A visit to San Gimignano

San Gimignano is a beautiful town with many medieval towers situated in the Tuscan country side. During daytime it is full of tourists but when evening comes the tourist leave the town and with darkness falling the town becomes majestic. The small medieval alleys and the tower in the night sky. It is like a setting for a horror movie.

This town also has their own DOGC called Vernaccia di San Gimignano and that meant for dinner it was time to try a Vernaccia di San Gimignano riserva from 2007. The wine had a very good taste of fruits and some flowers and the aftertaste was almonds which lingered for a long time. I bought one bottle for later tasting in Sweden.

When trying this wine at the Ristorante Beppone I had some wonderful food. Go there if you are in the area. In the photo the dish is polenta with rabbit.

Domaene Gobelsburg 2011 Riesling

This time I leave Italy but I don't travel that far. Just across the border to Austria, namely the district Niederösterreich which is situated furthest north in Austria. Gobelsburg has been making wine since 1171 when the Cistertian monks founded their monastery. Schloss Gobelsburg has 35 hectares of wineyards and these wineyards were taken care of by the monks until 1995. And the monks had always used organic fertilisers and abstained from pesticides. In 1996 Michael & Eva Moosbrugger took over the management of the property. The Domaene Gobelsburg from 2011 is made from Riesling grapes.
The smell is pleasent and the taste is of citrus and has a lot of acidity. Leaves a long lingering aftertaste. Very good wine.

Veltiner, Stiftskellerei Neustift Abbazia Di Novacella

Alte Adige or South Tyrol has many several good white wines as I have discovered over the last year. This time it is Stiftskellerei Nesustift Abbazia Di Novacella white wine Veltiner from 2010 that is to be tasted. I had tasted one of their red wines earlier. I get a flowery taste in the nose and that bodes well. The taste is of elderberry, some honey and lemon. Good acid and a very nice aftertaste that lingers. Very good aromatic wine.

As usual with these wine yards in South Tyrol, Stiftskellerei Neustift Abbazia Di Novacella is situated in a beautiful place.
One day I will go there for a week and visit these beautiful wineyards and monasteries.

Fasoli Gino one more time

Last time I tried a Fasoli Gino wine it was a white wine. This time it is time for their red Valpolicella called La Corte del Pozzo from 2010. It consists of of 70% Corvina grapes and  30%, Rondinella grapes. The colour is a dark red or maybe light ruby. The wine smells of red and black currants. The taste is a big smack of red and black currants with an underlying taste of vanilla and it is very dry. It is nice for being a red wine. It seem that Valpolicella produces red wines that I like. Definately an area worth a visit.

And if you are in the Valpolicella area. Visit Verona and enjoy the most beautiful town square in the world. Especialy during evening. Salute!

Back to Rabl Eiswein after four years

Four years ago I had my first taste of Eiswein. It was a Rabl eiswein from 2006 and it was a delight. Such taste and freshness. It felt like that it could not get any better at that time. I bought several of Rabl Eiswein and drank them over a years time. Unfortunately the taste did not get better with age and even after a year the taste had changed to the worse. Still drinkable but not as good one year earlier. I have one bottle at home that I will taste one day to see how it has changed over several years.
A year ago the Rable eiswein from 2007 could be ordered at Systembolaget but I saw it to late and it was already sold out. That was a big bummer. However, a month ago the Rabl Eiswein 2008 was released and I managed to buy several bottles.
The colour was not as dark amber as I thought i would be, Much lighter and clearer in colour than expected. The eiswein smells of melon and citrus, very nice. The taste is sharp, sweet, some melon and apricot. Almost a peppery taste and a nice aftertaste.Maybe the 2006 was slightly better but I think that the 2008 vintage will age much better and become better with a few years storage.

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.

Pasqua Valpolicella Ripasso 2010

When I make a tagliatelli al ragu at home wine is an important component. When I were younger I used the cheapest wine I could find. But if I can't drink the wine I am using for cooking why should I even use it for cooking? I normally use both red and white wine when cooking a ragu. The nice thing is that if I use a good wine when cooking I can always sample some of the wine while drinking.
For my latest ragu I used a wine from Valpolicella near Verona. And if you ever get the chance to visit Verona go to the town square when darkness falls and enjoy one of the most beautiful town squares in Europe. The Pasqua Valpolicella ripasso are made of several different grapes like Corvina, Rondinella, Corvinone,  and Negara and obtained from the Ripasso technique. I checked the tasting notes before buying the wine so it would go well with the ragu and the tasting notes said a strong taste of cherries. I can only agree as it has a strong taste of cherries and not that much else. Very drinkable together with the tagiatella al ragu.