If you read between the words, we are emphasizing ‘tasting' for this event. We find even 5 wines one too many at our regular dinners. But since we were tasting wines from two of the top ‘Grand Cru' wineries we had decided to taste all the wines organized by Fritz Hasselbach, owner winemaker of Gunderloch and Marlies Grumbach who distributes his wines as well as Dr. Loosen's.

We had also selected the boutique restaurant partly for the culinary skills of Sanjay Munjal using some excellent recipes- for instance, Murgh Seekh-e-Chaman, the most favourite dish of the evening is his mother's recipe. Art Chilli is also very popular for the Chinese cuisine. And if one were to match Riesling with a cuisine, Indian and Chinese are the best combinations because of their chili level, the slightly higher sugar level and the lower alcohol level would make an excellent match.

This premise was well justified at the dinner with people loving the dry Riesling as an aperitif. The Semi Dry and off dry Rieslings, Kabinett or Auslese were perfect match for the Chinese as well as the Hot Indian food, including the mutton dish-Gosht-e-Khaas the spicy flavour of which was well matched by the auslese's sweetness.

Fish soup was the only disappointment. Not only did it not match any of the wines ( off dry was too powerful and sweet) it failed to impress on its own too.

It is fair to say that most people found almost all the wines too sweet. But if you analyze the pattern, they consumed more than usual. Reason is obvious. Riesling has low alcohol. The fresh acidity matching the sweet and fruity flavour was so elegantly balanced that it went down the gullet smooth and fast, almost neutralizing the ‘hotting' effect of the food. The beauty of Riesling was well on display in the palate. Slow fried crispy fish filet was another to-die-for dish that tasted even better with the Spaetlese. By the end, of course, it was difficult to tell the difference for most palates.

The Beerenauslese, the queen of the show was like elixir. The fresh acidity was a clear match for the Crêpes Suzettes and even the Toffee Banana that kept on flying all over the place. Our theory that Indians do not like dessert wine was quite shaken up with this dessert wine. Perhaps, a well balanced fruity wine like this one would be a perfect answer, occasionally as a dessert.

Some members may have been disappointed as the 3 rd time 100 WS points winning Trockenbeerenauslese 2001 was not on the menu. Maybe on your next trip to New York you can pick up from a specialty store. It retails for US $2000 for the half bottle.

Wines served:

1. 2004 Gunderloch Auslese (92 RP )

2 2004 Gunderloch Jean Baptiste Kabinett semi dry

3 2004 Gunderloch Nackenheimer Rothenberg Spaetlese (94 W S)
4 2004 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen * Kabinett
5 2004 Dr. Loosen Uerziger Wuerzgarten * Spaetlese
6 2003 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr * Auslese (94 W& Sp)

7 2000 Gunderloch Nackenheimer Rothenberg Beerenauslese

* Michael Beazly's Pocket Guide describes all the above and only the above vineyard sites as wonderful sites Dr. Loosen has.