Bahl Fratty
Dry White Wines
Completely dry Riesling is rare among American wines. The world’s best examples are designated in Germany by special terms that designate high-quality single vineyard sites with unique personalities. Finding these unique vineyards isn’t easy.
Wine writer Dan Berger has been in love with dry Riesling for decades and has researched many of these areas. Thus far, the best of them is widely believed to be Cole Ranch in Mendocino County, nation’s smallest appellation at just over 80 acres. It is one of the very best places to grow Riesling. It is where Dan chose to make his first dry Riesling. Another place is the superb Carneros property called Las Brisas, farmed by longtime grower Francis Mahoney.
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The 2022 Bahl Fratty Mendocino County Riesling is a wine that finds few peers among American-produced wines. It joins a small group of Rieslings produced in the U.S. that eschew sweetness and low acidity in this noble grape variety and present instead a racy, lemony, low-alcohol version of the varietal that will age beautifully, stimulate the intellect, and partner well with food.
Bahl Fratty now has three wines that display slightly different personalities.
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2022 Riesling
Cole Ranch
Mendocino County
Gold Medal
Sunset Magazine
Wine Competition
$38
This is the driest Riesling ever produced in the United States, and possibly anywhere. With a pH of 2.90 and zero residual sugar, the wine has taken more than two years of bottle aging before it developed the amazing characteristics it now displays. This Riesling is designed for additional bottle aging. If consumed soon, it is best not to chill it too much and serve it with delicate foods. Had this wine been produced in Germany, it legally would be called trocken.
2023 Riesling
Cole Ranch
Mendocino County
$35
Mother nature did not provide a perfect template in this vintage, so the wine differs from the prior wine. The fermentation quit with almost 4 grams of residual sugar (0.4%). This softened its superb acid (6.8 g/L), but it has an excellent low pH (3.11), so the wine is slightly less tart than the 2022. It needs less time in the bottle. We are releasing it slightly earlier than last year. Had this wine been produced in Germany, it would be called it feinherb.
2023 Vermentino
Las Brisas Vineyard Carneros
A Natural Wine
$28
Fruit from Francis Mahoney made this alluring off-dry, floral-spicy wine with its exotic tropical fruit and spices. It is not unlike a subtle Gewürztraminer. Sulfite-free, unfined, and unfiltered, it has low alcohol (12.2%) and a very low pH of 3.08. Although it is dry, we left a tiny bit of residual sugar, making it voluptuous, perfect to pair with Thai food. The tropical aroma has traces of kiwi, peach, and a delicate touch of citrus. No sulfur was used, so it qualifies as a natural wine.
The drawing on our Bahl Fratty wines is artist Bob Johnson’s vision of the inside of an old-fashioned desktop typewriter. The label depicts a piece of velum emerging from the top of the typewriter roller, the text having been typed in the typeface Times New Roman. And the word Riesling is in red since we imagined that the typewriter would have a two-tone ribbon. (One clue is the row of keys at the bottom of the label.) There is also an obscure embedded message on the label that only lovers of German Rieslings may understand. For details and an explanation, email Dan at winenut@gmail.com.