Three white wines from Germany, Portugal and Italy

 The first white wine is the wine Alvarinho Contacto from producer Anselmo Mendes i Portugal. It is a Vinho Verde from the subregion Moncao and Melgaco. It is made from the grape Alvarinho which is grown in the north of Portugal. The vintage is 2020 and the ABV 12,5%. I get a lot of fruit in this wine. Pear, green apple and some tropical fruit with some minerality, honey and lime. A good wine but lacks some acidity to take it to another level.

The white wine from Germany is the Grauburgunder Gutswein from producer Wagner Stempel in the region of Rheinhessen. The vintage is 2019 and the ABV 12%. The grape is Grauburgunder which is also known as Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris. This wine has a lovely fresh taste of apple, minerals and citrus. A very good expression of the grape Grauburgunder.

The last wine is from Italy. It is the Bonea from producer Masseria Frattasi in Campania. The grape is Falanghina and the DOP is Taburno Sannino. The vintage is 2018 and the ABV 12,5%. In the taste melon, honey and papaya and everything is very nicely integrated. Good.

Dr Loosen Riesling Spätlese Graacher Himmelreich 2007

Dr Loosen Riesling Spätlese Graacher Himmelreich 2007 is a bottle that I bought together with the  Dr F. Weins-Prüm Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2006. It will be interesting to see how these two different wines have developed.

In the taste I get apricot, citrus and some peach. It has kept up well for being so old but I am lacking some acidity to balance this wine and get it up to the excellent Dr F Weins-Prüm wine. For this wine I would say drink now, it won't get better and the chance is that it will get worse.

Dr F. Weins-Prüm Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2006

For a couple blog posts I will look at some older wine that I have tasted. First up is the Dr F. Weins-Prüm Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2006. It is made with 100% Riesling and Spätlese means that the grapes are picked at least seven days after normal harvest. This means that the grapes will have a higher sugar content and probably that the wine will be a bit sweet. The ABv is 8,5%. This wine is from Mosel in Germany and this area is famous for their Riesling wines. Graacher Dompropst steeply rises directly above the village of Graach. Dompropst is an enclave of Graacher Himmelreich, and is thus the core part of the Graach sites.

The wine has a lovely light amber colour which shows  that this wine has been aged for over a decade. The nose is very nice. The taste is of minerals, honey and some sugar with a high acidity. It is an excellent wine which were a bit sweeter than I expected but it goes wonderful together with salmon. It can also be drank as a meditation wine.

The white wines from Germany and Italy

Sometimes I try some rieslings from Germany since the rieslings in Germany can give very good wines. The last one I tried was Georg Breuer and the Sauvage riesling from 2018.  Georg Breuer is a producer in the region of Rheingau. The ABV of this vintage is 12%. In the taste I get green apple, petroleum and some minerals. In the aftertaste I get some slight bitter almonds. A nice riesling.

The next wine comes from Italy and the region of Sicily. It is the wine Colomba Platino from the producer Duca Di Salaparuta. It is the vintage 2016 and the ABV is 12,5%. The grape used is 100% Inzolia or Ansonica as it is also known as. It is a native grape to Sicily and is quite rare. In the taste I get peach, apple and some citrus with some tropical fruits in the back, This is a very good white wine from Sicily.

For the last wine is we go from the south to the north and the region Friuli Venezia Guilia. I have tasted wine from Villa Chiopris before and this time it is their wine Sauvignon Blanc from 2014 that I have tasted. This wine is five years old and that is quite old for being a white wine. In the taste I get tropical fruit with goosberry and apple. Very nice and fresh despite being five years old. Together with spicy food this wine becomes even better. So try it with spicy food and you will not be disappointed.

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.

Trebbiano vs Grüner Veltiner

It is fun to try two different wines and compare them. This time I tried a Trebbiano D'Abruzzo and compared it with a Grüner Veltiner. The Trebbiano wine from Abruzzo if manufactured by producer Orlando Contucci Ponno and is called Adrio and it is from 2015. The Trebbiano grape is one of the most planted white wine grapes in Italy. This wine is very fresh, has a lot of fruit with green apples in the mix. I could also feel a bit minerals. It is very good but should be drank young.

