K. Wechsler – Elegantly balanced sweet wines

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rieslingtrauben

Katharina Wechsler entered the family winery first 2009 and in a short time she became well-known with the wine lovers. She presented her very elegant, drinking-inspiring wines in the Munich wine shop Furore – including two sweet wines.

The winery Wechsler manages 17 hectares in Westhofen in the famous vine locations Steingrube, Kirchspiel and Morstein. The Riesling Schweisströpfchen 2015, which we have tasted, owes its name to a part of the Kirchspiel, in which the work on … Read more ...

Port Wine – Traditional Late Bottled Vintage

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quinta-do-vale-dona-maria_lr
© Quinta do Vale Dona Maria

Chocolate desserts are usually accompanied by red dessert wines, with us being mostly red Vin Doux Naturel from France. Sometimes a change might be fine, so we have chosen as a companion to a chocolate chili mousse a vintage port wine. These show up the name vintage and are vinified from grapes of a vintage. Three are types of it: Vintage, Single Quinta Vintage and Late Bottled Vintage, abbreviated LBV. Vintage is produced only in very good years, must be registered by the producer at the Port Wine Institute (IVDP) and confirmed after organoleptic tasting to be vintage-worthy. Single Quinta Vintage is produced in good years, but does not require registration and acceptance at the IVDP. However, both wines in principle undergo the same vinification and he same aging, 2 years in barrels followed by bottling and maturing. Entirely different the Late Bottled Vintage, which usually matures for 4-6 years in the

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Samos – greek Grand Cru

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samos-grand-cru-partThere are 3000 years of viticulture on Samos. Even today, Muscat Blanc á Petits Grains thrives under the burning southern sun for the sweet Samos wine. The grapes grow mostly on small terraces on the northern slopes of the Ambelos Mountains, up to 800 meters altitude.
The EOSS (Union of Cooperatives Vinicoles de Samos), the Association of Winegrowers’ Cooperatives on Samos, formed in 1934 from 26 local cooperatives, is not only responsible for the vinification and quality of sweet Samos… Read more ...

Melsheimer – Riesling from feinherb to fruity sweet

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steillagen-bei-traben-trarbach
Steep vineyard in Traben-Trarbach

Around half of the vineyards of the Melsheimer winery in Reil are extremly steep slopes, Mr. Melsheimer senior told us in mid-April this year when he showed us around the winery and brought us closer to history, vineyards and vinification of the Melsheimer winery. There are now many steep slopes on the Moselle, but only 5% of them are among the steepest – with a share of 50% probably a challenge in viticulture. Mr. Melsheimer senior renounced various plant protection products, which his son Thorsten consistently continued, first by converting to ecological, then biodynamic viticulture and then in 2013 finally with the Demeter certification.

Around 3/4 of the slightly more than 11 hectares of vineyards, which all are exclusively planted with Riesling, are in the vineyard Mullay-Hofberg, situated directly above the river Moselle. Their southeast orientation together with the barren slate soil ensure long-lasting, excellent ripening conditions.

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Ligurian Ambrosia – Moscatello di Taggia

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ligurischer-weinbauThe Moscatello di Taggia has been a welcome guest at the English and Flemish royal courts as well as at least some papal tables since the 14th century. For a long time, this wine was considered a symbol of Ligurian viticulture, until in the 19th century the phylloxera decimated the existence of this variety to the point of insignificance and thus the grape variety was forgotten. It was only in 2003 that around 20 plants of this grape variety were … Read more ...

Verduzzo – typically Friulan

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Zitronen-Ricotta-Mandel-KuchenIt is said in Friuli that the Verduzzo was drunk by the farmers at the time of the fiefs, while the landed gentry drank the aristocratic sweet Picolit. Even today, the Picolit coming from the Collio orientale del Friuli, outside Friuli, the better known of the two. The Verduzzo is however the typical sweet wine from Friuli. It is made from the grape Verduzzo Friulano as a sweet (amabile or dolce) DOC wine in the Friulian wine regions … Read more ...

Matured sweet wines from Wachau and Kamptal

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Blick auf Spitz in der Wachau mit Tausendeimerberg
Spitz in the Wachau with view on the Tausendeimerberg

Hans had invited to taste Austrian sweet wines, this time already matured ones, mostly from Riesling. This grape variety does not play the main role in Austrian viticulture, as on the Rhine and its tributaries. However, it is the second most widely cultivated white grape variety in the vineyards located along the Danube, in the Wachau, in Kremstal and Kamptal – but by a long way behind the main vine Grüner Veltliner.

Warm Pannonian eastern air together with a moderate western Antlantic influence, as well as moist cool falling winds from the Waldviertel and Weinviertel

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Moscato di Scanzo from Bergamo

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Moscato di Scanzo II
“É un regalo” said Gabriele, when I asked him about the price of the bottle Moscato di Scanzo. In his restaurant Sali e Tabacchi in Maggiana on Lake Como we had celebrated the wedding of a friendly couple this weekend and he had noticed that I had searched in vain for this wine in the surrounding wine shops. Overnight, he organized a Moscato di Scanzo from a winemaker friend. It was from the neighboring community of Scanzorosciate and thus a … Read more ...

Flétri from the Valais

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Weinlagen im Wallis
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, … Read more ...

Sardinian red sweetness

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Rotweinreben auf SardinienIn 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, … Read more ...

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