Small Whites Taste Off: 2010

Sometime over the next few days I will do a taste off between my top two small white grape wine finds of the year, Mataòssu (aka, Lumassina), Punta Crena Vigneto Reiné from Italy's Liguria region, and Zierfandler, Weingut Stadlmann Mandel Höh from Austria's Thermenregion. Now, there are some potential concerns and caveats with this tasting. First, I tasted the 2008 Punta Crena Mataòssu earlier this year, and all I was able to find on my last trip to Portland was the 2009. This will, of course, be a test of the consistency of the grape and the wine maker, but it may not meet the standard set by the two bottles of the 2008 that I loved so much. There is also the question/concern of comparing a three-year-old wine with a one-year-old wine. According to all of my research, this situation should take advantage of the strengths of both grapes since Zierfandler improves with age while Mataòssu is best consumed when it is young. This will also be my chance to record my overall impressions of this Stadlmann single vineyard Zierfandler, so stay tuned.