Cupcake Riesling, Mosel Valley, A Nice Surprise

This bottle showed up unannounced a few months ago, and I was immediately suspicious...After all, it has been something like a year and a half since I last reviewed a Cupcake Vineyards wine.

Cupcake Vineyards has a decidedly lighthearted, whimsical label and image, but the brand is one of the most popular on the market. However, could they turn out a good riesling, one that retains bright acidity with a touch of residual sugar? Cheap riesling is easy to find, just go to any Trader Joe's and you'll find some truly awful stuff priced around $5 per bottle.

On the other hand, the wines Cupcake makes are inexpensive and well-crafted, delivering value around the $10 price-point. I've previously reviewed their 2009 Central Coast chardonnay and 2010 New Zealand sauvignon blanc, both of which delivered good quality to price ratios.

Back to this riesling, I was happy to note that it's from the Mosel River wine region in Germany, home to perhaps the greatest rieslings on the planet. The bouquet is wonderful, brimming with notes of green apple, stone fruit, honeysuckle, and a chalky minerality. On the palate it's clean and crisp - a testament to the racy acid - with flavors of granny smith apple, apricot, and citrus-infused minerality. There's a subtle sweetness present too, doing just enough to balance out the acidity. I was particularly impressed with the finish, it lasts impressively long before gently tapering off.

I tasted this over the course of two days, with consistent notes. My fiancee and her sister tried it too, and we all agreed that for around $10, it's a really good bottle of wine. It appears that Cupcake Vineyards has once again delivered a high quality white wine at a great price.

This wine was a sample for review purposes.

Beau Carufel