BIG STUFF: Montes Alpha Pinot Noir 2008, Valle de Casablanca

After my last, and very disappointing, Pinot from Chile I decided to have something more “known” and maybe reliable. I guess this time I have to right to feel free to assume that there isn’t any necessity to introduce this winery to us international wine geeks ;-). Let’s cut it short: A BIG and powerful wine, a BIG name with a BIG amount of reputation, in a BIG and heavy bottle, with reasonable pricing and perhaps some BIG butch attitude! Well, I anticipate once more. Let’s have the wine first:

Black Girlie Juice from Romania: Prince Stirbey Feteasca Neagra 2008, Dragasani

Sometimes, or more than just sometimes, Feteasca Neagra or Black Maiden Grape produces wines which have a high horror potential! If I may say so! Pretty often this grape results in thick, fruitful, sweet and oliy dark red wines full of flaws and with guaranteed headache performance on “The Day After”. Luckily, today's Feteasca Neagra was different.

Cabernet Franc Samba: Vinícola Aurora Pequenas Partilhas Cabernet Franc 2008, Serra Gaúcha and some Thick-Purple-Black-Nectar

Haven't had so many Brazilian Cabernet Francs yet. It was about time to change that! I had this lively, tongue-dancing, easy-drinking and exotic fellow together with a highly unusual representative from Bourgueil in the Loire Valley + some classic Vouvray from Huet for starters!

AAI Part 2: Vinarija Hercegovina Produkt Blatina Polusuho 2009, Hercegovina

May I anticipate? Yes, I most certainly may! This time it wasn’t an AAI. I might call it a teeny tiny surprise. But let’s start from the beginning. For the purpose as a cooking supplement I bought this wine in a large German Hypermarché a couple of months ago. Well I guess I am not the world's greatest cook. That is probably why this bottle got lost in a storage cabinet. But I digress! To my astoundingly limited knowledge, this Blatina, an autochthonous varietal from Herzegovina, was produced by a large cooperative producer named Vinarija Hercegovina Produkt in Citluk.

B.L.K. Cup 2012 (Part 3): Weingut Maier Lemberger trocken 2010, Württemberg

The last B.L.K. today! Unfortunately I couldn’t find an adequate Blanc de Noir Lemberger from Württemberg in Germany. I really intended to be an adventurous guy this time. But the system worked against me. So I decided in favour of a Lemberger I never had so far.

B.L.K. Cup 2012 (Part 2): Weingut Krutzler Blaufränkisch Reserve 2003, Südburgenland

The Austrian representative in my personal B.L.K. Cup 2012 comes from Südburgenland and was produced by one of the most famous names in the southern Burgenland wine realm: Reinhold Krutzler from Krutzler Winery in Deutsch-Schützen Eisenberg right on the southern border to Hungary. The Blaufränkisch grapes for the Reserve 2003 were cultivated on iron’y clay and slate soils in Eisenberg and Deutsch-Schützen and were aged in large and small oak barrels for approx. 18 months. Like in most parts of Central Europe the summer of 2003 was exceptionally hot and dry. In a lot of cases B.L.K. wines benefited from those circumstances. Sometimes not! Let’s see how this one presented itself:

B.L.K. Cup 2012 (Part 1): Heimann Kékfrankos Baranya-Völgy 2008, Szekszárd + Two

In context of the still running Tasting-Week on dasweinforum.de I had / will have a couple of Blaufänkisch/Lemberger/Kékfrankos (B.L.K.) based wines. Those wines will come from their “original (not all too definite where this varietal originally comes from – maybe even from today’s West-Ukraine!?!)” viticulture areas in Austria, Germany and Hungry. Today I will start with the Hungarian representative:

Domaine de L'Hortus Grande Cuvée Blanc 2008 VDP Val de Montferrand and a Blanc Surprise from Burgundy

This time I am not in an adventures mood! So no voyages to “un-“chartered territories or unfamiliar varietals. This time it shalt be something decent. Something established. Something almost classic. Something from France. From the South. From Languedoc for example. More precise: Val de Montferrand, a small part of Pic Saint Loup. A wine from a real big shot bio wine producer with tons of extraordinary reputation. I am talking about Domaine de L’Hortus with its well know crus from Clos du Prieur or Pic Saint Loup. In the past 25 years Jean and Marie-Thérèse Orliac became well known for their largely convincing reds and of course for their prime white blend: Today’s wine! The Grand Cuvée Blanc 2008 was made from 50% barrel fermented Chardonnay and smaller parts of the locally more common varietals Roussanne and Viognier. As a supplement to this emotional and ardent southerner I chose to have a real down-to-earth Bourguignon Chardonnay from Pierre Bourée Fils.

Wild Tasting-Mix with Teperberg Silver Sangiovese 2009 from Galilee in the Centre of Attention

Well, this time I have plenty of rather different growths on the table. That is why I will limit myself to (hopefully) short tasting notes. Just see for yourselves:

Best Western Shiraz? Frankland Estate Rocky Gully Shiraz 2009, Frankland River WA

Having tasted a couple of wines from Frankland Estate, including various Rieslings and their widely renowned and sometimes absolutely impressing Isolation Ridge Shiraz, I simply had to lay my hands on another Shiraz. This time from their more accessible, fruit driven  and easy drinking range: Rocky Gully. The grapes for this wine were cultivated all over Frankland River winegrowing area. A fantastically isolated, rural and relatively cool climate area in the very south-west of Western Australia (approx. 350 km south of Perth).