As I head to Niagara this weekend for TasteCamp North, I am reminded of a session I attended at the American Wine Society’s November 2010 Conference in Cincinnati, OH (or as I call it, the other Cin city) with David Gimbel of Vineland Estates Winery.

Established by German producer St. Urbanhoff, Vineland Estates looked to emulate the Mosel in North America. Consequently, they purchased 35 acres in the Niagara Escarpment.

The original motherblock was planted entirely to Riesling on Weiss 21B vines, which can withstand very cold temperatures. The first production was limited to three wines – dry, off-dry and ice wine Rieslings. However, today, the winery has planted other varieties and produces both red and white wines.

David’s session included a tasting of selected vintages from the past 16 years and was a wonderful opportunity to see how well Riesling can age.

Unfortunately, we all agreed that the 1996 Riesling Reserve was tired, with an oxidized character on both the nose and palate. However, it did show a developed nose of spice, dried apricot and slight citrus with more dried fruit and honey on the palate.

The 1999 Riesling Reserve was much more alive, with floral, honey and ripe apricot notes, which remained on the palate for a long time. The 2000 Riesling Reserve was developing nicely with apple peel, honey and a hint of floral while the 2005 Riesling Reserve was still fresh and ripe. Its complex palate provided just a hint of sweetness, with high acidity, peach, floral, honey and pineapple.

We then switched to tasting the Semi-Dry Riesling flight, beginning with the 1994, which showed only slight development despite the passage of 16 years. The honey, spice, apricot and dried fruit nose gave way to bright acidity, apricot, spice, and honeysuckle on the palate, culminating in long length. The 1998 was still vibrant, belying its age, with floral, citrus and peach notes, while the 2000, equally youthful, had more lime and pith flavors. The 2004 vintage was rich and intense with a developing nose redolent with spice and a palate of floral, honey, citrus and peach. While the sweetness of the older wines had faded, the 2004 was still slightly off-dry.

The session concluded with the Riesling Icewine 2000, which was medium-sweet, but beautifully balanced with acidity. Dried fruit, apricot, honey and a hint of anise in the background, long length.

At least at the time, the winery still had some of these older wines available for sale, with the Riesling Reserves priced at $30.00 and the Semi-Dry Rieslings at $25.00, while the Riesling Icewine was $55.00.