INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 PAUL ANHEUSER KREUZNACHER SCHEUREBE NAHE $15.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We are also doing both a white and a red option each week, with the white wine available for the discount on Thursday and Friday, while the red wine available on Friday and Saturday. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

While Riesling is the undeniable king grape variety in Germany, there is still plenty of room for other varietal royalty to show off if you are willing to look for it. Scheurebe (also called Samling 88, far less sexy) is a hybrid developed in the early 1900s with Riesling parentage, with an eye towards quality and durability in the more frost prone areas. While it only makes up <2% of German plantings, it has more than a few advocates and plenty of tasty examples. Our favorite quote generator for German wines, importer Terry Theise, called the grape 'Riesling's evil, horny twin' in his book Reading Between The Wines. Also his most PG-rated description of the grape. In the sweeter versions Scheurebe shows a lot of pears and white fruits, but the drier it gets the more zesty and grapefruit intensive the flavors become. This lands in the off-dry zone, just enough juicy pears and center-of-the-grape white flesh flavors with a citrus zing to the finish, a bit of a spicy fragrance. Folks looking for something fun and a little different will have a blast trying this with spicy seafood, maybe a richer poultry dish in a cream sauce.

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