On the subject of German white wines

To be honest I'm not a great fan of German white wines, they usually taste pretty “champagnish” and what I mean by that it feels they are usually more carbonated then their foreign counterparts.  This might be because I might have been a little unlucky when choosing them myself, I do remember one great wine I drank in Nuremberg a couple years back during the asparagus season, it was quite expensive however and was picked by a local. Maybe its hard to find good reasonably priced German whites when you don't know where to look, if anybody has suggestions please share them :)

A special thank you to Andrea from Italy who is the first person to donate a wine for me to write about, that is not a member of my family ;) Andrea and her husband run this lovely inn in Toscany. (http://www.lespugne.it/en/index.php)

Burgerspital, Silvaner 2008 (Germany)

First Impressions: It does taste slightly more carbonated then other whites, however I left the bottle open for two days in the fridge and I have to say it tasted really nice after airing out.

Winery: http://www.buergerspital.de/wineestate/index.html

(looks like a really nice place to visit)

Grape: Silvaner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvaner

(an interesting grape)

If you have any other wine recomendations please email me with them and I will make sure to get to them. 

The „Celebrate your new born“ combo

Now by no means I’m saying these wines are reasonably priced, but that’s not the point, these wines are a good way to celebrate a special occasion.

Barolo, Vigna D’Vai 2003 Ca’Brusa (Italy)

Grape: Nebbiolo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebbiolo 

Brunello Di Montalcino, Villa I Cipressi 2004 (Italy)

Grape: Sangiovese Grosso clone Brunello variety http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangiovese

First Impresions:

These have a traditional red wine taste, with a fruity pallet; they have just the right strength.

Are there any differences? Well the second wine has a less fruity taste.

I didn’t drink these to anything but my guess is that it would go great with any red meat, or even a strong tasting pasta.

They did go very well with nice company and celebrating the birth of my son J.

Winery:

The Barolo, Vigna D’Vai comes from Diego Marengo’s winery.

The Brunello Di Montalcino comes from http://www.villaicipressi.it/chisiamo_ing.htm

Both wines I recommend wholeheartedly.

A trip to Italy – on the subject of great house wines.

Now, what I’m about to say will ring well with the elitist wine lovers, but who cares about that right?

Conte Ferdinando Guicciardini – Table wine (the big bottle on the left – 5L – just for comparison a regular sized bottle on the right)

First Impression:

House wines are great, they have a very original taste, are usually sold in large bottles (always a plus), and don’t hurt your pocket.

Ok I have to say that my first experience with an Italian house wine didn’t hurt my pocket at all, I received it as a gift. Writing this blog is starting to pay off already.

This particular one is very easy on the mouth, I’m guessing it has a slightly lower alcohol level which is nice because you can have three glasses a day instead of the cautious two. (Have you read “Younger next year” http://www.youngernextyear.com/ I highly recommend it, its never too early to start)

Where I got it from:

My parents just got back from a trip around Italy where they stayed at http://www.lespugne.it/en/index.php, now if any of you watched “Under the Toscan sun” it should give you a vague idea about how great of a place this is – that’s what my parents said anyway. The place is romantic, very well taken care of, and the owners make you feel right at home. I know my parents will be going back.

The wine was from a place near by:

http://www.conteguicciardini.it/cms/index.php?lang=en

Grapes: no idea, the lable just said “vina da tavola rosso” wich I guess means red table wine but I haven’t checked that in a dictionary.

What I drank it with:

Italian Gorgonzola

Polish smoked ham

Spanish olives

Went great with everything.

A special thank you to Andrea for the white wine I received from you, I will make sure to write about it next :)