The Grüner Veltiner wine is from producer Leth in Austria and is of the vintage 2016. This wine is very similar to the previous wine. Very fresh, with fruits and apples in the taste. Also some minerality. I would not be able to feel the difference between these wines in a blind tasting.

I recommend both of these bottles. Very good fresh young white wines.

Finally summer and another batch of wines

Finally the sun arrived this summer and parts of the summer were saved. This time I have tried three Italian wines and a German wine.

The most interesting wine is the red wine Torrette Superior from Valle D'Aosta in Italy. It is the first time that I have been able to buy a wine from this region in Sweden. Valle D'Aosta is a region that has many local varieties of grapes of which many were close to extinction bur fortunately many of these grape veracities have been saved for example Fumin. The Torrette Superior is from producer Maurizio Fiorano Chateau Feuillet. It is made by the grape Petit Rogue which is only grown in Valle D'Aosta in Italy. It is not a heavy wine but a medium bodied wine with a taste of cherries and liquorice. Very good wine.

Next are the wine Coste Di Riavolo by producer San Fereolo whoch is from the Langhe DOC Bianco. This is a wite wine and since it is from 2010 I had high expectations from it. But I were dissapointed, a weak taste and not to my liking.

South Tyrol or Alto Adige as it is called in Italian makes very good white wines. A new producer for me is Peter Zemmer. I tasted the wine Chardonnay from 2010. this were better than the previous wine. Nice wine but I had better Chardonnays from Alto Adige.

I don't drink so much wine from Germany but when I see wine from Franken I usually try to buy a bottle. Producer Brennfleck has made a wine which is by the grape Silvaner and it is a dry one. It is from 2013 and the taste is of Peaches, hoey and spices. Very good wine.

Good new white wines from Italy

Systembolaget has several new wines from Italy in their store now and of the ones I have tasted they are a good addition. The first new wine in their standard range is the Terre Fenicie by producer Sardus Pater from DOC area Vermentiono Di Sardegna. As the name says it is made of Vermentino grapes and is from 2014. It is a good wine with a lot of acidity and a taste of citrus, peach and herbs. Good wine and serve it chilled. Time to visit Sardinia soon for me?

The next new Italian wine in Systembolagets ordinary range is the white wine Collevite Verdicchio from the DOC area Dei Castelli di Jesi. The producer is Cantine della Marca and it is from 2014. This area is situated in Marche on the west coast of Italy. It is yet another good wine. Good bouquet from the smell. The taste if of grapefruit and some very aromatic taste. It has a taste that lingers. Good wine.

To finish off this trio of Italian white wines is a wine that was just on a temporary sale and I bought one of the last bottles in the store. It is Planeta Cometa from producer Planeta in Sicily. It is made by Fiano grapes from the Cantina Dispensa in the south west corner of Sicily. It is a complex wine with a good taste and not to strong. Very delightful together with seafood. Good aromas in the taste. Excellent 2013 wine.

From still wine to sparkling wine. I like Prosecco from the north of Italy. Normally it is good or it is bad. Nothing in between. It should be easy drinking, youthful but with a good taste. The wine Bosco Di Gica is a dry and a good Prosecco.  Nice to drink and goes very well with food when it is warm outside.

Finally one reason I started drinking wine, namely Eiswein. The nectar of the Gods. This time I had the chance to sample the wine Edenkoben from producer Rhodter Klosterpfad from 2012. The grapes used are Weisser Burgunder. It has a very strong taste with sweet tones. It is a good Eiswein.

Back to Germany with a riesling

A riesling from Germany is never wrong and to drink something that is not available from Systembolaget is nice. Adam Müller is a wine producer of nine generations in Baden. The wine is a Leimener Herrenberg Kabinett made of Riesling from 2011. The colour is straw yellow and it smells of citrus. It tastes of citrus, grapefruit and minerals. There is a very long strong aftertaste of grapefruit. Very good.

From Sicily to Germany

Sicily, one of the best places to visit in Europe.

