The diversity of Riesling from Bío Bío

The region of Bío Bío and its Rieslings aren’t that well known, and the fact that we have this amazing portfolio of beautiful, elegantly crafted wines needs to be shouted about.

So...

 I manage to get some old vintages of these great Rieslings from Bío Bío to share my knowledge with people from the wine industry. It was both creative and fun at the same time. We all know about the big potential aging of Riesling, normally these old vintages come from Germany, Alsace in France or Wachau in Austria. But what about Chile? Has Chile the capacity to age Riesling?

Where we went...

This time I choose 28-50 Workshop and Kitchen in Fetter Lane. Very fashionable at the moment for city bankers, doctors, Lords, trendy young wine drinkers etc to be seen there, the same type of clientele I would find at Home House Private Members Club for my time there as Sommelier/Wine Buyer.  They have a wine list based on a boutique winery concept; 15 whites, 15 reds, most of them by the glass and on top of this an exclusive list called the Collectors List, where friends of the restaurant have allowed access to their private cellars for the restaurant to sell.  This means that consumers get to buy wines at their peak, when they’re ready to drink, not just when they’re released to the market.

 

By having this approach to a wine list 28-50 can rotate its offerings on a more frequent basis, the wines are normally limited in production volumes, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. 

I could recognise all the labels on the list, but my question is, do the guests dining in the restaurant know all the wines?  Their Sommelier, Ricarda Schoenemann’s, job becomes essential in this way; The presence of the Sommelier on the floor is needed here, recommending and discussing these wines which generally people are unaware of.

 

Who we were...

 Joan Torrent Buyer for Mitchells and Butlers, Leni Miras from the Dukes Hotel, Roberto della Piedra from Gauthier Restaurant in Soho and Patricia Langton Freelance Journalist.

 

What we ate...

Starter - Marinated prawn cocktail with pickled cucumber and croutons.

Main course - Hake with crushed peas and marinated cherry tomatoes.

Dessert - Vanilla panna cotta with macerated strawberries

What we tasted...

Riesling, Bio Bio Valley, 2009

Bio Bio Riesling 2011 VS Casablanca Riesling 2011

Bio Bio Valley Riesling 2005 & 2006

Cono Sur Cosecha Noble Riesling 2010

 

Food & wine Pairing

 After having few refreshing glasses of the 2009 Cono Sur Riesling from Bío Bío and discussing the quality of this wine, the lunch began.  With the first course we had two Rieslings from two different regions: Casablanca Valley and Bío Bío Valley.  Joan Torrents liked the Bío Bío Riesling with the prawns as this wine has more deepness than the Riesling from the Casablanca Valley.  However Roberto della Pietra likes the freshness of the Riesling from Casablanca adding “Casablanca gives more freshness to the dish with lots of minerality at the end”. 

Judging the styles of the different wines Leni Miras liked Bío Bío more than Casablanca.  I found that the styles of these wines was a personal preference some of us prefer Bío Bío and the rest Casablanca, a complete split in opinion for both!  But we all agreed that the Riesling grape worked well with the starter.

With the main course we had two different vintages from Bío Bío; 2005 and 2006.  Joan Torrent really enjoyed the 2005 because of the different layers of flavours he could find in the wine, he thought it was slightly more developed than the 2006.  Regarding the food and wine match Leni Miras thought it was very challenging because the 2005 displayed a complete style match with its more developed flavours, while the 2006 had more freshness adding to the Hake with crushed peas and marinated cherry tomatoes a touch of mineral flavours and freshness to the finish.

For a direct comparison of the two wines, we all agreed the 2006 had more elegance but in terms of the food and wine matching the 2005 was the winner with its complexity and richness of flavour.

For our dessert we had a lovely Vanilla panna cotta with marcerated strawberries a really lovely, flavourful dish. For this we matched Cono Sur’s Cosecha Noble Riesling 2010, it had a lot of aromas, but unfortunately it didn’t match the dish as we were expecting, the strawberries were slightly too acidic, it would have worked better with peaches or a creamier fruit.

Best wine...

Cono Sur Riesling, Bio Bio Valley, 2009

 

Best food match...

 

Casablanca Riesling 2011 Marinated prawn cocktail with pickled cucumber and croutons.

 

Conclusions...

We all really enjoyed tasting all the different styles and vintages of Riesling from Bío Bío.

We could see the potential aging of these wines but we all agreed that when they are young we can really enjoy more in terms of freshness.  It was really good to taste a Casablanca, Riesling for all of us it was the first time.