Talk about a late blog post – my visit at Bar Brutal dates from February this year and this draft has been waiting ever since. Not too much details in my head about it now. But I definetely know that a visit is worth it. In particular wine lovers who enjoy the raw side, the natural side of wines shouldn’t miss this place out. “Natural wine” is the main topic here and the list features specimens from all over Europe, with the bulk coming from Spain and France. And don’t be scared either if you’re not used to natural wines, they actually have a few that do contain sulfites :P Read the rest of this entry »

Cal Pep is undeniably a legend among Barcelona tapas bars. Over the last decades it gained a reputation for high-quality bar food, serving market fresh produce directly at the counter. Nowadays Cal Pep is a well-oiled machine,  attracting many foodie-tourists and one can read in specialist forums that it has lost some of its glow. So I might have been a little late to experience the greatness of Cal Pep, but I guess I at least wanted to add the place to my list and maybe check what the hype is about. Read the rest of this entry »

Wenn es darum geht in Frankfurt guten Wein in Kombination mit gutem Essen vorzufinden, macht das Restaurant Heimat für mich seinem Namen alle Ehre. Zwar gibt es in dieser Stadt allerhand Lokalitäten in denen man Wein nebst Essen erhält, doch wenn man diese besondere Atmosphäre zwischen Restaurant und urbaner Weinbar und eine engagierte Weinberatung von lockeren Gastgebern sucht, ist die Heimat so ziemlich ohne Gleichen. Schon beachtlich was das Team mit und um Oli Donnecker und Sabine Fey hier aufgebaut haben. Besonders hervorheben kann man dabei auch die Leistungen von Küchenchef Gregor Nowak, der auf 1 Quadratmeter grandiose Gerichte erschafft. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy new Year to all of you! 2012 was a year filled with many wines, not too many tastings and blind tastings, but certainly enough Epicurian moments to fill a few pages. I certainly have not reported everything, as workload was higher than in previous years, but there are some great moments that are worth being mentioned anew. Read the rest of this entry »

What might look a bit like a haunted mansion within the high rise buildings of Shanghai, actually is a very charming old Tudor house and represents a beautiful setting for wine and food.

For our last dinner in Shanghai I went online and made some research about what the Shanghai fine dining scene has to offer. There are a few branches of international 3 star chefs (The Pourcel twins and Boulud) which I suspected might only be less good copies of the originals. Then there are those much talked about hip restaurants such as “Mr. and Mrs Bund”, which might actually be worth a shot, but also bear a big risk for disappointment. But we wanted none of these, and rather picked a restaurant with a wine theme that seemed to offer a reasonable package: Napa Wine Bar and Kitchen. Read the rest of this entry »

Many laugh about Chinese wine culture, often bringing up the example of fine wine being mixed with Coke, but during my 7 days in Shanghai I did see no such thing. On the contrary, Shanghai even has a nice little wine scene, with a panoply of shops (many with the so loved Lafite wines as crown of their selection) and also a few very cosy wine bars. Two times we visited Le Bistro du Dr. Wine, a hip wine bar with bistro flair on Fumin road, it charmed us with its stylish yet unpretentious ambiance and an appealing wine list.
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