Sicily also has many interesting wines and local grapes. One grape is the fiano grape which is grown in Sicily and in the Campania region of southern Italy. The wine Delicio from producer Canicatti is from 2009 and is made by the Fiano grape. It is a strong wine and very interesting. Much try this grape more in the future.

Going up further north in Italy we come to Lombardy and the village of Gavi. The producer Ricossa Antica Casa makes a wine just called Gavi. It is made from cortese grapes grown on the hills of Gavi. The vintage is 2012. The strong taste is of grapefruit and I would love to have this wine together with fish.

The last wine is the wine with the curious shape of bottles, namely a wine from Franken. I have tried sweet wines from Juliusspital and they have been excellent and this time it is a dry wine (trocken). It is a 2012 Silvaner kabinett trocken. Very dry and with an alcohol level of 14,5%. Very strong and a taste of pears and green apples but with a lot of acids.  Not your normal easy drinking wine. An excellent wine.

Passito, Prosecco and two good white wines

I love passito wines from Pantelleria and I drink them way to seldom. The producer Nun is a new experience. This passito from 2008 has a dark amber as usual these wines have. The taste is like burned candy. Strong and good. But still the Donnafugatas passito wine is still my favorite. When I visit Siciliy I have to see if I can drink many different passito wines there.

Staying in Italy I have tried two different wines from the north of Italy. The first is from producer Gregoletto from Colli Trevigiani. It is a Chardonnay from 2012. The taste is very strong and goes very well with food. They make very good Chardonnay wines in the north of Italy. The second wine is a Prosecco by producer Castelforte. It is dry and have strong notes of apple, pear and citrus. Very nice as an aperitif.

Going even further north is a riesling wine from Germany by producer Gustav Adolf Schmitt. It is from 2012 and is trocken (dry). Good drinking wine for the sauna.

Two Italians and a return to Dr Loosen.

For my homecooked Taglatelli al ragu I had a bottle of Bepi Deeto, a merlot from 2012. It is a wine from the Colli Trevigiani area in the Veneto region of Italy with an alcohol level of 14,5%. The colour if very deep red, almost black and it need some time to open up. It tasted better the day after. The taste of black currant and some tobacco. Very strong and definately a food wine.

The sparkling wines from Italy that I have tried have been good and Berlucchi Cuvee Imperiale is no different. This sparkling wine if from the Franciacorta DOGC in northern Italy. It has a taste of bread and citrus and works very well with cheese and salami. Very good.

It has been some time I had a sweet wine despite sweet wines being my favourite type of wine. I was not impressed with the Dr Loosen 2006 Riesling beerenauslese when I first had a taste of it but I discovered one bottle at home and opened it up. Time works miracles. Now it is very good with a strong riesling taste and the acid to match it. Excellent wine, it just needed two years of extra storage.

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?

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.

German beer after Gustav II Adolf

When driving in Germany I got the tip that maybe on one of the stops on the Autobahn near Leipzig I could find the Gustav II Adolf beer. We stopped and to behold we found the beer in one of the stops and we bought every beer on sale there. It was just eight beers so it was not that many. The name of the beer were Ur-krostitzer and the legend says that Gustav II Adolf drank it in 1631 and liked it very much and as  thanks he gave the brewer a gold ring.
How does it taste? Oh well, that will have to wait until another day.

Dr Loosen against Juliusspital

Two sweet German wines. Both made from Riesling grapes but from different regions. The 2009 Riesling Auslese Juliusspital if from Würzburger Stein. It has a very delicate flavour. The sweetness of this wine is very light to the taste and it feels very fresh. Only 7.5% alcohol makes it very easy to drink. Despite the bottle being 500 ml it was consumed very quickly. As usual with the Franken wines the bottle is a Bocksbeutel. Not the normal wine bottle. The Dr. Loosen Riesling Beerenauslese is from Mosel and is 7.0%. This is the first time I have seen such a small winebottle, only 187 ml. This rich dessert wine is made from grapes afflicted with botrytis (noble rot). It has a light colour not as amber as they usually are. The smells is of nectarines. Has a taste of honey and is a bit intense. I think with a couple of more storage this will become even better. So which one is the best? I would prefer the Juliusspital for warm summer evenings while Dr. Loosen for autumn and spring.