Einen guten Start der ProWein habe ich beim rheingauer Kultwinzer Hans Josef Becker erwischt, der immer ein paar seiner gereiften Preziosen im Gepäck hat. Auch diese 1998er Spätlese trocken vom Wallufer Walkenberg zeigt sich noch mineralisch vibrierend am Gaumen. Primärfrucht ist hingegen nicht mehr viel vorhanden, doch die vermisst man bei solch einem Wein auch nicht! Read the rest of this entry »

After having spent some time in Madrid visiting museums and eating tapas, I was on my own for 2 days and had to find a meaningful occupation for myself. Since I already got my dose of art and architecture, I decided to become hedonistic and locate my favorite wine shop Lavinia which I already thoroughly inspected in Paris (they now have shops in Barcelona and Geneva also). Of course, I expected the Madrid mothership to also have a specimen of my favorite toy and I wasn’t disappointed. In the end I spent nearly 3 hours in the store, sipping what “the machine” had to offer. Here are my notes.

2007 Predicador Blanco, Rioja, Benjamin Romeo. A white cuvée made of Garnacha Blanca, Malvasia and Viura. Weird nose to me: rather floral but reminding cidre and furniture polish at the same time. A bit stinging on the palate, rather high acidity, some wax, slightly alcoholic, a little salty in the finish and a very good length. This is a totally untypical wine to me but I would also agree with you if you think my notes are a bit untypical too. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week it was proven again that wines from Languedoc in Southern France have an ability to age. The 1998 Chateau de La Liquière, cuvée Cistus from Faugères had a dense structure with fruit and balance, was superbly mouth-filling and showed a great length. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Easter-Sunday and the first rays of sunshine are coming through and make it possible to sit on the balcony again after many weeks of bad weather. This occasion needs a good wine match, and I thought I had one. I bought a wine on Ebay some weeks ago knowing that it would be sacrificed for one special occasion. It was a 1998 Cuvée of Chardonnay and Weissbugunder (Pinot Blanc), from the very reknown Knipser Winery in the Pfalz. Knipser has build a great reputation for making some of the best German red wines, but of course, as it is common fort the Pfalz, they also make excellent whites. Recently they won the Decanter Award for the worlds’ best sweet wine with their 2003 Kappellenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese. Knipser is also known for experimenting with „international“ varieties in its vineyards. The two brothers succesfully planted Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah vines and, also – which is relevant for our bottle here – Chardonnay, in a region which is basically known as „born to bear Riesling“.
So I didn’t hesitate to bid on this wine, even knowing that it was 9 years old. I simply thought I’d trust the reputation of the winemakers. Read the rest of this entry »

For our Easter dinner, where we celebrated at the same time the homecoming of my brother Felix (his Malaysia weblog here, in German), we had some good lamb straight out of the oven. It wasn’t hard to come up with some wine matches here – Languedoc wines are always perfect with lamb in my opinion, and luckily we had some spare bottles from this wonderful region

1999 Domaine Ellul-Ferrières „Vielles Vignes“ VDP D’Oc

Dark red colour but not brilliant- somehow a rough unclear aspect. On the sides lighter with orange shades. Nice Rosemary and herbs nose at the beginning, also cherry fruit, a certain sweetness reminding German „ Mon chéri“ chocolates (dark chocolate with a cherry in alcohol inside). On the palate Read the rest of this entry »

Folgende 6 Rotweine wurden probiert. Die Etiketten waren dabei nicht bedeckt aber wir haben uns, denke ich, um Objektivität bemüht ;-)

Weingut Daniel, Toque Jondo 2003, Geisenheim/Pfalz

„Toque Jondo“ heisst auf Deutsch „tiefes Spiel“ und ist eine Cuvée aus verschiedenen Rotweinsorten. In der Farbe ist der Wein dunkel und elegant. In der Nase überwiegt ein schöner Kirschduft begleitet von einer leichten Gewürznote. Eine dezente Säure im Hintergrund stützt die Frucht. Der Gesamteindruck am Gaumen ist der eines gut ausbalancierten, samtigen Rotweins mit einer angenehmen Länge.
Note: 88 Read the rest of this entry »