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My notes and I went to see my IWM ( independent wine merchant) and I just could hardly breathe I was so excited about …

Chardonnay .

We laughed about the 80’s and Chardonnay. Before I said one word she called Chardonnay a “chameleon grape” and went on to nearly quote you verbatim about it. I tasted / bought a bottle that is sourced not ten miles from me ( I live in Oregon in the Willamette Valley). 25 cs run Apple, mineral and bread. It’s spectacular.

I also found a Trocken Riesling from Germany! Scored a beautiful bottle of Cava, Spanish , and another brut methode traditionale out of California

On the red side a 2021 Cab Franc from Washington ( Columbia Valley which yields outstanding wines) citing low intervention, native yeast ferments no filtering/fines and minimal sulfites. Soooo lovely and dry with the fruit at the finish.

I still can’t believe what a great experience this ONE article by you has yielded me. Thank you so much!

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Wow Vicki that's amazing, this sounds like my kind of shopping trip! I'm super happy the advice worked for you

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Gotta make some notes on this one; what a great article!

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Back around 1995 The Rare Wine Company had up for sale a lot of sherry from 1918. I bought two bottles and they were only $20 then. I opened the first for a wine tasting group I was in. It had amazing flavors but as you say it was extremely dry. Everyone stuck up their noses. I waited another 20 years for the second bottle and opened it on a camping trip. I got the same reaction. As for me, while I really appreciated the wine and its myriad of flavor notes and long finish I also like to open something others will enjoy with me.

Sauternes is similar. I have several cases of aged Sauternes with no one to drink it with. They all tell me they don’t like sweet wines and won’t give it a chance. Oh well.

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That's a shame on both counts. Sherry is such a wonderful thing but it's admittedly hard to understand. I remember about 15 years ago I didn't like but was determined to get into it so bought bottle after bottle until finally one day, I'd developed so much of a taste for it, I loved it. Sometimes the best things take time to understand.

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How do you find a dry Riesling? You gave the code words for the sweet ones, but not the dry. For example, I’ve found that many Alsatian Rieslings are dry, some are not. Also, different vintages have a quite large variance in sweetness.

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Ah I should have done that, I'll add it in. In Germany, "trocken" means dry so if you see that on the label, it'll be dry. Also most dry Rieslings will be 12%+ in alcohol (as a rule, but there can be exceptions).

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