Pacific Rim Dry Reisling

Warning! This one is nasty!!!! Don't waste your time, don't waste your money!

Pacific Rim Dry Reisling, 2005
Bonny Doon Vineyard, Santa Cruz, California





Company site: Bonny Doon Vineyards (the interactive interface there is quite cool!)

Anyway, I bought this one at World Market last week because the description sounded good. Made it sound like it would be fruity, light and good for eating with sushi/thai foods that might be light in flavor.

The bottle looked interesting, too- with images of sushi that you can see by looking through the bottle. And as a lover of sushi, I thought I'd try it.

From the back label (on each of the 'sushi' images):
"The idea of the Pacific Rim appeals (by circular logic) to our idea of and thirst for this connection or closure. We crave the strange and mysterious, knowing well our hearts' unshakable allegiance to the familiar, to the heimlich." [to the 'heimlich'?!?? Expecting someone to choke??]
and
"This eclectic blend is the missing link, the liaison dangereuse, that links New World and Old World, Occident and Orient and is the perfect foil for most foodstuffs pan-asian and pan-fried. To link up with us, you can ring (888) 819-6789 or drop us a line at PO Box 8376, Santa Cruz, CA 95061"
and
"Pacific Rim Dry Reisling, provenant of the 2005 harvest, is ablend of reislings from the climes of eastern Washington State and the Middle Mosel."
and finally,
"The heart has its Reislings... Our heart's deepest longing, whether in the realm of romance or restauration, is for union, completion or fusion."

Okay- so much of that doesn't even make sense to me. It's like someone was really into trying their hand at creative writing and had an assignment to use odd, obscure words in some sentences. I should have known.

But then when I went to open it today- OMG, it was a screw-top bottle!!! I didn't notice that when I bought it! You KNOW I will be more careful next time, and pass up anything with a screw top!!

Anyway, I had to give it a fair shot. Screw top or not, because this IS the Non-Snooty wine drinker's place, right? No turning up my nose at the corkless bottles, because you really just never know!

It looked very clear and crisp in the glass. Tiny bubbles, looked fine. But to smell it... it smelled like a mix of feet and vinegar. Not fruity at all, like I expected. Most reislings I've had in the past have been quite sweet... but this one didn't smell sweet at all.

Taste: If you can call it that... was vinegary, sour, and salty. I was expecting sweet! But it's a salty, non-fruity tasting liquid. NOT like any reisling or white wine I have EVER had! Ugh! Ick! Awful!! I can't even finish the glass, much less the entire bottle.

Price: $9.99 at World Market

Down the sink it goes.... *sigh*. I am willing to try out other varietals from the same vineyard, but just not anything with the screw-top bottle. I've just found all screw-top wines (I bought some for cooking one time) to be very untasty for straight drinking. Maybe they can cook up okay... but I'm not sure if I would even use this one for that. Since I won't drink it though- maybe I should give it a shot- in a sauce.