Anam Cara Cellars Nicholas Estate Riesling, Chehalem Mountains, USA

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The 2014 Riesling Nicholas Estate features jasmine, lemon tart and crushed stones notes on the nose with a waft of acacia honey. Off-dry and light-bodied, it has a racy line of acid countered by a slight honeyed sweetness and finishes long and lively.

I first met Sheila Nicholas several years ago through her devotion to Riesling, and the Anam Cara 2011 Riesling Dry delivers a refreshingly juicy though softly-textured amalgam of apple and pear with a mouthwatering lick of salt and (it’s name notwithstanding) a well-integrated hint of sweetness. I would plan to enjoy it over the next couple of years. Lodi, California native Nick and Scottish native Sheila Nicholas have had multiple successful careers, but it was 15 years spent running a small Pizza chain that led them to wine, when they expanded that business into the Napa Valley. In 2001, they planted Nicholas Vineyard – whence all of their wines have originated – in the northern Chehalem Mountains, and subsequently started Anam Cara Cellars. It was “the fruit of our millennial crisis, if you will,” jokes (or perhaps not?) Sheila Nicholas, “and all of our training has been hands-on, living in the vineyard. We had several enological consultants tell us ‘What kind of wine do you like? I’ll make it like that,’ and we said: ‘Excuse me, this is our property – we want to know what we have first of all.’ So we decided we’d follow the vineyard and if we did a good job there, it would tell us what sort of wine we were going to make.” That process is clearly still playing-out, but not without promise. Contemporaneous with a 2008 expansion of vine acres, they began “tiptoeing in a biodynamic direction.”Tel. (503) 537-9150

This gentle, lightly off-dry Riesling was fermented primarily in neutral oak, which seems to have softened the entry without impacting the flavors. Aromatic highlights of honeysuckle and orange marmalade introduce a full palate with a complex fruit mix including raspberry, citrus and orange. The finish brings an impression of cotton candy. ——P.G.(3/1/2011)—— 90

The 2008 Riesling Nicholas Estate is light straw-colored with a perfume of mineral, spring flowers, and a touch of honey. Its 1.4% residual sugar is nicely balanced by vibrant acidity. It is ideal for drinking on a hot summer day.Tel. (503) 537-9150; www.anamcaracellars.com