Jul 18, 2012

2011 Lieb Pinot Blanc

You don't see many domestic wines in the State system that don't hail from the West Coast so I was pleased to find an offering from the North Fork of Long Island. Pick up a bottle of the 2011 Lieb Family Cellars Pinot Blanc and see if it will put you in a New York state of mind.

This week's pick can be found at your local wine shop for $12.99.

Review

Music plays (pun intended) an integral part in our lives and there are lots of songs that conjure up memories of wine for me. “Sangria Wine” by Jerry Jeff Walker was a big hit while in college in New Orleans and was the drink (and song) of choice at our crawfish boils. And, “Red, Red Wine” by British reggae/pop band UB40 brings back some wonderful memories of my junior year in England. But it’s the opening lines from Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” that never fails to bring a smile to my face.

For this week’s pick, I selected “a bottle of white” from Joel’s home state of New York: 2011 Lieb Family Cellars Pinot Blanc. The Long Island wine scene has been steadily growing but it unjustly gets very little coverage in our state store system and this wine offers a compelling reason why it should be better represented. Most are used to seeing Pinot Blanc’s from Alsace and Italy which is why this is such a pleasant surprise. It offers up apple and citrus on the nose, followed by white peach and lemon on the palate. There is a nice, dry finish and a balanced acidity that will make it particularly food friendly.

What Others Thought

It was hard to get some folks to "fork out" a few bucks for a wine hailing from the North Fork of Long Island but most were glad that they did. "Bright" and "Acidic", this wine "filled a nice void" between a Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio on the flavor spectrum.

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