's later in the harvest. Sometimes there's a little bit of botrytis, so you may see some marmalade, but it's the ripeness of the grapes at harvest. So Spätlesie is around 13%, auschlesieies around that 14%. So most ouch lazies are actually have some residual sugar in them, not added, just finished ferment. Before it's dry They'll have marmalade, pineapple, maybe apricot, ripe, ripe Riesling character.
Speaker 1:Then you move to Trocken.
Speaker 2:Beren aus.
Speaker 2:Schlese Beren aus Schlese so beren basically means betritised yeah, betritised grapes, so this is a definite sweet wine. Well, beren means berry, doesn't it? I don't know German. It's Petrido's grapes, so you're going to have that marmalade. It's going to be a rich, pretty unctuous wine.
Speaker 2:Trocken Berenau Schlese is Petrido's grapes that have dried out, so they've sultanate. So you've got Berenau Schlese and then trocken, which means dried, dried Berenaslese, and then Trocken, which means dried, dried Berenaslese, so sultana grapes. So even more concentration of sugar. And then the last one is Icvine. Although does Icvine sit before Trocken Berenaslese? I think it might Icvine. In my head it's at the end. Yeah, it might be, I can't remember. Icvine is when the grapes have frozen on the vine, but they haven't been affected by botrytis, and that is key, all right. So you've got Birrenau Schlaeser, trocken, birrenau Schlaeser as botrytis grapes. You then have this amazing expression of pure Riesling, where it has frozen, because the water has frozen, it's concentrated the sugar, so you press it frozen. So I'll give you an example Normal yield from a ton of grapes is 700 liters of wine. Yield from ice vine is 50 liters per ton.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's bonkers.
Speaker 2:So it's basically you're just pressing out sugar. Yeah, but it has no botrytis. So it has this amazing Riesling. It's like a Clear Valley Riesling with low alcohol, usually about 6% high levels of residual sugar, but no botrytis character. So none of that marmalade.
Speaker 1:It's so beautiful it is so beautiful, it's hideously expensive.
Speaker 2:It is such a wonder, like it is just one of those things that oh yeah, so the key to remember is that it is based on the ripeness of the grapes, the sugar level in the grapes, all right.
Speaker 1:Now Can I do a quick recap? Yep, just so everyone's following, because I feel like that was a lot of information. Let's separate them into, say like three categories. So you've got six. Your first three aren't necessarily maybe a little bit, but first three aren't necessarily noble rod, they are botrytis. So you've got cabinet auslese, cabinet, spätlese, auslese, cabinet, spätlese, auslese, and so they're the first three that you remember. So you remember K-S-A. I just remember by the first letter. That's how I did it when I learned. Yeah, so your acronym. If anyone remembers Tony Abbott, if you say it all out loud, the first letter, it sounds like Kiss Abbott, and I would never want to kiss Tony Abbott. So that is how I always remember the right order that they go in it's kiss Abbott. So if you can remember those three separate. And then you remember your beer and Oshlaizee and your chocolate beer and Oshlaizee just remember that the longer one is the riper one. And then ice wine is such a cool thing that you should be able to remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and ice wine sort of does sit apart, but we're talking about sugar levels in the grapes at harvest, so hopefully breaking it down that way helps, but then that doesn't mean that the wine is sweet. So we currently have, like I said, the Schloss Wohlrad's Winkel Riesling 2022, cabinet semi-dry Rheingau. So they're telling you on the label because the Germans know that none of you understand labels 10% alcohol. So my guess this has probably got about 18 grams of oh, so semi-dry in Germany is higher than semi-dry in the Loire. I think it can be 18 to 25. It's all based on different climatic zones, but I can't remember that. That was a long time ago, people. It's got 10% alcohol. This is the key. If you want to buy German raisins and you want to include the sugar and they haven't told you anything, look at the alcohol on the back.
Speaker 2:If it's 13, wine's dry. If it's an 11.5 and it's Spatlese or Auslese, it's going to have some residual sugar because they've got a pick riper but they don't ferment all the sugar out, so this says semi-dry. This is the acidity. What they've done here is they've left that sugar in because they've gone.
Speaker 1:holy crap if we don't no one's going to have any enamel on their teeth. And this is probably the point where I mean, if you've listened for a long time, you know this. But it does need to be myth busted that, like sweet wine, can be amazing wine. I think a lot of people who are new to their wine journey don't realise that that is superb and that would age so well.
