Kung Fu Girl Riesling

My official go-to pick for white wine this summer is Charles Smith's Kung Fu Girl Riesling ($12).  This wine is beautifully aromatic and delicate but it stands up well when paired with spicy grilled tiger prawns or tangy BBQ ribs. The flavor is concentrated (lots of fresh white apricot and peaches) and there is a lovely minerality in the finish.

100% Riesling. 100% Amazing.

The single vineyard grapes are grown in K Vintner's Evergreen Vineyard which was planted in 1998 in Columbia Valley, WA. According to the vineyard profile, the rows lie along a stretch of steep cliffs above the Columbia River, in a newly proposed AVA (American Viticulture Area): Ancient Lakes. It is  a cooler site due to river influence and the soil is composed of clay, silt, and caliche (hardened deposits of calcium carbonate) which were deposited during the ice age floods.

Stats for the winemaking geeks : pH 3.01 / TA.76 / RS 1.6 / ALC 12.5 %

If you haven't heard of former rocker turned winemaker Charles Smith, you will soon. He was named the 2010 Winemaker of the Year by Food & Wine and his fan club doesn't stop there. Here is a little bit of what Robert Parker (The Wine Advocate) has to say about him:

 "When it comes to his wines, the otherwise wild and irrepressible Charles Smith is as serious as a heart attack. Native yeast fermentation, foot crushing, spontaneous malolactic fermentations, gentle basket pressing, no fining or filtration are routinely practiced in the cellar. In a region where blending is still the rule of thumb, he is the ultimate terroirist."

If you are still in need of some persuasion before hopping on the Charles Smith Bandwagon, buy a bottle of his 2006 Syrah. His Royal City Syrah ($100) was rated 98 points by Robert Parker and 100 points by Wine Enthusiast who also rated it #2 of their Top 100 Wines of 2009. Don't let his irreverantly named wines and untamed hair fool you, Charles Smith should be taken seriously. Very seriously.

For more information, click HERE.

Photo Credit:  K Vintners / Food & Wine