German Pinot

Yesterday was my day for playing hookey for hockey. In my previous post, I mentioned that Boo, my Dad and I caught a bit of hockey fever at Molson's Canada Hockey House - along with a couple thousand beer-swilling young'uns. While we were sipping suds instead of fine wine, it was Germany's day to take two gold medals - in Women's Biathlon and Women's Luge. So, for today's wine, we'll head off to one of the best-known wine-producing regions in the world - the Mosel.

367. 2007 Selbach-Oster Pinot Blanc (Qualitatswein - Germany)

Funny thing about this choice of bottles is that it's a Pinot Blanc. While at work, I figured that, this evening, we'd open a German bottle and that I wouldn't have to go to a bottle shop since I knew I had at least a bottle or two of German wine at home. I just assumed we'd be drinking Riesling. We must have finished off any German Rielslings that we might have had in the cellar previously because it turned out that this is the only bottle of German wine that we had. Funnily enough, I'd picked it up recently because we'd been opening a few Pinot Blancs lately and I wasn't at all familiar with German PB.

So this may not be the most representative of German wines, but it still "counts" for both The List and as a wine to celebrate Germany's gold medals.

I have no idea how this bottle even ended up over here in BC, although Selbach-Oster is a well-known producer with a great track record for Riesling, their website says that only 2% of their production is Pinot Blanc. The family may have been in the wine business since 1660 and they may own some excellent vineyard sites in a famed region, but their portfolio consists almost entirely of Riesling - through the grape's varying levels of ripeness and the winery's various properties.

There's not much written about their Pinot Blanc (at least not that I could find) but it's definitely full of tangy acidity - it actually seemed more like a Clare Valley Riesling (from Australia) to me than a Pinot Blanc from BC. It would be interesting to hear how the winery came to plant this small amount of the varietal.

I wonder what the German gold medallists would have thought had I served this up as their victory wine?