I heard a lot of things about 2006 being such a good vintage for Montalcino wines. The tone being that even some of the more basic Rosso di Montalcino wines can be considered top notch, rivaling Brunellos from weaker vintages.
Well, I was curious about that statement and bought this recommended 2006 Querce Bettina Rosso di Montalcino hoping it will blow me away for little money (12,90 Eur). I don’t know the winery at all and I am really not a big connoisseur of Italian wines in general, so it’s hard for me to put things into perspective, ie have an opinion about a particular Italian vintage, and even less compared to another vintage. Read the rest of this entry »
Last tuesday I attended an event in Frankfurt showcasing wines and delicatessen from the Basque country. Besides the fact that it was as usual great fun to taste many different wines, I have to say that it was quite an informative event since I learned many things I didn’t know about the Basque wines, as well as about Spanish wines in general. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
First of all I have no clue why this wine is named Rozeta and why it contains a Z. But somehow it made me think of the movie title V for Vendetta, and why not have a blogpost title completely without sense !?
Well but back to some facts. Rozeta is made by the young winemaker Maxime Magnon in the AOC Corbières which is the biggest AOC within the Languedoc. This wine is mostly composed of old vine Carignan (80 years) plus some drops of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah. Read the rest of this entry »
This 1er Cru “Les Champs-Gains” by domaine Potinet-Ampeau is not really my kind of White Burgundy. Not only is it overly oaked, but it is also oaked in a style that is particularly off putting. Not reminding butter or vanilla (which are the usual oak overdose tones) but rather some kind of dusty grey wood – made me think of Read the rest of this entry »
In order to sum-up my wine experiences during my trip to Stellenbosch and the Cape Region of South Africa, here’s a list of white and red wines I enjoyed most. Some of these were already mentioned in previous postings, some others make their first appearance here.
White Wines
2010 Iona Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin. Very crisp and dry. Not much exotic fruit here which is due to the slightly cooler climate of Elgin. But still vibrant and with substance with grass and gooseberry on the fore. One that you could put away for a year. We had it at Ernie Els’ (the famous golfer) restaurant Big Easy, which I can recommend for its beautiful premises and relaxed atmosphere but also for their quality food. Especially the oysters we indulged there went perfectly with the Iona. Read the rest of this entry »
