Often pigeonholed as a sweet wine, Riesling is not a one trick pony. There is a bevy of dry Rieslings available, and we at the Tasting Team (Tasho, Jimm, & Andrew) had a chance to inspect an example of the style with the Pacific Rim Dry Riesling from Yakima Valley.
This Pacific Rim, a 2013 vintage, wine pours a rich honey color, a trait of rieslings with age. After 10 minutes of decanting, this Riesling stayed true to form with a pleasant dusty, dry chalkiness and honeyed green apples on the nose. An additional five minutes revealed a soft and attractive herbal component to the aroma with hints of citrus and pear coming through as well.
20 minutes in, our first taste revealed a myriad of citrus with lemon, lime, and ruby red grapefruit arriving front and center with a tinge of orange on the side of the tongue and a mouth-coating finish.
At 30 minutes of decanting, the minerality of this wine begins to emerge and contributes to more body than your average dry Riesling. On the whole, this is a very approachable wine that will be sure to garner plenty of praise. However, we found this Pacific Rim Riesling to be lacking the big punch of acidity that we've come to expect from a dry Riesling so expect a softer style.
At $14.98 and 90 points from Wine Enthusiast, we feel this rich and slightly softer style delivers great value and will drink well on cooler Spring and Summer evenings.