The Story
The Moon Willow Riesling 2018 os a $6.49 ALDI exclusive sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Monterey AVA of California’s Central Coast AVA. ALDI virtually never gives out technical information about their wines, so who, how, and where will be a mystery. But at this price point taking a chance isn’t too big of a leap. The Monterey AVA is south of the San Fransico and north of Paso Robles and has a variety of climates, cool weather to warm and can grow a wide variety of grapes. The packaging for the Moon Willow is attractive, it’s a reproduction of a painting that I believe is based on a Celtic poem. Inexpensive wines used to have very basic labels, maybe one or two ink colors, whatever it took to keep costs down, but this $6.49 White can hold its own on a retail store shelf. The back label mentions the wine having a light body, a touch of sweetness, and crisp acidity all of which are very promising for a value-priced Riesling. The alcohol content is 11.5%.
The Tasting Notes
The color is very pale butter yellow. The nose is bright and lively, there is a green apple, lemon, juicy peach, apricot, pear, and lime. This is a light to medium-bodied wine that has a touch of sweetness that is offset by the acidity. It starts with a stew of pear, peach, ripe apple, and lime. The mid-palate adds lemon hard candy and tropical fruit. This is a wine that will pair well with fancy salads, spicy Asian and can stick around for the dessert course, white cake with vanilla frosting comes to mind. The finish is light but does last.
The Summary
- If you like your Riesling a little bit sweet, but generally balanced the Moon Willow is worth a try. I am not a huge fan of sweet wines, but I think the Moon Willow Riesling sis well.
- This is a very drinkable, slightly sweet Riesling at a very attractive price
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