Poet's Leap Riesling 2016

90POINTS

16^½/20

Columbia Valley, Washington, United StatesThe historic Long Shadow of this wine is German Armin Diel, whose family has owned the celebrated estate of Schlossgut Diel, in Burg Layen, Nahe River Valley since 1802. Diel officially stepped back from the project in 2016 leaving all decisions for this vintage to the long-time facilitator and onsite winemaker Gilles Nicault. Despite another warm year and a ripe honeyed peach and mandarin nose this wine manages to eke out a sense of freshness on the attack. The flavours are mix of wet stone minerality and savoury (bitter in an effective way), green fruits. The residual sugar is non-existent at 1.1 g/100 ml. The 2016 blend is a mix of Columbia Valley vineyards, of which roughly half is from German clones planted in the Horse Heaven Hills high above the Columbia River. The acid contributions come from Yakima; ripe, powerful fruit from Sagemoor; and the savoury stuff out of the Columbia Gorge. With Diel out of the picture, can we get a screwcap on this wine?Tasted: 03 November 2018Tasted by: Anthony GismondiPrices: