Icy red wine

There exist no icy red wine but ice wine exists and Germany is one of the leading producers of this very rare wine. Because ice wines requires a very cold winter to be produced as the grapes freeze on the vines and then picked and pressed in the middle of the winter. So it is very rare and expensive, especially for good quality ice wine or Eiswein as it is called in German.

Villa Wolf is an estate in Pfalz region in Germany. Ernst loosen took over the estate in 1996. The Eiswein that I tasted if from 2009. The ABV is 8%, very low ABV but that is normal for ice wines. The smell is very good. One can smell dried fruits. The taste is of apricots, honey and almost some burnt flavour. It is very deep and rich. A wonderful wine and buy a bottle if you can find one.

Going a bit south we get to Italy and Alto Adige (South Tyrol). Here I have tasted a Lagrein wine from producer Kellerei St Michael-Eppan of the vintage 2012. Lagrein is a grape that is almost exclusively grown in Alto Adige. The wine smells very nice. The taste is of black currants, cherries and some soft tannins. A very good wine. At its peak right now. Drink and be happy.

Fontanafredda Barolo Serralunga d'Alba

Barolo, the district in the region of Piemonte Italy, famous for the wine Barolo made of the Nebbiolo grape. I had the pleasure to visit Barolo this year and the district is so beautiful. The vineyards are situated on the Langhe hills and everywhere there is small beautiful villages.

The Serralunga d'Abla village in the Barolo district has a beautiful castle and the village is situated in a circle around the castle.

From the castle tower all the vineyards around Serralunga d'Alba can be seen. The Barolo wines from Serralunga D'Alba is know to be complex and powerful.

Fontanafredda is a big producer in Barolo and the estate has approximately 100 hectares  of vinyards. They have a Barolo that comes from Serralunga d'Alba. This wine is made of 100% Nebbiolo that was harvested at the beginning and middle of October. After fermentation in steel jars the wine is stored for 12 months in barriques from Allier and two year in oak casks still from Allier (2000 lt). Then the wine is stored in a bottle for 12 months before being sold. the vintage that I have tried is the 2009 vintage. The ABV is 14%.
The colour is garnet-red with some ruby. The nose is complex. In the taste I get spices, liquorice, dark red berries tannins and sage. It is strong, full bodied but has an excellent balance. A wonderful wine that need food. I think that this wine would have increased in complexity with 5-7 years more of ageing.

Going back

It is fun to go back and try different vintages of wine that I liked. Will it still be good or has something changed.

From one of my favourite producer Donnafugata in Sicily comes the wine Anthila. It is a white wine of vintage 2016, Cataratto is the main grape but is complimented by various other grapes. The taste is of pear and peaches with  crispy fresh taste. As good as I remembered it. Definitely a wine for the Swedish summer.

Then we move on to producer Piersanti and the wine Zecci which is a white wine from Marche in Italy. It is made of 100% Verdicchio grapes and is from the DOC Verdicchio Dei Castelli Jesi. The vintage is of 2015. This is a full bodied wine. Pears and apples in the taste. A very good food wine.

Very good to see that both producers has good quality over the years.