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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read more ...
Port wine is not only available as a Ruby Port or a tan to amber-colored Tawny Port, but also as a white port wine and, for about 7 – 8 years, also in a rose-colored version. Axel Probst, probably the most famous German port wine expert, presented six different port wines at the Welcome to the World of Port Wine tasting at Prowein. Four of them are presented here, each corresponding to one of the port wine types already … Read more ...
The Insituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) conducted several port wine tastings at Prowein fair 2015. Port wine expert Axel Probst, member of the Brotherhood Confraria do Vinho do Porto, moderated the tasting, labeled Port Wine Treasures from 4 Decades, in which, with the exception of a Fine White Port, he presented matured Tawny or Colheita, i.e. barrel-matured Tawny Ports from one harvest year.
For all longer matured Tawny, as well as for the … Read more ...
Greece is one of the oldest wine countries and better known for its dry wines and its indigenous grape varieties, but less for its sweet wines, except perhaps for the sweet Samos wines and the Vinsanto of Santorini.
More than 60 suppliers from Greece attended the fair Prowein 2015, including Achaia Clauss from Patras, a well-known wine producer in Greece. Three sweet wines of this manufacturer I have tasted at the fair Prowein. One of them, rather simple and uncomplicated, … Read more ...