Sona, St. Martiner Baron, Riesling Kabinett feinherb, 2009

Sometimes you have no idea what you are looking at. The other day I pulled a bottle out of a newly arrived cask of wine that I hadn't actually ordered - nor had I heard of the winery before! Turns out that the wine merchant had sneakily squeezed it into the box as a thank you for a good customer. Herr Behringer also asked me for my opinion.

Following the recent debate on neutrality of wine bloggers I should probably add that this is the first wine we have received from Behringer without paying, that he did not ask us for a review and that the wine is not in his portfolio (I wonder if he plans to change that though). Anyway, Mr Behringer, here goes.

The Riesling greeted us with a light and fresh bouquet - yeasty, citrus fresh with lemon and peach and a little grapefruit. Thus encouraged, we stopped the careful sniffing (using a hand-waving technique I had learned in chemistry class) and dared to use our tongue on the experiment. Again it was yeast saying hello first, introducing a wine that was fresh, in fact very refreshing, light and yet crisp with noticeable acidity. Over time (with more exposure to air and warming up a little) the fruit became more pronounced, juicy stone fruit with some sweetness and faint bitter notes. Even then the finish was driven by the noticeable acidity, embedded in lovely mineral notes.

Very pleasant to drink with its refreshing acidity accompanied by a little sweetness, the Sona wine instantly won the approval of my Riesling rookie drinking companion. As you will have guessed I also found it very enjoyable, with the only criticism being that at moments I wasn't quite sure what to think of the faint bitter notes in the background.

Following this experience I had a look at the winery's website, but it has not been updated in a few years. Apparently, it is a fairly new venture, specialising on Riesling, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. Dominik Sona is not a newcomer though and has already earned a name as a winemaker working with other wineries.