Shakespeare – Burgenland Port

Ried Ratschen Eisenberg DAC
Ried Ratschen Eisenberg DAC © ÖWM / Robert Herbst

A sweet wine from the 2015 vintage, alcohol-fortifed in the style of port wine, was the last tasted wine in the master class “Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt re-thought”, which was conducted jointly mid-October by Thomas Curtius, MW (Master of Wine), and Georg Schweitzer WA, (Wine Academic and Managing Director of Wein Burgenland).

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Diel’s inspiring Riesling Kabinett


I wanted to get quinces from Hans. But of course Hans had a few wines up his sleeve to taste, including a Riesling Kabinett 2021 from Schlossgut Diel. I knew the winery from the dry wines, as it produces Große Gewächse from the three adjacent Große Lagen Pittermännchen, Goldloch and Burgberg. Despite their proximity, these large layers have very different soils. From the ferrous clay soils of the Burgberg interspersed with quartzite to the gold hole on gravelly primary rock soils to the Pittermännchen, where the grapes thrive on weathered slate above Rotliegend.

The winery also produces dry wines from its other sites, but the  noble sweet wines … Read more ...

Esszencia – Top category of the Tokaji wines


Vineyards in Tokaj © Pecold – Fotolia.com

It was a very generous birthday present from Hans, Szepsy’s Tokaji Esszencia 1999, which we tasted together with other friends a few weeks ago. Esszencia, not Aszú Escenzia, is the top category of sweet Tokaji wine. You can see that from the fact that it is made from the so-called flow must of the grapes, which is created by the own weight of the grapes, which are in steel

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Cannellino di Frascati – sweet wine of Lazio

Villa Aldobrandini Frascati © Narcisse Navarre Pixabay

Who has never heard of Frascati or maybe even drunk it. I knew Frascati from a long time ago, when it was offered almost exclusively in 1 1/2 or 2 liter bottles alongside the red, sweet Lambrusco.When I was looking for sweet wines that I had never tasted before, I came across the Cannellino di Frascati DOCG on the website of a well-known German mail-order wine company. I ordered it, without a moment’s hesitation, because of my acquaintance with the often slightly residual sweet Frascati wines in my late youth.

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El Sequé Dulce – Artadis sweet wine from Alicante

© Glen Stobbs Pixabay

The vineyards of the Artadi winery, planted with Monastrell, lie 600 meters high on sandy soil with a loamy subsoil, near Alicante. The grapes for the tasted El Sequé dulce 2015 come from there. The Artadi winery, founded in Rioja in 1985, owns vineyards in the Alavesa in Rioja, as well as those in Navarra and those near Alicante. The farming method of the winery is organic,

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