View from the village of Château-Chalon
After that memorable tasting on friday evening we didn’t take much of a break on saturday and went on with a few more bottles. This time we also seized the opportunity for exploring the Jura wine world and with our local hero Didier we probably had the best guide one could get. He calls this region his home and is a great ambassador for the local wines which, as you might know, are packed with character and are probably the opposites of mainstream stereotypes. Read the rest of this entry »
Already 2011 and I’m still talking about Christmas Wines. But of course there are valid reasons for this delay: 1) Those are busy days spent in the kitchen and with friends 2) the number of bottles indulged in that time are “above average” . So here are a few more wines from the Christmas holidays.
2009 Hubacker GG, Weingut Keller – This Riesling from a great terroir and vintage is still a baby. Of course I knew that before I uncorked it, but sometimes curiosity wins. Acidity is still to the fore right now but a long decant somewhat helps. Still, the wine feels tight at first, like a thin steel bullet with lots of minerality. But fruit comes up more with each sip: Peach and later some wild herbs are a nice composition. Incredible how slim and at the same time compact and flavour-loaded this wine appears. Lots of substance, nice presence on the palate and oh what a great length. Empties itself on its own but will be an even greater wine in 2-3 years time! ++
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When wine geeks think of the Eighties, it’s not only Madonna, Top Gun or Miami Vice coming to their minds, but also the rise of modern winemaking in Bordeaux concurring with such great vintages like ’82 ’85 ’86 or ’89.
Thus, tasting some wines from that decade is always something special and I was thrilled when Oskar invited me to his round of friends when he was once again sacrificing some of his treasuries he had gathered over the years. It hurts him just a little bit, but it is certainly for a great moment of fun. Read the rest of this entry »
Blind Tastings are supposed to be the essence of this website and yet, it happens that none occurs for very long periods of time. Hence I felt somehow relieved when we finally found a date that worked for all of us and the topic was rather secondary at first.
But then Oskar told me he wanted to make it a special tasting and that he’ll take care of the bottles. I could easily live with that, and laid back in awaitance of some decent wines. Read the rest of this entry »
Finally a real blind tasting again. The last times we’ve been quite lax with our club’s rules I have to admit ;), but this evening all bottles were covered and then randomly numbered (and eventually re-mixed another time) so no bias was possible in our judgments. For this sum-up I kept the order of the tasting of course, just in case you wonder why vintages are so mixed up here. The theme was Tuscany, which includes of course the vast Chianti region, but also other famous appellation like Brunello di Montalcino for example. Generally the wines are made with the Sangiovese grape, but are most frequently combined in Cuvées with other varietals. Ok this should be enough theory! We were thirsty!
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Hier ein paar Notizen zu verschiedenen (verschieden Herkünfte, verschiedene Jahrgänge) spanischen Rotweinen, die wir an einem netten Abend probiert haben:
Senorio de Sarria Reserva 1989, Navarra
Ausgeglichene Nase mit leichten Vanilletönen, sowie Kirsche und erdige Noten. Sehr schöne Länge. Erinnert in seiner ausgewogenen, runden Art eher an einen Burgunder als an einen Bordeaux.
Casa de la Vina Reserva 1990, Valdepenas
Dieser Wein wird hauptsächlich aus der Cencibel-Rebe (ein anderer Name für Tempranillo)gekeltert. Er hat im Glas eine schöne dunkle Farbe. Sein Bukett wirkt leicht verschlossen. Am Gaumen fallen einem als erstes die vielen Tannine auf, die aber schön mit dem Wein verschmolzen sind. Anschliessend zeigt der Wein eine schöne beerige Frucht, überwiegend nach Himbeere schmeckend. Read the rest of this entry »