Speaker 2:So these people are VDP producers, so in Germany they have this very. I really hate this symbol.
Speaker 1:You can't just do that without commentating what you're doing. Right, Meg is showing the camera. Can you see there's a? It's like an eagle. Not necessarily all this is going on. I'm going to choose 30 seconds. Go and have a look.
Speaker 2:Look up VDP emblem. So VDP means, to translate, it basically means true German producer. So it's like a qualification system. I'm not going to use verbogen deutscher, blah, blah, blah, but basically it means you've got a high quality producer. So it's like a crew, a classified producer, anyway. So this is 5.9 drinks per bottle. Would age beautifully, I think 33 to 35. It's yum, it's so yum. These guys are big, yeah, you know, but they're good. Yeah, although it needs a good German fatty sausage to have with it, it does. It's so like floral and musky, yeah, although it needs a good German fatty sausage to have with it.
Speaker 1:It does it's so like floral and musky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, alex, just got back from Prague.
Speaker 1:Is Elliot home? No, oh, oh right, alex still Prague holiday.
Speaker 2:Dublin Heading off to Sweden next week, and then just booked a trip to the Milano in April.
Speaker 1:Oh my God Must be nice, elliot. Your son Took the trip to the Milan in April.
Speaker 2:Oh my God Must be nice, elliot Travelled all that way to do six hours a week of contact, he's having the best time. Yeah, well, he's just figured out life, hasn't he? Hey, he saved up the money, so I don't care, it's on his coin I will join.
Speaker 1:If he ever starts a cold, I'll join in. He's just got things figured out.
Speaker 2:The rest of us can really learn from him. So now we have the same producer, schloss Volrads Spatlese Riesling, and I think it's the same vintage. I think it's 2023. So what we've done? So the first wine had sort of green apple lemon, a little bit of minerality, a little bit of white flowers. It's quite simple in its fruit flavour profile. Yep, we've moved up the ripeness spectrum, which means not only have we got more sugar in the grapes to turn into alcohol, we also have riper fruit. So we should be looking at some apricot. Apricot is exactly it Apricot kernel. This is a 2021. Can you just turn it around to see the alcohol, please?
Speaker 1:Yes, it is Eight. Okay, oh, yeah, there it is 8%.
Speaker 2:So this is going to have sugar, because it tells me on the label, spatelese, it's ripe, it's about 13% you know what's interesting?
Speaker 1:You know how, in Australia, wines can smell so fruity than when you taste them in their bone tray. So far these German Rieslings. They don't smell as sweet as they taste. It's like the opposite.
Speaker 2:Okay, you can't smell sugar, okay.
Speaker 1:You can smell ripeness, but you can smell fruit, yes, and fruit registers in your brain as sweetness, yes, which is why people get confused. So these don't have like. For me, I think there's so much minerality and still citrus that they don't smell like they're going to be. It's not like when you smell like a Gewurztraminer.
Speaker 2:No, that's right. Yeah, yeah, and it's like if you smell a Petridae semion, you can smell that marmalady fruit. So it's giving triggers to your brain, it's giving signals to your brain that this is going to be sweet. The thing is, this has probably got 8%, 13%, 5%, 50%.
Speaker 1:It's probably got about 50 grams per liter of residual sugar. Wow, that's a lot. That is a lot.
Speaker 2:It doesn't even taste like 50 grams of sugar, but all it is is it's just a little wave to knock back the acid. And this is where German Rieslings are so effing delicious, because you register the sugar but all it's doing is ameliorating the acid and it's giving a little bit of weight to the palate, but you've got a riper fruit spectrum so you are a little bit. I get a little bit of like dried mango in there as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I guess that is what makes it different to your mum friend who drinks Gossip's Moscato. Exactly, I thought you were saying no. Then I was like, oh, exactly.
Speaker 2:People equate sweetness to sickliness. Yes, yes, this is. Oh, it's just just. I love these styles of wine bream um creek out of tassie. We're doing I don't know if they still do, we're doing a style like this and it was about 10 and a half percent alcohol and I fought so hard once in a wine show to get it up to gold. I don't think they want anything, you know, bigger than gold, but it's just one of my favorite styles of wine.
