Riverwood Winery is a family-owned winery north of Kansas City near the historic city of Weston. They have a variety of events throughout the year. One recurring monthly event is the International Wine Tasting. The International Wine tasting lets you experience six different wines for whatever theme there is for the month. You are also able to purchase a glass or bottle.
We happened to visit two of these tastings.
The first theme was wines of Germany and Austria. Of course, when thinking about wine from this area of the world, the first one that comes to mind for most people is Riesling. Yes, half of these wines we tried are Riesling.
Our first wine was from Austria. It was a Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Terrassen. The grape in this wine is Grüner Veltliner. It offered aromas of green apple, white pepper with hints of mango. It was medium-bodied with a crisp acidity. We all enjoyed it very much.
The second wine, also from Austria, was a Naked Red Heinrich Burgenland. The grape verities included Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, and St. Laurent. The notes from this wine were dark red berries and herbal spiciness.
The next three are Rieslings from around Germany. Each one was different from the next. The first was Schmitt Söhne Riesling Kabinett, was a sweeter Riesling with fruit flavors. The next was Bollig-Lehnert Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Spatlese which was tropical fruit flavors of pineapple, mango, and quava. It finishes with kiwifruit and lime. From Mosel, Germany, we tried Heinz Eifel Riesing which had a rich aroma of honey, almonds, apricots, peaches, lime, and mango.
The last wine we sampled was also from Germany was a Valckenberg Dornfelder Sweet. It sported sweet aromas of fruits and notes of deep cherry, blackberry, black current, and plum. This wine left Michael and myself a bit confused cause each time we tasted it we felt like it was a different wine.
The next time we went to an International Wine tasting the theme was sparkling wines. Sparkling wines isn’t something Michael and I get to try that often though oddly enough in the past few months have gotten to sample a great deal thanks to doing a blind tasting recently of four different sparkling wines with our friend Amber.
Our first was from South Africa, a Boschendal Brut. The wine was a pale gold and had citrus and tropical fruit notes. Michael really liked it but I didn’t so gave Michael a bit more from my glass. Also, the term “brut” means dry and is the driest classification.
The next from the Loire Valley of France is Charles Bove Methode Traditionnelle, made from Chenin Blanc grapes. It has aromas of yeast and toast. It was weird cause we definitely tasted the toast.
From Italy hailed the Villa Sandi Il Fresco Prosecco, made from Glera, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc grapes. The aromas were sweet fruits with notes of deep cherry, blackberry, black currant, and plums. From this description one would think it was a red sparkling wine but nope it was a white.
From Spain came Segura Viudas Rose, made from Trepat, Pinot Noir, and Garnacha. This beautiful wine had aromas of strawberry and grenadine. It was very refreshing.
Our next two brought us back to Italy. The first was Quercioli Reggiano Lambrusco D.O.C, which was a bright red color. It was sweet and also refreshing. It was probably my favorite until I got to taste the next one. which was Arione Mama Pomegranate. The main grape was Moscato but wasn’t overly sweet. It was deep pink in color. It would be a dangerous wine to drink since it was so smooth. Sadly, after the tasting this bottle was already completely sold out. Luckily, we found it a few days later at Costco!
We really like going to Riverwood for these international wine events since it allows us to branch out and try different wines that we might not try otherwise.
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