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Ravine Vineyard Sand and Gravel 2010 Riesling is my kind of Riesling.  It’s not dry, and overly tangy like a fresh glass of lemonade.  Instead it’s lush, semi-sweet and full of all sorts of tree fruit flavours like apple, peach, tangerine, apricot, lemon and lime.  It's a nice escape from the bone dry white wines that seem to be popular nowadays.

I love the semi-sweet Rieslings, as I often enjoy a lot of food with some heat to it.  This Riesling is perfect for spicy sausages, or Indian dishes with a little heat to them as the low alcohol (9.3%) won’t fuel the heat in the food, and the sweetness to this wine, will tame that fire on your tongue.  With the heat extinguished, you can really enjoy all the flavours of the dish and wine, especially the spice that is often hidden by the kick of the heat.

I tried this wine with Pork Tenderloin stuffed with rice, apricots, and mushrooms.  This was a perfect pairing in my book.  The fruit flavours present in this wine go great with the apricots, and the mineral finish of the wine mingles perfectly with the earthiness of the mushrooms.  I’m not a professional chef by any means, and I tend to overcook my meat out of fear of food poisoning.  With a drier cut of meat, the sweetness in this wine is absolutely refreshing, as it really quenches your thirst.

With the low alcohol content of 9% this Riesling is great by the glass or to share by the bottle for a relaxing lunch of sushi.  The citrus notes in this wine will pair up quite nice with the fish without overpowering them, while the low alcohol content will make sure you can enjoy the rest of your day without having to take a nap.

Ravine Sand and Gravel Riesling is currently only available at Ravine Vineyard (which has an amazing historical background).  Along with their riesling, Winemakers Shauna White and Peter Gamble produce many other excellent wines which we will soon be writing about at What To Pair.