Speaker 2:Like this would be one of my desert island not necessarily this particular producer, but one of my desert island wines. So look at the ripeness level that they're telling you on the label and then look at the alcohol on the back and just work on literally cabinet 11 percent, and just work on literally Cabernet 11%, spratlaise 13%, aushlaise 14%. It varies between regions, but that's kind of a good way to do it. The other thing about these two wines is they're from the Rhine Gow, so the Rhine Gow is the only part of the Rhine River that actually runs east to west. It doesn't run north to south. So if any of you have been there, it's very steep hills, absolutely stunning and for me, produces the most mineral rieslings in Germany Mosel and Na, a little bit more floral.
Speaker 2:You move further down to the. Oh, this is from Nick's no this is from Dan Murphy's.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's weird. I can't find it. Do you remember how much it cost? About $35 as well. That's so crazy. It is it's $35. Okay, so people, if you haven't tasted this, it's like drinking something so special, it's like gold. It goes in your mouth and you just know it's special, don't you? No matter how educated you are in wine, I think anyone who tastes it that could recognise it's something special, and this is what amazes me.
Speaker 2:When we show these styles of wines in WSET, people's eyes are just because you can see them going oh, this is going to be shit. This is going to be nana wine, yes, and you see their eyes just light up. Yeah, the same with Barolo. Barolo is not a friendly wine, no, but when people taste it, they can kind of, they just kind of get it. And this is, yeah, you just get it. I love, I absolutely love German Greece thing. I just All right. Okay, what's next? The next one we have.
Speaker 1:We need the.
Speaker 2:Coravin. We need the Coravin. I just keep trying to drink that and also it's a slow alcohol. It's 8%. I could knock that bottle off tonight and feel absolutely fine tomorrow. Guys, don't stab your finger in the Coravin and we are promoting safe.
Speaker 1:Drinking? Yep yeah, just smash a bottle, just don't drive home, just do it when you're already home yeah, yeah, I don't go out anymore, I just stay home and drink, it's much more fun.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, you know, right? So the next thing we have let's not go there. Well, yeah, I just thought, nah, nah, don't give away too many of your trade secrets, carry on, okay, even though I do overshare pretty much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you do overshare. When I was talking to someone the other day who said you were a bit scary when they started Level 3 with you and they're like on the podcast she looks like a you know, she's so chill.
Speaker 2:Because they're putting in their belief system. I'm not scared, I am blunt, but I'm not scary you are blunt. This is true. Okay, so what we have here is a 2019 Clemon Bush Auschlese from the Mosel right. So Auschlese riper fruit, it's 2019, so it's going to have a little bit of possibly age character. The germans don't really love the kerosene. This is only seven and a half percent, so we know alcholese is coming in riper, so potential of 14 percent. Just so you know, one percent of alcohol is 18 grams per liter of sugar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you work on 20, so we're gonna have, oh my god, 80 grams you smell that and you smell three things, and you smell it again, you smell three more things. It's like you keep smelling and it just keeps changing and evolving and there is so much in that glass to To be fair it was $149.
Speaker 2:Can that explain some things? It was $139 or something. I wanted something. I wanted something. Ashley's is hard to find. I had been at the Prince on Saturday, but anyway I should have bought it there, but anyway.
Speaker 1:It's so funny how much your personal taste impacts this podcast. When I was like get us some Mellos, you came in. They're all $9. I'm like get us some German Riesling, you come in with a $150 bottle.
Speaker 2:I mean, where's your mother-in-law? Fuck it, life's short.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, this is something absolutely very special. You can tell straight away.
Speaker 2:So that's much sweeter, but it still finishes fresh and that is definitely ripe apricot dried apricot dried.
Speaker 1:Pineapple dried mango, the first thing I get is sea spray. That is the first thing I get. I go sea spray, a bit of minerality and then all those things come through. There's a salty spray.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but this is the thing 7.5% alcohol, and so it's sweet. It's specifically sweet, but it finishes Like if you're doing a dribble test, you're doing a level three dribble test thing. It finishes with so much acid that it's fresh and delicious and these are the best wines to drink before a meal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the dribble test is when we're testing acid in a wine. A way to objectively help you assess is if you have a taste. You spit or swallow and then lean your head forward with your mouth shut, and just that movement of like triggers your glands, I guess, to acid, what's the word? To salivate, salivate, and that is how you can tell how acidic a wine is.
Speaker 2:And it takes away your bias, because you might be a lemon loving kind of person. Yeah, so it takes away the bias. You can just actually start measuring how much spit you've got in front of you. I say that.
Speaker 1:Keep your lips closed. All you people who signed up to this wine course thinking you're going to be fancy, you are in for a shock.
