Ca' del Bosco's Curtefranca Bianca 2012

I tasted this at a high end supermarket the other day. Ca' del Bosco is a well known producer of Italian sparkling wines in Franciacortia, but also produces some good still wines. The sparkling wines from this area are DOCG Franciacortia whilst the still ones are DOC Curtefranca. This white wine from Ca' del Bosco is made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Bianco (Ca' del Bosco is famous for its Chardonnay wines). The Chardonnay comes from 11 vineyards around an average of 27 years old, whilst the Pinot Bianco comes from 3 vineyards averaging 20 years old. The wine was a pale yellow with a crisp lemony fruity nose. The palate was sweet acid and slightly fruity, with an acid backbone that was initially lemony going onto a sharp mineral acidity which gave sterling support.

Chateau Lilian Ladouys

Chateau Lilian Ladouys is a cru bourgeois estate in St Estephe, which can be traced back to the 17th century, when it was recorded as "La Doys" in some documents. In the 18th and early 19th century, the Barre family took the estate to its height of fame, but in the early 20th century, neglect caused the estate to fall into dilapidation. In 1989, the Thieblots bought the estate and Lilian's name was added to the estate name. They started to invest and modernize, something which the present owners continued when they bought the estate in 2007.

The 47 ha estate is planted with some 58 % Cabernet Sauvignon, nearly one third Merlot, a bit of Cabernet France and a smidgeon of Petit Verdot, but the blend can contain vastly different proportions of these depending on the harvest each year, with some years being only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. About 20,000 cases of grand vin are produced a year, as well as a quantity of second wine. I have tasted an early 2000s vintage some time ago and it is certainly a wine i would be happy to try another vintage.

Schloss Halbturn

I blogged about the Jungenberg Merlot Cabernet Franc red wine from this estate recently. The estate can trace its history back to the 13th century with the 18th century castle (Schloss in German) itself once serving as hunting lodge and summer residence for the Emperor. Although the first vineyards were planted in the 13th century, the modern era started in 1960 with vineyard plantings which were subsequently restructured with replantings and modernization of the cellars. The estate is planted with both international varieties such as Chardonnay, the two Cabernets, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc as well as with local varieties as Gruner Veltliner, Sankt Laurent, Blaufrankisch and Zweigelt. Apart from varietals, a number of blends were also made, as well as a traditional method sparkler.

A wine match for sturgeon

Sturgeon is not a fish one regularly meets in Hong Kong; in fact its pasteurized eggs (caviar) are probably more easily seen in purveyors of luxury food and luxury restaurants than the fish itself, especially if we are talking about the live ones. Yet just across the border in Shenzhen, one can find small specimens in the fish tanks of restaurants, not for decoration, but for consumption. These sturgeons which are farmed for the table are much smaller than the specimens raised for their roe. I have had sturgeon a number of times on the mainland, either steamed, or boned and stir fried with vegetables with the "bones" battered and fried and seasoned with garlic and chili to provide a second dish.

Sturgeon flesh is white and quite "full bodied" and "meaty", so although the likes of Chablis and Muscadet will not clash, especially with the fried "bones",  it  can take some other choices. I have not had it with light reds, but a Cru Beaujolais or a light Pinot Noir will surely not go amiss.

Asti with local bistro type fare

We took along a chilled bottle of Asti together with a bottle of Cru Beaujolais to dinner at a local bistro-type restaurant. It is famous for roast goose (though this is not one of those famous roast goose vendors) and some of its speciality dishes are also well regarded.One of this is their trademark stir-fry, which consists of flowering chives, pickled turnip, dried prawns and dried whitebait, the last of which had been fried to a crisp before joining in the final melange. The Asti was surprising in that it brought out the flavours of the fried dried seafood as well as enhancing the enjoyment of the dish as a whole. The second dish was some pork patties in which was mixed some flaked salted fish (the local Chinese type). Again it brought out and enhanced the flavour of the salted fish, making it more fragrant and aromatic. One would have thought that a sweet grapey fruity fizzy wine of low alcohol would be like drinking an alcoholic version of Coke, but yet these two dishes illustrate once again the fun that could be had with a little sense of adventure.

Chablis with prawn sashimi

We had a seafood meal over the Easter weekend (not Good Friday just in case you were wondering) and we had bought some frozen Crystal Blue prawns which were good for sashimi. If we have a sashimi/sushi meal, we would definitely crack open a bottle of sake, but as it were, we also had fried fish and fried crab, so Chablis was opened instead. I had that Chablis before, having bought a couple of bottled a few months ago, and only consuming one on the night. It ended up being left forgotten in the fridge, so it was a touch too cold when opened. The wine was a golden straw, sporting a fruity nose with a touch of wood and then some acid. The palate still had a touch of fruit (slightly sweet as well) before a good streak of minerally acid kicked in, lasting right into the finish and serving as a good backbone. As for its match with these prawns, the prawns themselves were quite nice but still a touch fishy. Adding a mouthful of Chablis brought out all the sweetness of the prawn, but does not add any more fruit which might mar the combination.

A nice quaffing Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

I dropped in on the neighbourhood wine shop for a quick visit last week, having not visited them for a couple of months. Things were not good because some large travel group which handles mainland visitors had moved their catering operations to a nearby location with the result that there was a constant stream of mainland tourists queuing up on the pavement outside, which rather hampers access to the loyal customers and stops impulse buyers from trying their wares. And just before you ask about custom from these mainland tourists, I understand that precisely one person had peeled off from the queue to visit the shop and that person did not buy anything (even though the owner had already brought in something especially for them).

