WITH THIS WRITE-UP WE HAVE NOW TRIED 100 DIFFERENT GRAPE VARIETALS AT OUR WORK TASTING GROUP

Cantina Valle Isarco, Kerner, 2006 (Sudtirol, Italy) - Kerner is a cross between a very light red grape Schiava and the classic white Riesling.  Descriptions often compare it to Riesling and although I can see that I also thought it unique.  The bouquet struck me as delicate peaches and fruits, the flavor not as fruity but with refreshing citrus, and the body lighter than I think of Riesling.  Many in our work tasting group like this the best of the 3 samples for the day.  Good stuff and just $18.  7 out of 10 for above average.

Artur Steinmann, Pastorius Franken, Silvaner, 2005 (Franken, Germany) - Silvaner comes in a classic old style bottle like a flattened tear drop.  It's a unique white which is earthy and soft yet maintains an elegance.  It was easily a 2nd favorite of the 3 tasted by our wine group at work.  6 out of 10 for upper average.

Griesbauerhoff, Georg Mumelter, Sudtirol St. Magdalener, 2007 (Italy) - You wouldn't know it from the label but this sample is 85% Schiava and that's a grape very hard to find.  Schiava is the absolute lightest and weakest of the red grapes on our DeLong's wine chart.  It was cross-bred with Riesling to make Kerner which is why we tried Kerner on the same day.  Out of the bottle this was darker than we'd expected and we guess the other 15% in the bottle is Lagrein or some other darker grape to punch it up a little.  The flavor was very weak, in fact I suspect if it didn't have the 15% of whatever added there may have been no flavor at all.  Still, there was nothing disagreeable with the flavor, it wasn't hard to drink, simply not rewarding, so I'd still score this 5 out of 10 for lower average.  If we didn't know what was in the glass we may have been tempted to assume it was some other cheap mass produced red on the market, thus lower average.