Finally I got to visit one of Frankfurt’s most acclaimed fine dining locations, Restaurant Villa Merton*, where Chef Matthias Schmidt is applying a cuisine which could be qualified as regional, experimental and natural. Without doubt, there are some striking similarities to restaurant Noma chef René Redzepi’s philosophy, as Schmitt as well has a focus on regional specialties, gathering herbs and fruit and sourcing meat and fish in the very region of Frankfurt.
After I had a provisional introduction to Matthias Schmidt’s cuisine at a pop-up restaurant last year, a friend’s visit was the right occasion to discover his philosphy “full throttle”. We opted for the seven course menu named “Stoff”, here’s the story of our dinner. Read the rest of this entry »
Der Hauptdarsteller für das Oster-Essen unter Freunden war schon am Vortag besorgt. Ein 2,3 Kilo Wildfang-Loup de Mer, der frischer nicht hätte sein können. Ausnehmen und schuppen musste ich diesen Kaventsmann selbst, was aber eine leichtere Aufgabe ist als man annehmen könnte. Doch nun gleich mal vorspulen zum Anfang des Abends: Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend was awesome! Together with some friends I was lucky to be welcomed by Didier from Vimpressionistes in a cosy holiday appartment in the beautiful village of Château Chalon in the Jura region of Eastern France. First of all, to finally meet his beautiful baby-daughter but of course also to indulge a memorable blindtasting.
But don’t expect a Vin Jaune or Savagnin tasting here. That evening was entirely devoted to Read the rest of this entry »
Categories:
Alsace,
Beaujolais,
Blind Tastings,
Champagne,
France,
Germany,
Greece,
Pfalz,
Rheinhessen,
Saar,
Wine Tastings
After the party comes the afterparty, and after the food and wine presentations at OFF comes the wine degustation at home, between chefs, food lovers and bloggers.
And since our thirst had grown during the day, it was good that there were a few bottles standing around. Of course, my deed was to bring some Rieslings from Germany and represent to a certain extent my country, also knowing that these wines are basically unavailable in France.
We started off with some Ulysse Colin Champagne. Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut is dry to the bone, but still with a delicious fresh minerality: what a nice way to rehydrate your body. Then as a contrast, a Riesling from 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! ++
Read the rest of this entry »
Vor kurzem getrunken. Ist anscheinend (Google lässt grüßen) aus dem letzten Jahrgang bevor die Umstellung auf Biodynamie eingeleitet wurde. Und man merkt es denn das Geschmacksbild weicht deutlich ab von den heutigen Kühn-Weinen. Schon leicht gereift, aber auf jeden Fall ein Riesling-Primärfrucht-Wein. War schön zu trinken: Saftig mit einem Touch Persönlichkeit.
