The 2008 Cave Springs Riesling is 100% Riesling sourced from, 57% 20 Mile Bench, 20% Beamsville Bench, 17% Lincoln Lakeshore and 6% Creek Shores sub-appellations of the Niagara Peninsula VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) near Lake Ontario in Canada. The wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks and the alcohol content is 11%.
The color is apple juice yellow. The nose is honey and apple, apricot with a little blood orange and lime. It tastes of honeycrisp apple, lime and pear, the mid-palate brings in pink grapefruit, dusty minerality and lemon SweeTarts. This Riesling has a very syrupy mouthfeel and while there are some sweet flavors, this is basically a dry wine. The acidity is well balanced and the finish is strong and lengthy.
Well, it looks like Canada can rock the Riesling, just when it seems like the Cave Springs is about turn to the sweet side, fresh clean tart flavors and minerality pull it back. A very tasty, full flavored Riesling, it drinks wonderfully on its own, and has such wonderful flavors that it will have you breaking out the cook books to find a recipe to match.
