Monthly Archives: September 2011

2010 Great Growths presented at Kloster Eberbach – a wild vintage!

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Just a day after that VDP wine auction for the Rheingau region, I returned to Kloster Eberbach for the big public presentation of 2010 Great Growth wines of all VDP member estates. Since I missed previous opportunities to taste these wines, I was more than happy to attend this brilliant event.

The 2010 vintage didn’t have an easy start as numerous media already condemned it as a sour (white) wine vintage at a time when harvest wasn’t even fully brought in. And it’s true that for many of the estate’s basic Rieslings, qualities are rather heterogenous. For the Great Growths however, I read more and more opinons that are highly praising this new vintage, even putting it above last year’s great success. Continue reading →

Rheingau Wine Auction tasting at Kloster Eberbach

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Every year in September, estates of the VDP association offer some selected wines for auction. This happens on one weekend with 3 distinct auctions. The first (friday) is held in Trier for the estates of Saar and Mosel. The second (saturday) at Kloster Eberbach for Rheingau estates, where also a few wineries from Franken are joining in. The third in Bad Kreuznach (sunday) for estates from Nahe and Ahr, joined by wineries from Rheinhessen and Pfalz. I was lucky to attend the pre-auction tasting at Kloster Eberbach on Saturday. Continue reading →

Juan Amador at Prêt à Dîner pop-up restaurant in Frankfurt

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Juan Amador, the Spanish-German 3 star chef who recently gave up his restaurant nearby Frankfurt and now took over the reins in what used to be his second outlet in the city of Mannheim, was next to feature in Kofler‘s pop-up restaurant Prêt à Dîner within a just completed office building. We decided to return for the occasion, just a week after having indulged Matthias Schmidt’s creations within the same venue. Continue reading →

2010 Rotgipfler vom Berg, Weingut Alphart, Thermenregion, Österreich

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Nun noch ein Beitrag zum Thema “Rebsorten die die Welt nicht kannte”, wobei ich hoffe, dass ich mich jetzt nicht als einzelner Unwissender geoutet habe. Ich schätze zumindest mal, dass in Österreich die Sorte Rotgipfler ein paar mehr Leuten ein Begriff sein dürfte. Continue reading →

Restaurant “Wistub Du Sommelier” in Bergheim, Alsace

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For a friends and family get-together in Alsace, The “Riesling-region” of France, we had a reservation at Antje and Patrick Schneider‘s Wistub du Sommelier in the pittoresque village Bergeim. I stumbled upon this restaurant when looking for an interesting place in the surroundings of Ribeauvillé and coincidently found a recommendation on someone’s facebook status, I think it was Panos Kakaviatos who was posting about a meal there – again, the blogosphere proves to be very useful.

We arrived in the region in the afternoon of a beautiful September day, and after checking in to our hotel, we were all set for a joyful dinner at the Wistub. Continue reading →

2009 Sotorrondero, Bodegas Jimenez-Landis, D.O. Mentrida, Spain

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Jay Miller describes this 85% Syrah wine from the Toledo region near Madrid as a “Côte-Rôtie” look-alike. I would qualify this comparison as a sliiiiight exaggeration (not surprising coming from Jay Miller, many would say). Continue reading →