Karl-Heinz Datum

Chardonnay for lovers of Auslese

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Chardonnay is a very versatile variety, which is reflected in dry wines in a variety of wine styles. Usually dry wines are produced with this variety, but there are also sweet and noble sweet Chardonnay variants, especially in Germany and Austria. Two characteristics make Chardonnay a very well suited grape variety for sweet wines. On the one hand, the variety definitely has enough acidity to balance residual sugar, on the other hand, the berries’ shells are thin enough to facilitate … Read more ...

Feinherb showpiece – Molitor’s Zeltinger Himmelreich 2016

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There are four different grades of sweetness according to German and EU wine law: dry, semi-dry, semisweet and sweet, in addition, one also finds the term feinherb. A term probably only used in Germany, which should convey to the consumer that the wine has a fine, slightly herb note, even though or just because it is not dry.

In various wine lexica it can be read that a feinherb wine, such as a semi-dry one, has … Read more ...

Szamorodni èdes – the “small Ausbruch”

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Wineyards in Tokaj © Pecold – Fotolia.com

Szamorodni, a word of the Polish language means “as grown”, which means in this case, that for these wines, the grapes are harvested as they are currently on the vine, so not only the berries infested by noble rot are selected, as it is the case with the harvest for the Tokaji aszú. Whether the so-harvested bunch of grapes produce the dry Szaomordni száraz or the sweet Szamorodni édes depends largely on the percentage of grapes infested by Botrytis (noble rot), because those have a higher sugar content than ripe grapes. The main part of the harvested grapes

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Majorca – Vi Dolç from Pla de Llevant

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The wine we have tasted, the Dolç de Sa Vall of the winery Miquel Gelabert, originates from the DO (Denominacion de Origen) Pla de Llevant, located in the east of Majorca.
Compared to the DO Binisalem, which lies in the interior of Majorca, the DO Pla de Lllevant is said to have increased yields and to plant more varieties of international grape varieties. Climatically, there is a Mediterranean climate in both DOs, which means more precipitation from … Read more ...

Sigrun Noble – noble rot from Marlborough

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The fact that first-class dry Sauvignon Blanc is produced at Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island only became known at the end of the 1980s, when Cloudy Bay‘s Sauvignon Blanc became a cult wine. Sensitivity to botrytis makes this grape variety a suitable candidate for sweet wine, as does the Riesling. If the microclimate is right, there is a body of water like river or lake nearby, so wet fog can develop with its humidity, but quickly dry off … Read more ...

Apulian surprise – Moscato di Trani

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Puglia, which competes against Sicily for the second largest wine-producing region in Italy, is known for its high yields in viticulture, even in DOC areas. There are nearly a dozen sweet types of wine in Puglia, including the sweet specimen of the otherwise dry Apulian Primitivo di Manduria and, almost inevitably in Italy, a sweet Moscato.

The tasted wine, the Moscato di Trani DOC Piani di Tufara 2015 from the winery Rivera is made from Moscato Reale, as Moscato Bianco … Read more ...

Elegant Vin Doux Naturel – Muscat de St.-Jean de Minervois

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If you now and then like to drink a glass of fruity sweet wine, but the wine does not last long even in the fridge, you should try a Vin Doux Naturel (VDN) of Muscat grapes, which lasts much longer than most other sweet wines because of the way how it is produced.

The Muscat Vin Doux Natural, produced in different appellations, are almost all made from the grape Muscat Blanc de Petits Grains, as well as all all … Read more ...

Sweet Viognier from down under

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There are more than 60 wine growing regions in Australia, I suppose in this country only few fans of Australian wines know more than a handful of these regions: for example Shiraz from McLaren Vale or Barossa Valley or Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra.

In addition to the well-known sweet, alcohol-fortified Rutherglen wines, there are also wines, whose grapes are harvested with Botrytis. We have a sweet Viognier wine from South Australia, whose name FSW8B Botrytis Viognier 2015 already … Read more ...

Muffato della Sala – Italian Sauternes?

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At our Italian evening Hans and I agreed in the judgment of the Muffato della Sala 2011 by Castello della Sala: In the nose like Sauternes, on the palate somehow stronger, the sweetness a bit too noticeable, there are some similarities with Passito, nevertheless no Passito – in short one very good, original Italian sweet wine.

The Castello della Sala, a winery owned by the Antinori family, is located near Orvieto. There, on soils infused with fossils, loamy, … Read more ...

Sauvignon Blanc „Sweetheart“ – everybody’s darling!

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Sauvignon blanc is not necessarily everyone’s favorite, at least for the dry wines. Some people because of its aromas can not drink enough of it , others refrain entirely from it because of the aromas. The flavors can vary greatly depending on the harvest time. With increasing maturity, the spectrum of aromas of grass, herbs, green fruits, boxwood, gooseberries, elderberries and yellow fruits often shifts, especially with ripened specimens supplemented with vegetables, asparagus and cabbage.

Among the best known dry … Read more ...

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