Lightness from Rheinhessen – The Blue Bird Riesling Kabinett

© Ekkehard Huff Winery

I probably would not have tasted this Riesling Kabinett of Rheinhessen if I had not seen Antonio Galloni‘s YouTube interview with the well-known winemaker Klaus Peter Keller in mid-April this year. Galloni asked him, which other regional Riesling winemakers he woud recommend, and he mentioned Christine Huff. A good recommendation: her Rieslings tasted so far all turned out to be very good.

The Ekkehard Huff Winery, which has been based in Schwabsburg for seven generations, cultivates steep vineyards on the Roter Hang, with stony soils with red clay slate or clay sandstone, such as Schloss Schwabsburg , and the two VDP.Große Lage Orbel and Pettenthal. The nine hectares of the estate also include the VDP.Große Lage Paterberg opposite the red slope, calcareous with loess and clayey, as well as other Schwabsburg vine locations. How Christine Huff cultivates the vineyards and how she is making her wine is to be seen in “Werner, wie geht Wein?” – a recommendable multi-part program of the TV channel SWR.

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Apasionado Dulce de José Pariente

© Bodegas José Pariente

Due to its naturally high acidity and its susceptibility to botrytis, Sauvignon Blanc is excellently suited for sweet and noble sweet wines – and is in the well-known sweet wine Sauternes an important part, albeit smaller in quantity. It is therefore not surprising that sweet Sauvignon Blanc wines can be found in many countries. We tasted a sweet wine from the Rueda region in Spain, the Apasionado Dulce 2015 from Bodegas José Pariente.

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10 Years Old Reserve Madeira from Tinta Negra Mole

Câmara-de-Lobos – Main growing area of Tinta Negra Mole © IVBAM

Madeira always show a typical malty-caramel taste. This is caused by the heat treatment of the wine, which causes the sugar in the wine to caramelize. The simplest and cheapest type of heat treatment is the method called Cuba de Calor, in which the wine is heated to 40 – 50 ° C using simple heating coils. The most expensive type of warming, called Canteiro, which lasts up to 20 years, is reserved for better qualities. It takes place in the attics of warehouses in barrels of various sizes.

Different grape varieties are used for the production of a Madeira, whereby a basic distinction is made between the noble grape varieties such as Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malmsey and Terrantez and the less noble varieties such as Complexa or Tinta Negra Mole. 

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Piquant Balance – Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese of Schloss Lieser

© lapping Pixabay

In 1992 Thomas Haag started as cellar master at the Schloss Lieser winery, and the winery is in his possession since 1997. Over the years he has steadily developed it into a top Moselle winery. His wines prove this even more than all the winery’s awards. Around 17 hectares of vineyards in steep locations are cultivated, around a third of which are in the Lieser Niederberg Helden location, the rest are in the Lieser Schlossberg, Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, Brauneberger Juffer, Graacher Himmelreich, Graacher Domprobst, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Bernkasteler Doctor sowie Wehlener Sonnenuhr.

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Taylor’s pale red 10 Year Old Tawny

Theoretically, a Tawny is a port wine which is aged for a longer time in the barrel until its red color changes to amber (tawny), which means the wine becomes a Tawny. This usually starts after about 6 years of barrel maturation. However, since port wines of different ages are always blended for a Tawny, as in the case of a 10 year old tawny, the indication of age is not very precise – but approximately true. However, all Tawny with age 10, 20, 30 or over 40 year old are checked and released by the IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto). … Read more ...

Tal Lùc 2012 by Lis Neris

© Simone_ph Pixabay

On February 3 in Munich, Slow Wine presented , its wine guide of the year 2020, which includes wineries from Italy, California and Oregon. Slow Wine focuses on wines whose regional origin is recognizable and which also take ecological aspects and handcrafted production into account. That doesn’t mean that their taste is secondary.

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Moulin Touchais 1985 – excellent freshness

There are wine cellars in which a lot of old vintages are stored, such as at Rioja Alta, at the Terlan winery in South Tyrol or at Vignobles Touchais on the Loire. There, in their extensive underground cellars, 1 – 2 million bottles are stored, dating back to the early 19th century. It was around this time that the Vignobles Touchais winery, founded in Doué-en-Anjou in the heart of the Coteaux du Layon, began to produce sweet wine from the Chenin Blanc grape variety common on the Loire. Thirty-five of the vineyard’s 150 hectares are used to produce sweet wines. The resulting Moulin Touchais, a Coteaux du Layon, is known for its complexity and longevity. We tasted a Moulin Touchais from Hans’ inventory in 1985 that is a testimonial to this longevity.

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Vino Naranja – not an Orange Wine

Bitter Oranges © Dimitris Vetsikas Pixabay

Vino Naranja comes from Huelva, or rather from the DO (Denominación Origén) Condado de Huelva wine region, which, lying on the Atlantic coast of southern Spain’s Andalusia, has a long history of winegrowing. Given its location between the Portuguese border and the Jerez sherry area, it is no wonder that there still wines like Condado Pálido and Condado Viejo, which are comparable to Fino respectively Oloroso, are produced using the Solera process,

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Multi-layered – Martha’s Colheita Port


© monica749 Pixabay

Many wine drinkers know Vintage Port, whereas Colheita is largely unknown, and only few know which port wine style it is. Its brownish color identifies it as a Tawny type port and since the Portuguese word Colheita means harvest, a Colheita Port is a Tawny that comes from the grapes of a single vintage. A Vintage Tawny, so to speak, just like the Ruby typ Vintage port from a single vintage. But while the dark to black-red port wines of the Ruby type are aged in large barrels with little contact with atmospheric oxygen, the mostly amber to mahogany-colored

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