En dansende elefant

Vina Alicia - en dansende elefant fra Argentina

Argentina har mange ting som jeg beundrer. Forfattere som Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, komponister som Astor Piazolla, Tango, og en storslået natur. Listen er lang, men jeg har lige tilført en linie mere : Vina Alicia Morena 2007. Et detajleret blad om vinens teknika kan hentes her.

Vinen er den første vin jeg har smagt fra Vin-klubben Bizon, og den skuffer bestemt ikke! Man skal naturligvis være med på præmissen om at her får man et glas oversøisk fuldblodsrødvin med tyngde. Men vinen er på ingen måde bombastisk eller tarvelig - der er raffinement på denne skønne latina.

Det er en elefant som danser. - 91 point fik den i godt selskab.

Sylvaner - not for the average consumer

Zellberg an Alsacian sylvaner with glass
sealing cap.

Three very different wines were tested last weekend, an amongst those were an Alsace Sylvaner, which is rather rare on the danish shelfs. Perhaps also for a reason, I will come back to that point.  We also tried a funky grape mix from Argentina which is worth seeking out as an alternative for a right bank Bordeaux. Finally we made tasted the 2007 Reserva vintage of the old Cartuxa monastry from Portugal.


Zellberg l'Hermitage 2008, Domaine Julien Meyer 
The wine is clear with an olive glance. The bouquet presents itself with two distictive notes, pear cider and oxidated sherry. Also a note of wet wood and a less charming egde of petrol or medicine cabinet.  The taste is very fruity with notes of pear peel.

This is clearly a wine for those who seek something different. Even the sealing is made with glass, something we have not seen in prestigious wines such as this. In conclusion, this wine may well be classified as an art'y wine and we are way off the main roads of winemaking. The bottle is found among the selected wines from the famous restaurants NOMA and RELÆ in Copenhagen. We acquired one bottle as a gift (DK price is 135kr). We found the wine hard to classify and although it has character, it did not score well amongst us. Points averaged at 78P.

Clos de los Siete 2008 

The wines of the evening

Notes of leather, black strawberries, moist cellar, vanilla. The taste is very smooth (almost designed) with notes of liquirice with a nice dry acidic finish.

It is clearly a wine for an international market, and the product does not appear unique upon first tasting. However, the wine is assembled with great mix bordeaux grapes and syrah placed on top of a main body consisting of Malbec. The label reads 56% malbec, 21% merlot, 10% Cabernet S. 11% Syrah and 2% petit verdot. The wine is made by Michel Rolland who has a long career in bordeaux wines, and he seem  to have had a clear finger print on right banked taste of this wine. The wine was bought for 160kr and we scored it 89P.

Cartuxa Reserva 2007
Power full nose of pine wood, tobacco leaves, coffe on a base of barnyard. The taste is smooth, restrained and notes of licorice.
It clearly plays with its muscles in the glass but upon drinking it is beautifully restrained. We are not dealing with a ribena bomb, but a wine of high authentic class. Available in Denmark via the Portuguese wine cellar for 237kr. 91P

Jazz'n Wine

Posted by Anders D

Last friday provided an interesting tasting under a free theme with wines from France, Argentina and Spain. 

Marquis de Calon 1996 

A older bordeaux from Saint-Estephe. Notes of coffe and oak but also bit "chalky"due to its age. The wine had a fine structure kept up by the cabernet. Drink now (if not before). 90P

Centenario Reserva 2005

A pure cabernet sauvignon with notes of red berries, liquerice, and oak from the storage. Although not the wine is not heavy on alcohol (13%) hints of alcohol stuck out on the nose. The taste is dry and roasted with hints of fig. A fine stucture but it may also rest. Drink now, 87P

bought at Los Andes (amager)

Hacienda el Monasterio 2005

Full blooded Temperanillo from Ribeiro del Duero. Here the little thick skinned temperanillo grape grow into masculin potent wine, rich of tannins for longlivity. The wine is made by Peter Sisseck from Domino de Pingus, and the 2005 Crianza was a blend of 80% temperanillo mixed with blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The wine is reviewed and highly recommended on Winebook.dk where comments and notes are also given. Its a wine we for sure will try again - till then. Deep red, with a nose of dark berries, coffee, vanila, chocolate amongst others. 91-93P. Grapewise 215dkk