Last year on the first of January, we opened a magnum bottle of Rheingau Riesling – it was a First Growth – and realized how beautiful those wines can age in such big containers. Plus, it’s quite a festive manner to drink and a good way to start the new year with a big bang.

So I decided to repeat the experience this year, and I think this ritual has good chances to become a tradition for the years to come.  As many friends were expected for a late brunch with pizza, quiche and lentil soup, I opened 4 magnums of German white wine. Of course, to variate pleasures, I opted for 4 different styles and 3 different varietals.

We started with a magnum-bottle from Franconia, the German wine region probably most known for its Silvaner wines (although in quantity, Rheinhessen produces most of this varietal). Silvaner used to have a reputation for being a simple and overly fruity wine that pleased grandmothers and should be drunk fast, but there are now more and more specimen that could be qualified as premium dry white wine, with traits only such wines can have. Read the rest of this entry »

Two years ago, in a London restaurant, I had my first encounter with Sarget de Gruaud-Larose which is the second wine of Château Gruaud-Larose in Saint-Julien. It was a 1997, so not a spectacular vintage and already more than 10 years old and still, I was more than impressed by its quality. It felt like the perfectly aged bottle of Bordeaux with perfect balance and so much elegance: fruit, coconut, chocolate, melted tannins, good weight. Of course I first have to credit the sommelier for pulling out such a wonderful bottle. That’s what sommeliers are for you will tell me, but such things still happen on too few occasions in my opinion.

But the second thought that crossed my mind was that these second wines are much better than their reputation. And if such a wine from a weaker vintage impresses me so much, there must be tons of hidden treasures out there. So many Crus and Châteaux’ in Bordeaux, so many second wines! And what about the second wines of great vintages? They must be freaking awesome!

I carried these thoughts in my mind for quite some time and finally, for last year’s holiday season, I decided to buy a few “Seconds” from the succesful vintages 2000 and 2005. Here now the first 2 bottles, from the 2000 vintage, which we drunk over some medium-raw steaks with sauce Béarnaise and green beans.  Read the rest of this entry »

And while we’re at it. Here’s the second Künstler wine we had over the holidays. This time, true to the region’s traditions: a Riesling. Precisely, it was a dry Auslese from the acclaimed Hochheimer Hölle vineyard which somehow represents the ancestor to Künstler’s Erstes Gewächs of the same site. Read the rest of this entry »

Together with the 2005 Chassagne by Olivier Leflaive, I thought it would be a good idea to open a bottle of German Chardonnay from the same vintage. I actually kept a bottle of 05 Künstler Chardonnay from Rheingau precisely for that purpose. A wine that pleased me a few years ago (Here a TN in German from 2009 and here in English from 2006) and for which I had hopes, or for which I wanted at least to check the ageing potential. Read the rest of this entry »

This second bottle of white Burgundy for Christmas represents the complete opposite in style to the last-mentioned Boisson-Vadot. More oak in the nose and more fat on the palate. But everything in an elegant way, not “New World”  with butterscotch, rather with understated creamy vanilla and also more clear fruit notes such as apple and a few flowery elements. I guess the big estate Olivier Leflaive knows how to create a pleasing style, but it is for sure also the natural expression of the great vintage 2005 that comes through. Read the rest of this entry »

On to our first dry white wine we had for Christmas. This bottle by relatively unknown winemaker Bernard Boisson-Vadot was recommended by one of my regular online-wine-shops here in Germany, promising lots of bang for the buck. How does Boisson-Vadot work his vines and wines? This blog post (in French) describes that the estate is maturing its whites for up to 21 months on the lees which supposedly adds complexity. Another post (in French as well) explains that vineyards are worked in a traditional way without chemical fertilizers, and including plowing of the soils. Also, Boisson-Vadot only uses very few new barriques for the élevage (25% maximum) for maintaining a very pure expression of the grape. But beside these posts, and the retailer infos, there’s not much information to be found on the winery. So let’s just get to the wine.

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