Category Archives: Year

Nov 14 2013
5 Comments
2013, Germany

Quick update from Germany

My hometown's church

My hometown’s church

Dear friends,

just a quick update from Germany, some of you have asked how things are going.

It’s great to be back for a visit, and I am enjoying it a lot. Right after my arrival, which for various reasons brought me to the Stuttgart airport, in the south of Germany, I went to visit the Württemberg winery Kistenmacher und Hengerer. Winemaker Hans Hengerer and his wife Sabine opened their doors for me on a Sunday (after I told them that I could imagine that they had better things to do on a Sunday morning), and I spent a good three hours there. What do I say? A great three hours. We tried a host of wines, from their Rieslings to all the local varietals Clevner, Samtrot, Gelber Muskateller, a bunch of Pinot Noirs…

I am not familiar with that particular region of German wine growing, but it felt like a great introduction. I will write more about the winery shortly.

Now I am back in native Rheinhessen region, enjoying what I miss so much: the sight of Father Rhine, the vineyards on the other side, German bread, rolls and sausage meats, and just simple, enjoyable local wines. My mother and I have been hitting the theater trail, went to see Neil LaBute’s stunning, disturbing, incredible piece Bash. If ever you get a chance, I highly recommend it!

The coming weekend and some will be spent at my beloved Mosel, with seeing friends, more eating and drinking (naturally) and I am lucky to have scored tasting times at the estates Reinhold Haart (Piesport), Immich-Batterieberg (Traben-Trarbach), Kurt Hain (Piesport), Meierer (Kesten), Günther Steinmetz (Brauneberg) with room for a few more. One evening will be spent tasting some Finger Lakes Rieslings I brought with my good friend ManSoo. As you can see, most of the action will be surrounding wine…and more wineries will be visited the following week (St. Urbanshof, Karl Erbes, and Dr. Hermann).

I am truly excited about this mix of old friends and new wineries, and am looking forward to what 2012 has brought.

The biggest bummer so far has been that a tentative meeting up for joint tasting with my good friend and fellow blogger Stefano of Clicks and Corks has not come together…it would have been awesome to share these moments with him, but we both will make do, and I am looking forward to share German wine country with him another time.

That’s it for now. I hope I will get to shoot some more articles in my pipeline out over the next days and am looking forward to presenting new wineries to you soon.

Trier as seen in summer 2012 (structures left to right: Imperial Basilica from the 300s, Citizen Church from the 1300s, Cathedral foundations dating back to 300s)

Trier as seen in summer 2012 (structures left to right: Imperial Basilica from the 300s, Citizen Church from the 1300s, Cathedral foundations dating back to 300s)

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Nov 03 2013
19 Comments
2013, Germany, Mosel

Some shots from the harvest in Germany

Instead of the usual Sunday read, I want to just show you some photos from the end of the German wine harvest. The harvest is almost over now in Germany. German wineries often go through their vineyards several times during harvest, selecting the grapes for each particular style of wine. The longer the grapes hang, usually the higher the concentration leading up to shrivelled, mostly botrytized grapes that are used for the stars of sweet wines, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese.

Nik Weis, the owner and winemaker of St. Urbanshof, a winery in the Saar valley, posted some photos the other day of their final stages of harvest and I asked him whether I could share them. I hope you find them as interesting as I did. It gives you an idea of how labor intensive just the collection of grapes for these very high end wines is, and how low yields are, which explains their high prices…

I have added some photos from the harvest in the prime Mosel vineyard Erdener Prälat, taken by my friend ManSoo, who harvested there with Dr. Hermann winery.

I am leaving for a few weeks in Germany the coming weekend, and I am excited about trying the 2012 vintage of my beloved Mosel and Sarr Rieslings as well as wine from new places for me: I will visit the Kistenmacher-Hengerer estate, a newly minted member of the elite winemaker association VDP, in Württemberg, a region I hardly know anything about, for example.

Happy Sunday!

Another round of harvesting begins in Erdener Prälat

Another round of harvesting begins in Erdener Prälat

Collecting healthy and slightly shrivelled grapes

Collecting healthy and slightly shrivelled grapes in Erdener Prälat

Healthy Riesling Grape Cluster in Ockfener Bockstein

Healthy Riesling Grape Cluster in Ockfener Bockstein

Further selection taking place...

Further selection taking place… (Erdener Prälat)

Once the grapes get crushed, this "must weight scale" shows the density of the must in degrees Oechsle, which determines what quality category a wine can be listed as.

Once the grapes get crushed, this “must weight scale” shows the density of the must in degrees Oechsle, which determines what quality category a wine can be listed as.

Now that is manual labor.

Now that is manual labor: Highly shrivelled grape harvest on the Saar (St. Urbanshof)

Slowly, slowly piling up...

Slowly, slowly piling up…(St. Urbanshof)

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Oct 29 2013
14 Comments
2011, Apulia, Italy

2011 Epicuro Salice Salentino DOC

2011 Epicuro Salice Salentino

2011 Epicuro Salice Salentino

One of my earliest posts in this blog involved one of my go to, bread and butter, affordable reds: the 2007 Epicuro Salice Salentino, which is available at Trader Joe’s for $5.99. I later reviewed the 2009 vintage of that wine (decidedly less exciting than 2007). Upon one of my last Trader Joe’s visits, I realized that the 2011 vintage is now out, so in line with earlier posts, this is my review of that wine. I know this is an industrially produced, mass market wine, but I always had a soft spot for it, so bear with me…

The 2011 Epicuro Salice Salentino DOC is no longer qualified as a Riserva, unlike its predecessors. It is still made of 80% Negroamaro grapes and 20% Malvasia Nera, with 13% ABV.

In the glass, the wine displayed a decidedly lighter color than its predecessors, a watery ruby red that lacked the depth of color in the earlier vintages (I assume that this is due to less ageing in a barrel). The nose showed oriental spices (think mulled wine, a bit weird), wet tobacco leaf and earthy aromas underlying it. All in all a similar nose to earlier vintages, I think. On the palate, though, what struck me immediately was that this vintage has a decided sugary component which is too much for me. I am not looking for a semi-sweet red wine, so this was a downer. There were cherry, leather and tobacco aromas with barely noticeable tannins, so its feels mild and is rather easy to drink.

I think the earlier releases had more depth and character than this vintage. I was quite disappointed, frankly and am not sure I will reach for it again…

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