Tasting California Riesling with Other Wine Professionals

This morning I had a chance to taste a couple of wines with the winemaker who worked on the wines, as well as other wine professionals, and compare and contrast our own observations about the wines.
The wines in Question - both from Sterling Vineyards, both Rieslings. We tasted the 2008 Monterey County and the 2009 Mendocino County. Giving us the back ground was one of the winemakers from Sterling, Alison Crary. She studied and made wine in Germany, so is one of the more familiar winemakers with Riesling in California these days. Joining the group was Tom Meadowcroft, owner and winemaker of Magito Wines; Damon Dudley, Operations Manager and Winemaker with Winesecrets; Domingo Rodriguez, VP and GM with Winesecrets; Petar Kirilov, winemaker with Magito, as well as consultant with other brands; and myself.
While you think the "land of vintages every year" as California might be seen, there was a striking difference between the two, and not just from a vintage standpoint. The 2008 Monterey was fuller, softer, much more like a Pinot Blanc, while the 2009 Mendo had big up front aromatics, crisper acids, and was, well for lack of a better term, playful on the tongue.
Another interesting note was that, while both wines came across very well, and would definitely be great food wines (the 08 I would say would with white flesh fish, and the 09 with shell fish, or even slightly spicy Asian cuisine, which would pair nicely with the fruity notes), both wines were at 14.2 alcohol - and did not come across as such! This shows that each of these wines was well balanced, and would be a welcome addition to the cellar this summer. It was also nice to take some time out of the usual routine and talk with other wine people and sit and focus on just a couple of wines and talk about the vineyards the grapes came from, the processes, and how each of us described them (in case you're wondering, both wines received high praises around the table, but it was a pretty even split when one had to be picked, so both wines were really winners).
Also was told that Sterling is having a special on the 08 this weekend (Memorial Day weekend), so if you needed an excuse to go to Sterling, here ya go!!
Hope you find some great wines this weekend,
Best
David