I didn’t have many American red wines recently and so, when I bought myself a juicy American Rib Eye Steak for dinner, I let myself convince by the supermarket wine guy to match it with a Washington State Cabernet by Château Ste. Michelle. “We recently had a tasting of red wines here, where people just bought this wine case-wise”, he said. My choice was made, and I put the bottle of Argentina Malbec I’ve held in my other hand back on the shelve . Yes, I was definitely into a “New World” mode that night.

Read the rest of this entry »

After the white wines, now on to the reds of our Paris blind tasting: Read the rest of this entry »

Again one from the colorful US shelves. The intriguing name “Petite Petit” is actually a wink to the wine’s blend composed of Petite Syrah and Petit Verdot. I like the humor in it and I wonder how “big” the wine actually tastes… See more funky labels wines.

In Deutschland kaum vorstellbar, in den USA in jedem gut sortiertem Supermarkt Realität. Ein kleiner Bayer werbt für Mosel-Riesling! Irgendwie drollig, der little German, selbst wenn die deutsche Kultur – vor allem auf dem Blog der Firma – ziemlich arg auf die Schippe genommen wird. Probiert hab ich Ihn allerdings nicht: Den besseren Riesling gibt es sowieso zuhause, ganz ohne Lederhosen und Sepplhut.

I think the last blind tasting I took part was nearly half a year ago which is quite a shame considering the name of this blog. But last Saturday this dry spell finally ended when we gathered for an awesome blind-tasting around the varietal Syrah. An exciting topic about a noble grape that is probably at home in the Northern Rhône but is nowadays planted on every corner of the planet, and we opened not less than 15 bottles to cover all aspects of it. Next to all the usual suspects that participated in the tasting, it was also a particular pleasure to welcome fellow blogger Barry who I only recently met in person. So Here are my notes on the wines in the order of the tasting. Every 4 bottles we uncovered and compared notes. I must say there were quite some surprises, but also a few wines that matched clichés’. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a Riesling from Brass Tacks I picked up at Singapore Airport Duty Free. Interesting for me as a German since it’s a Riesling – a German varietal – grown in the US; California to be precise. Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County to be even more precise. And it definitely beat my expectations. No detailed notes on it, but I remember a nice fruit-acidity-balance and a authentic Riesling personality. I’ll keep an eye on it.