“Powerful, focused, sings to the Heavens, glorious harmony of sweet and crisp fruit flavors.” These were my tasting notes on encountering this wine at the Critic’s Challenge wine competition held every year in San Diego over Memorial Day weekend.

As you can gather I thought it a pretty tasty vino – I in fact gave it a Platinum award, an honor not lightly bestowed – and my approval was only magnified when the results were announced and it was revealed as a humble $10 bottle.

It has that essential slatey minerality of wines from the Mosel River, a tributary of the Rhine in Germany. It is difficult to overstate the importance of that slate, and the producers acknowledge as much in not only the wine’s name but also by depicting on the label a cairn of thin platters of the grey stone.

Not only does it dominate the flavor thanks to the absorbent nature of the roots as they burrow around the flat stones deep into the poor soil in search of water and nutrients, but the stones on the surface reflect the precious sunshine back to the leaves and grapes, helping the latter ripen, always a struggle in a region this far north.

And ripe the grapes are that went into this wine. You can tell by the wonderful summer fruit flavors it radiates – peaches, pineapples and crisp Fuji or Braeburn apples, all showing that fine balance of fruit and crisp acidity.

Ten is the key number here– the wine costs ten dollars, and is only 10.5% alcohol, so is light in weight, though not flavor, and limited in its soporific effect, and as such is the ideal wine for a summer lunch by the pool. One might even, if one was particularly reckless, forsake the post-prandial hammock and venture onto the tennis court.

++++++++

To find this wine near you try www.wine-searcher.com.