As the days get shorter and the air a bit crisper, I find myself in a woeful minority among my Northeast Ohio friends and family. I will tell you what my problem is, but you have to promise not to judge me badly. Here I go: I do not like pumpkin. 
Pumpkin scented candles? Sickeningly sweet. Pumpkin spiced coffee or tea? Blech. Pumpkin pie? Slimy. I’m not even a big fan of the color orange. (Except when it’s paired with Brown and I can cheer for our Cleveland Browns.)
I realize I am nearly alone in these opinions. I mean, everywhere I turn these days, I see pumpkin something. Pinterest is full of recipes for pumpkin this and pumpkin that. There are pumpkins on every mailbox and front door stoop and store I go into. They are simply everywhere. Cleveland loves its pumpkins. I do not.
So I am here today to wage my little war against the pumpkin by talking about another fruit altogether. It is one of my favorite scents and flavors and is neither cloyingly sweet nor overpowering. It is refreshing and sunny and aromatic.
I am talking about the lemon. A zesty, lively fruit that brings visions of sunlight and fresh air and green meadows to mind. And lemon chiffon and lemon meringue and wine.
Yes, I said wine (this is a wine blog, after all). And you can find the flavor of lemons in many wines – New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs and Italian Pinot Grigios come to mind. But there is one wine that comes to my mind when I hear the word “lemon” and that’s Cupcake Riesling (2012, 10.5%, Pfalz, Germany).
I will admit to being a bit skeptical when I read the label on this one. It promised that I would think I was eating a lemon chiffon cupcake. I couldn’t resist it, but I didn’t totally believe it either. But hey, it was worth a try.
The first scent that hits your nose with Cupcake Riesling is of faint lemon. I found that encouraging. And then I tasted it. Wow! It was creamy in the middle and full of crisp minerals and honey and…there it was: lemon! (In this case, it tasted a lot like a smooth lemon curd.) It finished up tasting just like that promised lemon chiffon cupcake.
This wine is amazingly fruity and yet at the same time, not cloyingly sweet and syrupy. It’s one of the best Rieslings I’ve had, plain and simple. You can find it all over Northeast Ohio, too – Heinen’s and Giant Eagle and independent wine stores alike carry it. And here’s the best part: it will cost you around $12 a bottle and you can often find it on special.
Feel free to join me in my pumpkin free world by toasting with a glass of Cupcake Riesling. Cheers to the lemon.
Cheers to you all!
For more of my wine reviews, visit me at The Winey Mom.
