Eiswein and two Italians

I have a love for icewines but unfortunately they are hard to find and often very expensive due to the way they are produced. This time I had the the chance to try an icewine by weingut Krughof made from Reisling grapes from 2007. The smell as always is very good for a an icewine. The taste if of riesling, deep and mineralic. Unfortunately there is almost no aftertaste and leaves a very sugary feeling in my mouth, leaving me dissapointed.

Recently I have tried several different Italian sparkling wines. This time it is a Prosecco by producer Pizzolato. The taste is dry with just small taste of pear. Not the best one I have had but okay for its price.

The last wine of the day is Macrina. A wine by producer Garofoli and made from Verdicchio grapes from the region Marche in Italy or Verdicchio dei castelli Jesi. It is a very nice wine and it need some food to go with it. Sea food would have been the perfect accompaniment.

Only 12 euros or the second cheapest wine

I tend to avoid buying bag in box wines as I like to try out many different wines than drinking one wine. But sometime you are offered the chance to drink the second cheapest wine or 12 euro and good.

The wine 12 euro und gut is a white wine that cost 12 euro and is a decent drinking wine. Unfortunately no aftertaste but for that maybe I need to find one that cost 15 euro und sehr gut?

Donnafugata Tancredi and two other Italian wines

The wineproducer Donnafugata from Sicily makes an excellent passito wine from Pantelleria and that got me interested in Donnafugata. Unfortunately their wine has been hard to find in Sweden but finally I found their wine Tancredi for sale. Tancredi is a powerful red wine. It is from 2008 and the grapes used is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Nero d'Avola and some other grapes. The alcohol content is around 13%. Has a very strong nose and the taste is of cacao and red cherries. This strong wine goes well with meats or flavourful pasta dishes. Will be interesting to taste the other wines from donnafugata if I can find them. Next time I will try to find one of their white dry wines.

When in Bologna I bought a bottle Chardonnay made by producer Cossentino in Sicily. It is from 2010 and the nose is of apples and some hints of herbs. The taste is very sharp and dry at first but the sharpness goes away and leaves almost an oxidised taste. Should it be like that or is it a defect? Will never know as I only have one bottle. But this wine would have worked very well with seafood which would have takes away some of the sharpness.

And finally I have tasted a bottle from Collis, an extra dry Prosecco.Works well as an apeteriff and the taste is dry with notes of apples.

La Galtiere Cuvee Prestige

The Normandy area in France produces some of the best ciders in the world and I saw that Systembolaget had gotten some new ciders from Normandy. At last a chance to try some new ones. The one I tasted is La Galotiere Cuvee Prestige  with an alcohol level of 5%. It is from the area Pays d'Auge which is also famous for the Camenbert cheeses. The smell is vcery clear and distinct. The apple flavours cames straight through. The taste is very sharp and is full of apples as the Normandy ciders are famous for. A bit of honey also I can feel in the taste. Very good and goes very well with pork. Highly recommended.

Four Italians

I have had the choice to test a couple of different wines the last month. First up is La Vis Gewürztraminer. I didn't have much expectations for this wine as it was very cheap but to my suprise it were very nice. Very light and tastes of elderberries and spices. Perfect as an aperitif wine.

Next wine is from the beautiful medieval town of San Gimignano, a so called vernaccia San Gimignano by producer I Mocali and from 2008. Very good and a bit stronger than the Vernaccia I had in Sam Gimignano. Not as much bitter almond in the finish but a very strong clear flavour. Unfortunately it is very hard to find this wine in Sweden.

The third wine is an older wine from Valpolicella from the year 2000. It is by producer Vigneti di Torbe and is a ripasso wine. This bottle has the label Domini Veneti, aka the golden era which is  a label for good wines by Cantina Valpolicella Negrar. Now this Vigneti di Torbe is very strong and it took at least half an hour for the wine to open up in the glass. When it did it was majestic. Strong black currant taste and a long finish. Would go really well together with red meat.

When eating an Italian dessert, panatone from Siena, what better wine to go with it then an Italian sweet wine and this time it was a Recioto Di Soave. Good taste and worked very well together with the dolci.

Sparkling wine from Luxembourg

A first time for me, a sparkling wine from Luxembourg and the first ever wine I have drank from that country. I like sparkling wines as it brings a fun factor to a dinner. This Bernard-Massard Brut is a good wine and have undertones of bread so it is a good wine to have with food. I would not choose it as an aperitif wine

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Castello Di Bolgheri 2006

The Castello Di Bolgheri from Italy of vinatge 2006 has been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years now. I am unfamiliar with older red wines how they taste so this would be interesting. First impression is a very deep red color. Looks good. The smell is good and is promising however the first taste of the wine is that it is very sour. I let it rest in the glass for twenty minutes before having the next taste and now it has full flavor of red currants and tobacco. It is very good to have together with meat. A very nice surprise and I would gladly drink more.