There was a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc open and it was recommended to me as a good quaffing wine. Sure enough it was a good quaffing wine but it was good enough for a plate of prawns (especially the 赤米 type, which I found to be a good match with Kiwi Sauv Blancs). The wine was a nice lemony straw, with a crisp fruity nose (hinting at tropical fruits). This crispy fruitiness carries onto the palate well supported by a good dose of acidity, which suffices for support. (To be truthful, I found that I hadn't saved my notes that day (perhaps because of being so annoyed at the situation of the queues), but the wine made a sufficient impression for the details to be recalled from memory).

Montepulciano (grape)

Montepulciano can be a little confusing as it is both a town in Tuscany as well as a variety of Italian wine grape. Of course the chaos is further complicated by the fact that the town of Montepulciano, whose history goes back beyond the Renaissance and Medieval times, is also famous for a wine, the Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, which being made from Sangiovese (with a bit of Canaiolo Nero and other grapes like Mamolo), containes no Montepulciano at all.

The wine grape Montepulciano, on the other hand, comes from different regions in central and southern Italy and is the second most widely planted grape in Italy after  Sangiovese. (However, it is not planted around the village of the same name as the grape!) However, the grape also appears on the name of a wine, Montepulciano d'Abrizzo. Ripening rather late, it tends to be green if harvested too early. It can give large yields, and tends towards low acidity and soft tannins. When properly matured, Montepulciano can give wines of fairly deep colour, good levels of acidity and extract and fairly good levels of alcohol. As the entries on Kurni (here and here) shows, some Montepulciano can make very good wines indeed.

Schloss Halbturn Jungenberg 2008

A friend gave me this bottle of wine to have a try. I am not familiar with this estate but Hugh Johnson had rated this as a 3 star winery (well known, highly reputed) so it must be one of those well kept secrets that I had not yet had the opportunity to try. This wine is made with fruit from the Jungenberg vineyard (in Jois at the tip of Neusiedlersee), a Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend aged in 100% new Bordeaux barriques. My expectation would be an Austrian take on Right Bank Bordeaux.

Hand picked and sorted, the fruit underwent cold maceration (max 10degC) for 10-12 days before fermentation in open wooden fermenters (max 30degC) with twice daily pigeage, and 18 months barrique aginb before bottling without filtration. The wine was a deep purple ruby with a sweet currant scent that is immediately obvious on pouring (rather like pour out Ribena in glasses before diluting it). The nose also contains a slight leafy greeness with tannins, which did not carry through to the palate. The palate was sweet and fruity with a touch of wood, but marred by some alcoholic heat. There was support by an acid backbone, but again the hot alcoholic feeling rather dominated it giving a hot finish.

Eroica Ice Wine 2006

I saw this wine in an upmarket supermarket yesterday and bought it. I had already blogged about the American German joint venture that resulted in the Eroica line of Riesling wines. This 2006 Riesling Ice Wine was only the fifth time in the 40 year history of the Washington State winery, Chateau Ste Michelle, that they have been able to make an Ice Wine, yet coincidentally, three times out of five, the harvest was done on 31st October as happened in 2006.

On that day, temperatures fell below 14degF (-10degC) and the frozen Riesling grapes were harvested from 2 to 6 am, from the Horse Heaven Vineyard at 37.6 deg Brix. Pressed whilst still frozen, the juice contained twice the concentration of sugar compared with normal grapes, and underwent a slow cold 8 week fermentation, giving a wine of 7.5% alcohol and a residual sugar of 261g/L. This special wine was awarded 93 points by Wine Spectator in 2009.

The label for Mouton 2002

The label for the 2002 vintage of Chateau Mouton Rothschild was created by the Russian artist Ilya Kabakov. Titled "OKHO" meaning window in Russian, the work revels in Kabakov's mastery in the use of perspective in the depiction of multidimensional space. The myriad of wings whirling to infinity seem to transport us to another realm, perhaps reflecting the magic of great wines.

Born in Dniepropetrovsk in what is now Ukraine, Kabaov was trained at the Moscow Art School and the VI Surikov Institute and is considered one of the leading contemporary Russian artists. Making a name for himself as a graphic artist and book illustrator in the 1950s, he also explored areas which were frowned on by the Soviet authorities, becoming associated with the underground Russian culture alongside the members of the "conceptualist circle". From the 1980s, his installation works targeting daily life in the USSR brought hims to the attention of the West where he gained prominence and won prizes.

Szigeti's different way with the classical method

I have previously blogged about the Szigeti winery which specializes in making Osterriecher Sekt, using methode tradtionelle like they do in Champagne. However for this winery, there are major departures from the champenois way (even though the group has a champagne winery and sells champagne on its Austrian Website). Obviously the grapes are different, but whereas, only Blanc de Blanc champagnes are varietal wines (chardonnay), much more of Szigeti's output consists of varietal sparklers, including some very obscure grapes indeed. The dosage used in champagne is base wine with sugar (either beet or cane - Champagne also grew a lot of sugar beet for table sugar) but in some wines, Szigeti adds a TBA (or in one case a 6 puttonyos Tokaji) to the house liqueur de dosage. That makes those wine very special indeed. Finally, although all champagnes receive the secondary fermentation in bottle or magnums, Szigeti will ferment in all the larger bottle size up to its biggest - the 15L Nebuchadnezzar.