Loire Red from the Great White North: Vineland Estate Winery Cabernet Franc 2008, Niagara Peninsula VQA

Inspired by a little Loire tasting yesterday evening at a sympathetic and little wine merchant’s place I had to grab for this! For lunch!

Lil Wine Trip Part 1 : Hofkellerei Liechtenstein Vaduzer Pinot Noir Herawingert 2010, Vaduz

Diese Woche hab ich mir mal vorgenommen einen kleinen weinorientierten Tagesausflug in eine eher unbekannte, aber dennoch ziemlich nahe, Weinregion bzw. Weinnation zu unternehmen. Die Wahl fiel auf das kleine, edle und verschwiegene Liechtenstein. Nein, ich nehme es vorweg, nicht wegen des Besuches meiner eigennützigen Stiftung! Deren jährlicher Check-up findet immer im Juli statt ;-). Nur wegen des Weins und der weingetriebenen Neugier. Was für ein Wein? Natürlich Pinot Noir! DIE Hauptrebsorte im Lande. Ähnlich wie in der Bündner Herrschaft, bewirkt auch hier einige Kilometer nördlicher, der Fön halbe Wunder im alpinen Weinbau. Dieses spezielle Kleinklima machte sich schon bei der Anfahrt bemerkbar. Bis hin ins österreichische Feldkirch konnte man hie und da entlang der S-Bahnlinie noch so manchen Schneeflecken im tiefen Rheintal finden. Kurz nach dem Grenzübertritt, der mittels eines nahezu Berlin - Style - Doppeldeckerbusses, dieser nur neongelb lackiert und mit sehr außergewöhnlich-sympathischen Haltestellenansagen versehen war, erfolgte, zeigten sich kein Fetzen Schnee im Flachland mehr.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika: Springfield Estate Chardonnay Méthode Ancienne 2006, Robertson

This time the actual wine ought to remain in the absolute centre of attention! Not so much winery talk or whatsoever. OK, let me anticipate a bit. A fantastic and simply unique wine (for RSA)! The Méthode Ancienne Chardonnay 2006 was produced by Robertson’s flagship winery Springfield Estate. I’ve got to admit: Not big adventure wine, nothing hyper curious, but profoundly impressive. Harvested from 25 year old vines (Clone CY3), fermented for more than 50 days with native yeasts, aged for 12 months in 300 l oak barrels (50% new, 50% used Allier) and the 3 Us: unfiltered, unfined and unstabilized. So much for the classic wine marketing babble nobody wants to read. Now wine!

GOC: Bouwland Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2007, Stellenbosch

Definitely no discovery! Definitely not astounding! Definitely not overwhelming! But still noteworthy and in its own way - beautiful! But not too elaborate or excessive wine blather, pls.! And without further exclamation marks. Promise ! (Arrggh, agaain ...)

हेलो महाराष्ट्र: Sula Vineyard Chenin Blanc 2008, Nashik, Maharashtra

Wow, my first wine from India. In my opinion a fantastically beautiful and shocking country at the same time. By the way, absolutely recommendable for adventurous and more than slightly stressful holidays. But I digress!

Central Otago, Neusiedlersee and Nuits-St-Georges: Clash of Pinot Civilizations!?!

Three different Pinots! Three “different” civilisations! One big clash! No sense of whatsoever! Let’s see what happened:

Wine free Thursday: Gudang Garam, Indonesia

This time no wine. Sorry! But don’t worry. It might remain an interesting post. Today I got one of the most famous Kretek (clove flavoured) cigarette brands form Indonesia for you. Name: Gudang Garam (translated: salt warehouse) which is produced by an Indonesian-Taiwanese tobacco company named Gudang Gram.

Pinot?: Vina Garces Silva Amayna Pinot Noir 2008, Aconcagua

Today’s Pinot comes from Leyda Valley a bit south west of Santiago. Leyda is rather well known for its cooler and foggy climate. That is why Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are the prime varietals over there. It might be the best Pinot area in Chile or South America. The producer of the Amayna Pinot, Vina Garces Silva, isn’t a long-established and well known producer in this area. The winery was found in 1997 by a wealthy Chilean family. The swanky and modern architecture implies that business is going pretty, pretty, pretty gooooood! Well OK, the prices for their wines aren’t the lowest for Chilean standard. Might be one reason for the spaceship winery.

Rustic Blend from Motherland: Domaine Bonnard Bourgogne Passtoutgrain 2006, Bourgogne

Back on our thriving planet after my joyful gastro-enteritis absence I decided to have rustic pig trough juice. Maybe!?! Okay, I know Bourgogne isn’t such an undiscovered country like I planned to find (and always fail). Maybe Passetoutgrain isn’t that well known, and definitely not that respected, anyway. I guess for people outside France it isn’t that easy to find an acceptable Passetotugrain. Maybe inside France as well ;-)! Most of these blended wines are thin, super rustic, acidic, faceless and simply cheap in every sense.

Just some juice for today: Master Kong's Daily C White Grape Juice

Thanks to a joyful gastro-enteritis I am reasonable enough to stick to an alcohol free beverage. But just this time! To be more specific: grape juice! White Grape Juice from the PRC. I hope it won’t be like my last rice wine adventure ;-)

Together vs. the Crisis: Ktima Vourvoukeli Avdiros White 2010, Avdira Thrace and a hand from the Pfalz

Due to the frustrating situation and the coming crucial week I decided to have a Greek-German-White-Wine-Tasting. In keeping with the motto: Together with wine versus the crises!

Fleshy Californication: Belle Glos Clarke & Telephone Vineyard Pinot Noir 2005, Santa Maria Valley

Today’s wine was definitely a very nice treat. Central Coast California Pinot at its best. Well okay, almost at its best ;-). It was produced by Belle Glos Wines, a label of the Caymus Vineyards Empire, in Rutherford, CA. The grapes were grown on the almost 40 years old Clarke & Telephone vineyard (own root Martini clones on sandy loam soils) in Santa Maria Valley. The ageing period was relatively short. Just 9 months in French oak.