Pjazza Regina Red wine

A month ago I had the chance to try white wine from the Malta producer Pjazza Regina. This time it was their red wine that I had the chance to try.  It has 12% alcohol level and the taste is very sour, not my kind of wine and it leaves me empty. However, nice nose but not good taste.

Two different wines and countries

Time to go to two different places in Europe. First one is a wine from Malta. Totally unknown wine country for me and almost impossible to find any wines from Malta in Sweden. It is called Emmanuel Delicata Pjazza Regina and has an alcohol level of 12 %. The taste is sharp and not that much more. An easy drinking wine. Drink it now and don't let it lie on the shelf.

The next wine I go back to Italy and my favourite wine producing region in Italy, namely Alto Adige. It is a sweet red wine from producer Franz Haas called Schweizer from 2008 made by Moscato Rosa grapes. When drinking it reminded me somewhat of Madiera wines but with a much lower alcohol level 12%. Very nice and not that sweet and worked well together with Strawberries. Will see if I can find more wines by this producer next week when I will be visiting Alto Adige.

Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 1999 Scharzhofberger auslese

Not many times that I have the chance to try a wine 14 years old and that does not cost a fortune. This was quite cheap so my expectations were not that high. Did they sell it out because it was going bad and had to get rid of it or maybe no one likes old rieslings?

The nose of the wine was very good. Apples and a very typical riesling smell. Very nice. The taste was good. I missed a bit of acid and it felt like it had reached its peak and would go down in a years time. Very delightful summer wine and happy time for me as old rieslings are good.

Battle of the metal wines

One recent trend in wines have been the heavy metal wines. Several wines released with the name of a famous heavy metal band. Motorhead was first out but now there are any wines like AC/DC, Slayer and Kiss. And of course Kiss has at least three wines out. I had the chance to sample two of these wines and see how the quality is.

First up is the AC/DC wine Highway to hell from 2008 consisting of cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The label promises it would be like a world tour taking the centre stage. Yes, there is a lot of crap written on these bottles. The taste is of black currents and I felt that it was very sour, way to much tannins. Not in my taste and not that good. Maybe it will be better in the future with some storage, but today no.

The money loving band Kiss has released three different wines and I had the chance to taste Zin Fire made with Zinfadel grapes from 2011. It says that it is a true rock'n'roll wine and made to lick it up. So anyone knows what a rock'n'roll wine is? This wine is drinkable. A bit peppary and blackberrys. It is decent Zinfadel wine.

And the winner of this contest is Kiss with Zin Fire.

Macvin du Jura

Macvin du Jura is a strange wine. Mybe it cannot even be called wine since there is no fermentation involved but I call it wine anyway. Macvin du Jura is produced in the region of Jura in eastern France. It is produced by boiling down the grape juice to half and then fortfied with marc (wine brandy from France) and then finally stored in oak barrels. The macvin du Jura that I had the pleasure to taste is from the producer Chateau D´Arlay and has an alcohol level of 17%. The smell of the wine if very strong and the colour is lightly amber. I find it hard to describe the taste. If other sweet wines have been smooth and almost like a womans touch, this wine is more like a man shaking you and asking you to wake up. Such distinct flavours. Very nice and interesting. Got the tip for this wine from http://winevirtuosity.com/. Thank you.

Heavy metal and wine

Since I love heavy metal and I also love wine so it is no surprise what gifts I get when I have a party.

Will be interesting to see how they taste. What is missing now is the Slayer wine but I don't think that one is any good.

Three white Italians

I love Italian wine. And this time it is time for three different white Italian wines. First up is Zecci Classico from 2010 by producer Piersanti. It is made of the grape verdicchio and from the DOC Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. The smell is clear and very distinct. The taste is sharp and full of citrus and a hint of oak. The taste lingers long in the mouth with a dry finish. Very good for drinking of with food.
Next wine is from Sicily is made of the grape Chardonnay. Producer Cusamano has made the wine angimbé from 2012. The taste is of pear and apples. A perfect summerwine when the sun is shining. Very good.
The last wine tasted is producer Masis white wine Masiano from 2012 made by grapes from Pinot Grigio and verduzzo. The taste of this wine has a big citrus character with big acidity. Definately need food with his wine. I think that fish would go perfectly with this wine.

