Last thursday we were about 10 wine-buddies gathering at our generous host Nick‘s home for a blind-tasting of red Rhône wines. This time there were absolutely no limits as all reds from all-over the Rhône-region were permitted, drastically differentiating it from our last tasting at Nick’s when only Southern Rhône reds were allowed, as well as from the last blind tasting at my place where boundaries were set by the Syrah varietal, originally stemming from that area but now being planted all over Planet Wine.

This means that each of the 12 bottles we popped that night could be anything from Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage to Côtes du Ventoux and Châteauneuf-Du-Pape, hence also mixing single-varietal wines with those that represent cuvées. As you can see, with each blind-tasting we are slowly encircling what both Rhône and Syrah have to offer. Are we gonna grasp the essence of it tonight? Dream on, dreamer.. Read the rest of this entry »

Jay Miller describes this 85% Syrah wine from the Toledo region near Madrid as a “Côte-Rôtie” look-alike. I would qualify this comparison as a sliiiiight exaggeration (not surprising coming from Jay Miller, many would say). 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 »

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 »

Lavinia has always been one of my favorite winestores in Paris. It’s like a wine epicentre in this city of bons-vivants.
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The choice is huge, the selection offers nice surprises and discoveries. And if you’re looking for exclusive Grand Crus, this is definetely the place to go with a jaw-dropping treasure-cellar featuring endless lines of Petrus, Moutons and other VIP’s of the wine world. And after not having been there for 2 years or so, the wine store had a special surprise for me: I couldn’t believe what I was seeing there…

..this machine in the middle of the store it was. A wine-carousel-automat allowing you to try sips of a selection of wines. Probably my favorite Parisian toy now. Read the rest of this entry »