Old luxurious Bordeaux

Last thursday, we paid a visit to Claus Oxholm vin, which indeed will be printed into our memories. The event took place in Claus' shop in the afterhours with personal stories unfolded from each Chateau and a visit to his private cellar. The theme for the visit was ol' Bordeaux, and this was the program:

• Chateau Fieuzal, 1995 Pessac Leognan
• Rauzan Segla, 1998 Margaux 2 Cru Classe
• Gran Puy Lacoste, 1994 Pauliac 5 Cru Classe
• Pontet Canet, 1996, Pauliac 5 Cru Classe
• Ducru Beaucaillou, 1999 Saint Julien 2 Cru Classe

All wines carefully selected by our host Claus Oxholm, and aquired from previous jobs in the late 90'ties. The youngest wine had 11 years in the bottle, and all wines were perfectly mature. Here are a few scribled notes from a delightfull tasting:

Fieuzal. Slightly bretty with great dry aftertaste held in minutes. My favorite

Rauzan. Soft Bordeaux style, velvet egdes. More leather, coffee, black currant.

Gran Puy-Lacoste. Powerfull bouquet of leather and vanilla, intense yet tight wine

Pontet-Canet. Powerfull oppulent with clear notes of Liquirice.

Ducru Beaucaillou. Darker berries (than the previous), still complex nuances, and clear notes of menthol and mint.

/ Anders

Champions Wine

For anyone with football passion, tonight is the night. At 19 o'clock the finalist of 09/10 Champions league (CL) meet in Madrid. Although the game will be extremely exciting, it was not entirely the final I wished for. With Bayern and Inter, both teams playing quite tactical, it already looks as if the final is going to be won with a single or few goals.

Tonight I am with Bayern and hence my CL wine is German. Although Inter has done a fine job, Italian football is way to often too defensive and tactical for my liking. So I got my hands on a few bottles Schäfer Spätburgunder, a lovely red summer wine and a wish for a good game. / Anders

Danske vinblogs - en opdateret liste

Det er blevet tid til et pæredansk indlæg. Igennem den Irske hjemmeside, Sour grapes, blev jeg inspireret til at lave et lignende indlæg. Listen af danske ikke kommercielle vin-sites vokser og der blogges om vin i Danmark som aldrig før. Er du ikke på listen, er hermed en undskyldning. Skriv gerne adressen i kommentarfeltet. Så opdaterer jeg listen.

1. Winebook, baggrundsartikler/forum/konkurrencer
2. Winefactory et dansk bud på Wine library tv-konceptet/blog. Der er sælges dog også vine igennem firmaet mywine.dk
3. Snakvin, en samlingsportal for stort og småt. Mange brugere.
4. Vinomemo Vinens facebook. Hook op med dine venner og kig i deres vinkældre.
5. Tastingnotes, detajlerede noter om ekskusive vine fra en gruppe passionerede vinentusiaster.
6. Rolfs Vinblog privat vinentusiast med præcise noter.
7. Holmsgaard's hip som hap om smagsoplevelsens anatomi om meget mere. Tjek hans artikler ud.
8. Frederik Kreutzer om skold-burnes vine og egen blog. Frederik arbejder for Tasterwine.
9. Henrik Ehlers vinanmeldelser
10. Terkel's vinanmeldelser
11. Madwine mest om Champagne men også gode vine (nb. flotte fotos).
12. Bobler Fransk familie som producere Champagne og blogger på dansk.
13. Else Bjørn om Champagne.
14. Champagnefreak, Jakobs noter om Champagne
15. Vinforum. En lidt ældre hjemmeside. Med auktioner, artikler og links til butikker mm. Bloggen synes dog at være gået i stå.
16. Vinbloggen Ny blog om vinsalg i Danmark (også konkurrencer).
17. Tue Bach & Petersen bliver klogere på vin. Ny dansk vinblog, ærlig talt.
18. winelover.dk 
19. Druerne.dk - På sporet efter scoopet i Dansk bordvin. 

/ Anders

A Tasmanian Pinot

Stumbled on a Tasmanian Pinot in "Waitrose". I never tasted pinot from there and had to give it a try. Although found on a supermarket shelf it is admittedly quite well done.

Ninth Island Pinot noir 2008

Color vague transperant red (like Spätburgunder). Bouquet of red cherries, perfume, wet soil along with vague hints of wild ferment. Taste is mineral, with notes of iron and blood. The finish is dominated by an acidity somewhat stonefruity which lasts. All in all, a fine cool climate pinot. 13€ locally bought, 89P /anders

A book I just read

Just a quick note from London. Somebody decieded long ago, that books had to cost a fortune in Denmark, regardless the quality. So whenever I'm outside the borders of Denmark, I always find pleasure in exploring book shops. Yesterday, I found Oz Clarkes "Grapes & Wines" (updated and revised version) for 17€.

I turned the pages quickly to see whether it had any interest for person who already has a whole shelf full of books with wines. And it does.

"Grapes & Wines" is actually a neat handbook which deals with 300 grape varieties through great photos, texts and illustrations. There are nice maps (not as good as Hugh Johnsons), interesting anecdotes, and moreover detailed planting data on the every larger international grape. The first 30 pages are dedicated to a larger overview of wine production today, the story of wine, and hereafter you explore 300 pages with describtions of grape varieties from Abourio to Zinfandel. Some grapes are only described with 3-4 lines while others get a whole chapter. Focus for each grape is laid at their geographical origin, taste characterstics, and history. I enjoy reading the book. / Anders

Off to London

If the ash cloud from the Icelandic vulcano with the never ending name does not hinder my plans, then i will be in London already from tomorrow off. Its been more than 20 years since I last walked in the streets of London, and I have high expectations for this visit.

From other blogs, both listed in side and elsewhere, I have come to learn of many good resturants and wine retailers there. So question of the day: Where to find special wines when in London?

ps: Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden's new duo album, Jasmine, was released this morning. Highly recommended.

Spring wines: Soalheiro, Sancerre and Marsannay

With a little delay, I here rush to type a new wine post here on GrapeJuices from last Friday night, which brought new fine wine experiences under the theme of ”Spring”. All wines were served to a great dinner inspired by a series of Portuguese seafood dishes. Summing up, we tried a whole new standard for Vinho verde, a fine Sancerre, and ended the official tasting with a Pinot noir from a Northern commune of Bourgogne. These were the notes:

Soalheiro 2007 Primeiras Vinhas

The nose presents lots of lime, elderflowers and fennel. The taste bears peachy notes with something spicy going and a great dry finish with notes of liquerice. 13% vol alcohol – on the higher end for a green wine.

This green wine is quite unique. With a little googling you will soon learn, that this 100% Alvarinho wine is made up from plants with more than 30 years of age, fermented (4 months) at low temperature with natural yeasts. A certain famous wine maker’s last touch is letting 15% of the wine ferment on used oak casks. See more here. Aquired via Niepoorts projects 16€. 90P

Domanie de la Villaudiere 2007

Bouquet of citrus and pineapple and hazel. The taste is dry and somewhat ”narrow” or strigent, but possibly the wine is meant this way - kind of streamlined. The alcohol volume is 12.5% which is fine/adequate. Price unknown. 88P

Domaine Sylvain Pataille, Marsannay 2005

Dark cherries, stone fruit, pomme granate, and iron. Notes of prunes and plums and iron dominated the taste at first. The taste of the wine changed somewhat character over the course of tasting, with the acidity being more and more present. Theis vine 150kr. 87P