Two Italians

In the weekend I had the pleasure of trying out two wines and see how they went with my cooking. For my main course of salmon with  caponata I opened a bottle of Pinot grigio Mongris 2011 from the producer Marco Felluga in Collio. Smelled very nice and the colour was yellow with some copper. Very dry taste and a long nice after finish. The salmon went very well together with the wine.

For the dessert I had almond biscotti and for this I felt that a passito wine was a very good pairing. The 'Fior d´Arancio' Passito from producer Zanovello has a very dark amber colour. The nose has a very heavy smell of  apricots and peaches. Absolutely delightful. The taste is wonderful with a good balanced acid and taste of apricots and some other tastes. Worked so well with the almond biscotti. I read that this wine had recieved three glasses in Gambero Rosso and after tasting it I can only agree. Wonderful wine and I wish I had a couple of more bottles at home.

Couvent des Jacobins, time for a Bourgogne

What wine to have when the main course is fish and the starter is a carpaccio? I went with a stronger white wine from Bourgogne. Couvent des Jacobins from producer Louis Jadot. The nose of the wine were nice, a smell of citrus and oak. To my surprise it went well with the carpaccio. For the fish it was very good together. The taste of the wine were of citrus, plums and some oak. Good aftertaste.

Been a time

It has been a long time now since I had port wine. Almost 28 months and that is too long time so in time for Easter I opened a bottle of Churchill's late bottled vintage from 2001, which I had stored for seven years. I was suppose to have drunk it a couple of years ago but that never happened but finally it was time.

The Churchill's LBV had a very nice nose. Smelled very nice. The taste was even better with a taste of cherries and a hint of figs or plums. Nice aftertaste. From the bottle I tasted in 2006 this had become slightly more complex with the extra years in storage.

A trio of white wines

Sine the last time I had the chance to try three different white wine, two from Alsace and one from Alto Adige (Süd Tyrol).

First up is a riesling wine by Jean Biecher. The nose is fresh while the taste is of citrus, white peppar and some grapefruit. The finish is dry. Nice wine. The second wine from Alsace is a Pinot Gris from Bestheim. The nose reminds me of spices while the taste is dry, some apples and a hint of spices. Tastes good.

The last wine is from one of my favourite wine regions namely Alto Adige (Süd Tyrol). It is a Pinot Grigio from 2009 by producer Joseph Hofstätter. I have tasted the Gewürztraminer by Joseph Hofstätter two years ago and it was very good and it will be intresting to see how this will be. The nose if of fruits and the taste stays long on the palate. The taste reminds me of green apples and it has some acids. Delightful.

Vino Liquoroso, Santo Santorum Rosso

Italy have several different kind of sweet wines and one is the vino liquoroso, which is a fortified wine. In which alcohol is wine with an added distilled beverage (normally distilled wine, brandy) which stops the fermentation and leaves the wine sweet. I had the chance to try a bottle of Santo Sanrorum from Lastra a Signa near Prato and Florence in Tuscany.

The nose of the wine is good, you can feel the sweetness from the wine and also the smell of the red wine. The colour is dark ruby. The taste is a bit peppery and harsh. Maybe a some tannins in it? Decent wine but I feel a bit one dimensional but the price tag is probably cheap.

Divino Nordheim Silvaner 2011

This time I decided to go back to Germany to try a German wine. one winebottle that catches my eye is the bottle from Franken. I like that bottle but they are very hard to store in a winecellar. This Franken wine that caught my eye were Divino Nordheim a dry (Trocken) Silvaner wine called Sommeracher Katzenkopg.
The smell was of fruits, nice smell. The taste was good and reminded me of grey pears. Not a long aftertaste but a decent wine.

Mauro Chardonnay

Time to make sweet and sour chicken and that recipe requires some wine. So I bought a cheaper wine, Mauro chardonnay from Italy, to be used for the cooking. But the Mauro wine was decent to drink. Not as good as the Sicilian chardonnays that I have tasted but still drinkable. The wine has a good smell, decent fruity taste. Not as complex as the Sicilian chardonnays but this wine I can use for cooking.

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Charles Ellner brut 1999

After the birthday tasting of champagne it was new year and yet another good reason to try out one more champagne. I decided to stay in the nineties with a champagne from 1999 by Charles Ellner. Now this champagne is good and my first impression was. Wow, this is so much bread taste in this one it is huge. Certainly not for all people, but very good dry champagne.