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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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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PX-Sherry Bertola – herbal sweetness


Courtyard Bodegas Diez-Mérito

Pedro Ximénez Sherry is one of the sweetest wines in the world. Only the Pedro Ximénez grape variety is used for its production. For this purpose, the overripe grapes are dried in the sun after the harvest, which not only increases the sugar content, but also the aromas and at the same time the acidity. Moscatel sherry is made the same way. These two wines are so-called

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Matured white port – tannin, colour and aroma

© Ramiro– Pixabay

The history of  Kopke begins with Nicolau Köpke, who settled in Portugal as Consul General of the Hanseatic League in 1636, shipped the first bottles of wine as early as 1638 and rose to become a major port wine producer by buying an agricultural property in 1781. Through acquisitions, such as the Quinta de São Luiz

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Don PX – Sherry from Montilla-Moriles


Finally, after Corona, for the first time there was a tasting with winemakers and other fellow tasters. The Spanish economic and trade department ICEX invited to the Charles Hotel in Munich, where the Spanish Wine Fair 2021 entitled Wine in Motions took place on October 11th. 22 wineries were represented, one of which caught my attention as it had wines made exclusively from Pedro Ximénez (PX). A grape variety that is grown in southern Spain, mainly in the Andalusian region of Montilla-Moriles, and is mainly used there and in Jerez for the production of sherry.

The Bodega Toro Albalá, founded in Córdoba in 1922, is very well known … Read more ...

Classic chocolate companion – Maury Grenat


I can seldom resist the naturally sweet French Vin Doux Naturel wines, this is only partly due to the wonderful holiday memories of Roussillon, the region where 80% of Vin Doux Naturel is produced and – due to its omnipresence there – also consumed in my opinion. I think my first encounter with a Banyuls Rimage as companion of a chocolate dessert was probably much more formative. That was most probably the reason why we chose this wine style of Vin Doux Naturel for the chocolate mousse.  A  style with very fruity notes due to

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Ratafia – Multilingual liqueur wine from South Africa


Haute Cabrière © Jeanine Smal Pixabay

For a long time I have wanted to take a closer look at the numberous wines of the beverage market – there where I buy water, beer and whisky. Looking closer at these wines l hoped to find an interesting sweet wine among them. I found what I was looking for, the packaging and the bottle caught my attention, as did the name Ratafia, which reminded me more of Spain than of South Africa, from where it was packaged, on a winery with the French named Haute Cabrière by Takuan von Arnim obviously of german extraction and possibly a descendant of an author of the song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and finally it found his way into an Upper Bavarian beverage market.

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