Something to Wine About: Paumanok 2022 Semi Dry Riesling
Riesling has gotten a pretty bad rap in recent years owing mostly to tortured, mass produced, syrupy drinks that barely masquerade as wines. It’s not the grapes’ fault. But, thankfully, not all rieslings are created equal.
Paumanok Riesling is a delightfully fruity and floral riesling. It is not overly sweet or cloying. This semi dry Paumanok Riesling has wonderful notes of honeysuckle, stone fruit, and tropical fruit. This wine is absolutely lovely and retails for a shockingly low $24. Whether you feel like the wine is semi-dry, or semi-sweet, depends on your individual palate. In either case, the wine finishes fresh, and clean, with lovely minerality.
While Paumanok is well known for their chenin blanc, their Riesling is not to be ignored. It is a food friendly wine and can be enjoyed with fruit, salads, appetizers, seafood, light or cheesy pasta dishes, outdoor picnics of any kind and it can also be enjoyed on its own. It is the perfect late spring early summer wine and can also be thoroughly enjoyed on its own.
Riesling may have been one of the first wines you enjoyed as a grown up wine drinker before deciding your palate might appreciate something a little bit drier. If that’s the case, it really is to give riesling another try.
The wonderful riesling grape can be crafted into wine that is in fact sweet, but delectable, and balanced, in dessert and ice wines. Many Austrian rieslings are made bone dry and are loaded with lots of acidity on the finish, while German rieslings tend to be made a bit sweeter.
So, if you are ready to give Riesling another try or if you are a lifelong Riesling lover, the Paumanok 2022 Semi Dry Riesling is a definite win.
