Karl-Heinz Datum
The Valais, with about 5,200 hectares of vineyards largest wine region in Switzerland, located mainly on the southern slopes of the upper Rhône Valley, offers spectacular, often terraced vineyards and a large variety of indigenous grape varieties. The vines thrive on different types of soil, which include granite, morainic gravel, slate and highly calcareous soils.
With its approximately 2,100 hours of sunshine per year, the low annual average rainfall of less than 600 mm and especially the autumnal warm winds, the Valais offers the best conditio
ns for the harvest of healthy, ripe grapes. The almost always beautiful late autumn in Valais, with still very warm days and cool nights, … Read more ...
In the northeast of Sardinia there is the Gallura, which is a region and a wine-growing area at the same time. Gallura is best known for the Costa Smeralda and the Vermentino di Gallura, Sardinia’s only DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) wine.
About five kilometers from the sea, the Vigne Surrau winery cultivates about 50 hectares of vines in the easternmost part of the Gallura, predominantly Vermentino and Cannonau, but in smaller proportions also Carignano, Muristellu (Bovale Sardo), Caricaggiola, – an authochtone red variety of Gallura -, and to a small extent also Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. In the vineyards a … Read more ...
Austria has many sweet wines to offer, very well known are those which originate round the Lake Neusiedl. Worldwide recognised are especially the sweet wines of the Seewinkl, located on the southeastern lake side near Hungary. In the southernmost part of the Seewinkel, in Apetlon, the Winery Michael Opitz farms vineyards of seven hectares surrounded by salt lakes and meadows, with a sustainable approach . The microclimate is characterized by cold winters, a rainy spring, dry, hot summers and a mild autumn enabling a long ripening of the grapes. The Lake Neusiedl also has a regulating effect, it ensures high humidity and so also the fog in autumn, which is … Read more ...
As early as 1531, the first mention of a sparkling wine produced in the region around Limoux can be found. The wine-growing area of Limoux is located in the west of the Languedoc around the town of the same name, south of Carcasonne and along the Aude and its tributaries. The vineyards are at altitudes of about 100 to 500 m. The grapes then thrive under a Mediterranean-influenced climate, often on sandstone or limestone and clay. Most common white grape varieties are Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Mauzac, red grape varieties include Merlot, Cot (Malbec), Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The white grape … Read more ...
Commandaria is reminiscent of command – and really, the name goes back to the headquarters of a Crusader order, which was stationated in the region, where the from the ancient world known Cypriot sweet wine Nama was made. End of the 12th century, this headquarter named La Grande Commandarie was the eponym of this wine, which is still known as Commandaria. At that time, the export of Commandaria began to flourish and the fact of being one favorite wines of many European royal houses, has supported this.
Even today, Commandaria is made from the two most grown grapes in Cyprus – the autochthonous white grape Xinisteri (23% of all vineyards) … Read more ...
Besides excellent dry wines, Hans seems to store an incredible variety of sweet wines in his very well stocked wine cellar. In addition to Auslese, Beeren- and Trockenbeerenauslese, this also includes Late Harvest and Kabinett. At his last wine tasting, after a nice comparative tasting of the 2008 vintage of the Van Volxem estate wines, he presented us a range of cabinet and late harvest wines. These included the Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 2005 from the Egon Müller winery and the Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese 2009 from the J.J.Prüm winery. (Tasted wines)
Both wineries are are exceptional and regularly achieve top prices with their wines at the annual predicate wine … Read more ...
“Like syrup! – Liquid raisins! – Incredibly sweet! ”- this and the like can sometimes be heard when tasting sherry made from Pedro Ximénez (PX) or Moscatel grapes. These Sherries are definitely sweet, as Moscatel sherry must have at least 160 g / l residual sugar – PX sherry even at least 212 g / l. Simple, not very mature specimens can then often be too little complex and such appear “just sweet”.
A visit to the Bodega Tío Pepe of González-Byass in Jerez de la Frontera is practically a “must” if you are exploring sherry in the sherry triangle between the cities of Jerez, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. A visit to this bodega was also on the agenda of the trip of the wine academy beginning of October this year.
… and all priced below 10 €. We tasted three different muscat wines, two sweet wines: a gold muscatel from the winery Erste + Neue from South Tyrol and a Moscato from Gallo from California, plus a feinherb muscatel from the winery Kesselring from the Palatinate.
All are muscat wines, but of at least two different varieties: Gold Muskateller and Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, provided that the feinherb wine from Palatinate has been made from yellow muscatel.
For quick readers ahead: None of the wines could be one of our favorites – more in the conclusion. All wines were tasted blindly.
Muskateller feinherb Bio 2014, Winery Kesselring
light pale … Read more ...
The term feinherb is used to my knowledge exclusively in Germany and often in connection with Riesling. Good dry Rieslings can be found for less than 10 euros, even in the wine shop.
So I ordered three feinherb Rieslings (tasted wines), feinherb at least according to the seller – all three under 10 €.
The Rieslings have been produced by VDP wineries, so not exactly unknown manufacturers. From the Rheingau came the Riesling 2014 Finesse of the winery Kuenstler with 12.5% Vol. Alcohol and the Steinberger Riesling 2013 feinherb of the Staatsweingut Kloster Eberbach, from the Mosel the Riesling 2014 of the St. Urbans-Hof – both with … Read more ...