L and F Martin, Coteaux du Layon 2003

In 2008 I bought three bottles by L. and F. Martin of their Selection de Grains Nobles (botrytis) wine from 2003. It was a nice price for them considering they were five years old at that time. I opened one at once and that was a dissapointment, it just tasted sweet and I felt there was no balance in the wine. So the two remaining bottles went into the wine cellar and there they remained until 2010 when I thought I should try the second bottle. And behold, now the wine had changed. Two years of extra storage had brought on more complexity and now the wine was really good. From what I remeber the colour was golden and the taste was rich with taste of pineapple and rasisins. Very good and at that moment I regretted not buying three more bottles. Maybe these sweet wines from Coteaux du Layon need long storage before getting their act together like the more famous Moulin Touchais. So now I am wondering when to drink the next bottle. Drink this year and get a tasting report two years apart. Wait a couple of more years and hope that it will become even better with age. Any suggestion?
Coteaux du Layon is an AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) for sweet wines in the Loire Valley. And the wines are made from the grape Chenin Blanc. This wine has an alcohol level of 11%. Very low compared to the Sauterness wines.

Elfenhof Trockenbeerenuslese 1995

I have a sweet spot for sweet wines. Unfortunately that is not is shared by many people as nowadays it seem that dry wines is the fashion of the day. Germany and Austria produce many good sweet wines and the best ones and most powerful ones are either Eisweines or Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA). TBA is made fromselected grapes affected by noble rot or as it is known botrytized grapes. And Elfenhof has a Trockenbeerenauslese ruster cuvee from 1995. Elfenhof is run by a family since 1642 and is situated in Austria along the west side of the sea Neusiedlersee. Now the smell of this TBA is divine. Deep and lingers in my nose. The colour is deep amber. So beautiful. And the taste is true to a TBA. Very deep that lingers in the mouth for minutes.Very fine acid which goes well with the high sugar content. And I should have bought more bottles of this wine as it seem to be stored for a long time. I have heard the term liquid gold about Trockenbeernauslese and eiswein and that is so true. Compared to Sauterness wines the Austrian TBA has a much lower alcohol level. Only 11,5% for this TBA.

Wine for barbeque

The days have slowly become warmer and yesterday was the first really good day to have a barbeque but due to other circumstances it was shifted to Sunday instead. And that was even better as the weather today was better, more warmth and no cold winds at all. Instead of the usual pork fore the barbeque I had beef for once. And what wine would go fine with the beef. Looking through the cellar I found a Marques De Arienzo Gran Reserva from 1998. That would be a fine addition to the weather and the barbequed beef. Marques de Arienzo started in 1981 and in 2010 it was bought by Marqués de Riscal S.A. This wine is made from Tempranillo grapes and has an alcohol level of 13% vol. The smell was very good. A good sign of a well stored wine. The colour of the wine was deep ruby red, very nice. The taste of the wine could be split into three difefrent phases. The first phase was a strong taste, almost earthy and leathery. Then t became a bit bitter to be followed by a long nice aftertaste. For those interested the 2001 Gran Reserva can be found at Systembolaget.

Rotari Rose 2007

Time again to try yet another Rotari sparkling wine and this time it is their Rose from 2007. Rotari is a producer from Trento region in northern Italy and this rose sparkling wine is made from Pinot noir and Chardonnay grapes. I have a weakness for sparkling rose wines. For those who want to know more about Rotari can go to , this page is in Swedish.
The wine has a weak salmon colour. The smell is nice very nice. Smells a bit like red berries. The taste is dry and reminds me of wild strawberries and grapefruit. Nice and as strangely enough it tasted better the day after opening the bottle.

A different bourbon

Bourbon has been for me really bad. Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. Awful stuff to drink. So when I tasted the bourbon Makers Mark that I got as a birthday gift I was suprised.
Makers Mark is a bourbon that is distilled in Loretto, Kentucky. Its trademark is is the almost square bottle which is sealed with red wax. And they use the scottish spelling of whisky, not whiskey. The taste of the whisky is very flavourful. It has a taste of oak, vanilla and much more. A few drops of water in the whisky and it ggives away more taste. Very good.
 I wonder if I will every visit this distillery. Wold be fun to try it out there they distill it. I can always look at the pics from their site, http://www.makersmark.com/.

Eiswein, not a normal Tokaji and grape juice

This weekend brought some very different wines and also some grape juice.

Eiswein has been a fascination of mine since I ever tasted it. They are among the best wines one can drink and unfortunately can be very expensive and also hard to find. Eiswein are made from grapes that picked from the vine while it is freezing temperatures outside. The water freezes and this allows the grapejuice to become much more concentrated when the grapes are pressed while frozen. This eiswein is from the producer Josef Ehmoser in Austria. It is made from the grape Grüner Veltiner from the year 2009. These grapes were harvested on the 15th of december. The smell is very concentrated and it is clearer to the eye than other eisweines I have tried. First time I tried this wine I was dissapointed with the tatse. Nice good taste but I was expecting a huge hit. Two days later I trie dit again and now that my expectations was lower it tasted much more nicer. It is more subtle than your normal eiswein but still has depths of taste layers.Very fresh and yummy.

Hungary is famous for it sweet Tokaji wine but not as much as for its dry wines. So time to test a dry wine from 2010 made from the famous Furmint grape. It is bottled by Royal Tokaji and is from 2010. The wine has a taste of pear and has a sharp taste. The aftertaste is very long and reminds me of grapefruit but this aftertaste is very sharp and I didn't like it. But with food that can cover the aftertaste it works fine. But there are better white wines that I would rather drink.

The last bottle is grapejuice from Cognac in France of the variety Ugni Blanc and Colombard. Since I have never drank grapejuice it would be very interesting. I didnt have high expectations but I was totally wrong. It taste like a sweet applejuice but with much stronger taste and a bit sweeter. good and interesting.

Two Italian red rubies

When I was in Bologna the capital of food and visited a very good winestore I asked for wines that would go well with prosciutto and cheese. The salesman dissappeared into the backroom and soon came out with two different red wines. One he said was very strong and the other one was more elegant. The elegant was a Blauburgunder from Südtirol or in Italian, an Pinot Nero from Alto Adige. The man from the winestore suggested that I should start with that one first and the move on to the stronger wine. And the strong wine with a lot of taste was made with Carmenere and Melot from the Veneto region.
The Pinot Nero from 2008 is made by Stiftskellerei Neustift situated in Südtirol. Kloster Neustift. The Augustinian Canons Regular monastery Abbazia di Novacella is the producer of the wine. This monastery was founded in 1157 and someday I will visit it in real life as it looks beautiful there. The wine was elegant as the man from the wineshop said. Not as powerful as red wines can be. Very easy to drink and the taste was of red currants. Lovely even for a white wine lover as I am. Wonder if I can find their wines here in Sweden?
The next wine is a Carmenere Pui from 2007 by Inama from Veneto. Inama is a family that has been producing wines for more than forty years near Soave.Imama wineyard. Unfortunately I did not have the time to visit this wineyard when I was in Soave this year. The Carmenere Pui consists of 70% Carmenere grapes and 30% Merlot grapes and these grapes comes from Colli Berci, a line of gently volcanic hills. The look of the wine is deep red almost ruby. Smell of black cherry and the taste is very powerful and strong. Exactly as the wine salesman had said. No sour after taste as is very usual with these wines. Very good. Unfortunately this one is not availeble in Sweden either.I need to find some contacts in Italy that can ship me these wines.
Very good wines and for a Swede excellent prices. I think they were ten euros each.

The view from Soave.