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.