Speaker 2:Wine tasting is really unattractive. We had you know old Bon from Germany complaining about the slipping and slurping.
Speaker 1:Oh, we slurp, we measure our saliva.
Speaker 2:So here we have an Alschlese, 7.5% alcohol, toffee Residual sugar, so ripe. But to add insult to injury, we've got one more Apple, one more label term.
Speaker 1:I haven't even tasted it yet. Sorry, you keep going. I'm just like having a moment with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll just leave you to enjoy your moment with your Riesling. So the Germans decided, a few years ago now, that they were not focusing enough on single vineyard wines. And why should the French only have, you know, the Cru, the single vineyard wines like Burgundy? So they have developed a system called Grossgewach. So it basically translates as Grossgewach what I don't know, it's a very spitty language. It translates as Premier Crew, okay. And then there's Grosslager no Grosslager, premier Crew, so this's Gross Lager. No Gold Crew, premier Crew, so this is Gross Lager. So from Mosul. So I'm guessing Marienburg, which is Marienburg Auschwitz, is the name of the vineyard, of the vineyard. So to have the classification by vineyard you have to be a VDP producer, so you have to have the kind of crazy eagle dude on your capsule and then you have the vineyard. But I mean, that is, I love it because it's kind of a daggy blue bottle, like it's real. It's quite old, 70s.
Speaker 1:So is that the one that we're having now, mm oh.
Speaker 2:I mean, the packaging does not scream quality. No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1:Not at all. It's very simple. I didn't realise that's what it was. I thought when you were getting out the fancy one it must have been yeah, truck and beer and Auschlese or something.
Speaker 2:It's our Auschlese Riesling 2019. It's Auschlese, so it's 20, it's six years old 2019. Not a hint, not a hint, nothing, nothing, nothing of kerosene.
Speaker 1:No, you're right.
Speaker 2:And not a hint. Nothing, nothing, nothing of kerosene. No, you're right, and that's the other German reasons. Don't tend to develop the kerosene character. My understanding is that the kerosene character tends to develop in sunburnt grapes more rapidly.
Speaker 1:No way, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:So in hot climates, and in hotter vintages because they don't have that. Yeah, because when I was at uni you know that kerosene character was the big thing. Yeah, we wanted that, we wanted that. But now if it comes in, like I said, if it comes in too early, it's considered a bad thing and it is associated with warmer vintages. If it starts earlier in the development, it's associated with warmer vintages. Okay, so earlier in the development, it's associated with warmer vintages.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we don't have kerosene, but maybe let's go through what were a few of the other things that we did. Now, aged whites, we had like a toastiness, like a dairy yogurt type thing, but see, I just don't know.
Speaker 2:Even the toastiness isn't that strong, it's not very aged.
Speaker 1:This is the thing, you could call a marmalade. Yes, you're right, marmalade, but you could stretch to a preserved lemon, but probably not yeah.
Speaker 2:And maybe a dried apricot. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's there, oh, and kind of an apricot yogurty character. Yeah, okay, but yeah, it's very different.
Speaker 2:We're looking for it. It's not the first thing that hits us when we taste the wine. Yeah, that is bloody delicious. It's unreal. We'll have to 50-50 that bottle because you know it's a bit of a treat for everyone. So that's, I hope you understand. It's based on the ripeness of the grapes. Yes, yeah, hope you understand. It's based on the ripeness of the grapes.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, hopefully that helped, and if you're ever in a Wesset exam, just think to yourself. I don't feel like kissing Tony Abbott and that's all you need to know. Are you concerned that I've been teaching like I'm part of the group?
Speaker 2:teaching our wine leaders of tomorrow. No, I think it's great. That is.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm in it with, but I think you might need to find a more current reference than Abbott, because he's been a woman. Yeah, that's true. I'm really stuck with it. It just sounds like it when you say it or don't kiss an Abbott, what's an Abbott, one of the heads of the monastery, kind of things.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, okay, don't do that. Okay, that's all we've got for you, unless it's Stanley Tucci in Conclave. Yeah, okay. Next week I presented Meg with a theory, and that was is Nebbiolo the next Sangiovese? So it felt like after Pinot Noir, everyone started getting around Sangiovese Everyone kind of. In Australia. It became the next big alternative grape that everyone kind of knows. And now all of a sudden, neb and Neb is everywhere it is. So it seems to be the next big thing that people are getting around. So is Neb the next Sangiovese? We will find out next week. Until then, enjoy your next glass of wine and drink well.
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