Red wine glasses – does the size matter? (Part II)

27 11 2013

Red wine glasses - reijosfood.com

In part I we tasted Faustino VII with one result we did not write about. Right glass improved both aroma and taste of this affordable red wine. In Part II we tasted Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2010, which should be full-bodied with tannins, dark berries, cherry, spicy, hint of oak, nuanced regarding to Alko. Grapes in the wine are Grenache Noir, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault which is challenging combination.

Red wines - reijosfood.com

We used the same glasses as in Part I with tasting results below:

Glass 1: Sommeliers Bordeaux GC (Riedel, Austria)

Huge 27 cm high glass with capacity of 0,86 litre. Could take the whole bottle! Glass maker Riedel recommends it to be used with following wines/grapes: Bordeaux (red), Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chablis, Fronsac, Graves rouge, Listrac, Margaux, Médoc, Merlot, Moulis, Pauillac, Pessac Leognan (Rouge), Pomerol, St. Emilion, St. Estèphe, St. Julien

TASTING NOTES: Glass is still too big for tasting because spinning the glass is quite clumsy. Huge size makes you careful which does not help in the tasting. However, practice makes you master and this time wine spinned more easily. Both results of NOSE and TASTE tests were in balance. Wine opened nicely and aroma was pleasant despite of tannins. WINNER OF THE TEST!

Glass 2: Vinum Bordeaux (Riedel, Austria)

Typical 22,5 cm high red wine glass with capacity of 0,61 litre. Recommended by Riedel to use with following wines/grapes: Bordeaux (red), Carmenère, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zweigelt

TASTING NOTES: Part I winner was not so impressive as it was in previous test. Somehow sniffing the bouquet made you cough. However, result of THE TASTE was as good as it was with the winning glass.

Glass 3: Essence (Iittala, Finland)

23 cm high with capacity of 0,45 litre and designed by Alfredo Häberli for Iittala in 2001. No recommendations for wines or grapes. In Finnish Iittala web -site also classified as beer glass.

TASTING NOTES: Shame on Iittala! Again LOSER OF THE TEST! Same problems with the NOSE, alcohol and with THE TASTE, tacky and lackluster.

Glass 4: Basic tasting glass

These glasses are usually used in basic wine tastings. This glass was brought on from Barcelona Estacio Enologica 100-year celebration but glass type has also been used in Finnish Wine Fairs several years ago.

TASTING NOTES: The bouquet for the THE NOSE was tender but THE TASTE was a little bit tacky and acid. Part I and Part II tests proved that basic tasting glass is excellent for the THE NOSE part of tests.

Glasses - reijosfood.com

Conclusion

Size matters, at least when it comes to Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2010! Although none of the grapes of this wine are not mentioned by Riedel for preferred ones for Sommeliers Bordeaux GC glass, glass won the test. Wine with tannins need to get ogygen in order to open. Glass itself is like decanter which improves the experience.

But as written in the beginnng of the post, cheap and lackluster wines improve more in the right shaped glass. Best example are cognacs, do not use traditional glasses for them because you get blind due to the alcohol vapor. Buy cheaper cognac and enjoy it from flute-shaped aroma glass.





Wine review: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau

22 11 2013

Beaujolais Nouveau - reijosfood.com

Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is released for sale on the third Thursday of November. This “Beaujolais Nouveau Day” used to see heavy marketing, with races to get the first bottles to different markets around the globe.

The current release practice is to ship the wine ahead of the third Thursday of November, and release it to the local markets at 12:01 am local time. Of course not in Finland as there is only one monopoly company selling wines and alcohol (Alko) and it opens at 09.00 EET and they offer only one choice Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau. Neither restaurants promoted opportunity to taste it right after midnight.

It is important to enjoy the wine enough chilled, proof below :). It must be served between 12 – 14C degrees.

Beaujolais Nouveau - reijosfood.com

THE LOOK

Label is colorful as always, flowers mirror the freshness of wine.

Wine itself is almost violet, blue-reddish like young wines always are. More dark than last year.

THE NOSE

Fruity, even sweet aroma especially when using tasting glass. Rasberry, vanilla and fruit candy scent came in to the nose.

THE TASTE

Young fruity wine, light and fresh. Berries dominate but on the other hand quite skinny taste.

Facts and figures:

Alcohol: 12,00 %
Extract : 27 g/l
Acidity: 5,4 g/l
Energy : 80 kcal / 100 ml (320 kJ / 100 ml)
Closure: metal screw cap

This years only available Beaujolais Nouveau from Georges Duboeuf is eligible wine. Easy to taste, easy to enjoy.

REVIEW: OVERALL GRADE 3-/5 – BANG FOR THE BUCK + / +++

Beaujolais Nouveau - reijosfood.com

Last years modest review:

https://reijosfood.com/2012/11/16/wine-review-beaujolais-villages-nouveau-louis-tete/





Restaurant review – Minos, piece of Greece in Helsinki

21 11 2013

Minos - reijosfood.com

Restaurant Minos is over 25 years old restaurant which serves traditional Greek food. For example you can get Tzatziki, Pita bread, Moussaka and of course Ouzo for aperitif. You can also here Greek spoken as waiters speak it to each other.

Minos has pleasant covered terrace which can be used also in winter time, as it is heated. We always choose to dine there because you can observe by-passers at the same time. In the summer Minos has it’s own spot in popular Kamppi shopping center terrace area. Note that restaurant is not open on Sundays.

Starters usually are the best part of the dinner which was true also this time. We ordered tsatsiki, marinated olives and dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs). But of course ouzo Plomari for aperitif; with ice it is perfect appetite initiator; Jamas!

Tsatsiki was excellent, be careful you do not eat a full stomach with fresh bread because it is just so delicious. Dolmades were warm as they should be and again with tsatsiki, perfect. Olives as starter may sound simple but the marinade made them juicy and appropriately salty.

Starters at Minos - reijosfood.com

For main courses ordered Catch of the day, grilled fresh fish which was Dorada and Tiger shrimps on skewer with garlic and lemon sauce. You can choose from 4 side dishes to supplement the main course. Alternatives are Baked potato wedges, potato gratin, rice or seasons braised vegetables. Also ordered Grilled pita bread which came after second request.

Gilt perch (Dorada) was palatable as it tasted like just caught from Mediterranean sea. Just a little bit over grilled but not too much as it did not bother. Tiger shrimp skewer was the weakest part of the dinner, a little bit too salty and vegetables were in fact the same as you could order separately as a side dish. Luckily chose potato gratin which was ok.

Dorada - reijosfood.comGiant shrimps - reijofood.com

Then for desserts Halva and Tiramisu with Metaxa brandy + Metaxa brandy.

Halva for dessert is interesting delicacy but as there are not so many options without lactose, tasted it. And if you like Halva, you would have liked this one also. Tiramisu is Italian dessert but Minos moistened it with brandy, that transforms it Greek dessert. But of course had to make sure that there would be enough moisture and therefore ordered just in case glass of Metaxa brandy.

Halva - reijosfood.comTiramisu - reijosfood.com

Restaurant Minos really is the piece of Greece in Helsinki! Even wine list consists of Greek wines which is partly good and partly not so good thing. Enjoyed white wine; 2009 Petra, Kir-Yanni. As you can see in the picture vintage is 2012, not 2009. Greek white wines pair perfeclty with Greek starters but for fish they are challenge due to lacking character. However, if you want to enjoy complete Greek package, it must include local wines.

Service was quick and polite. You might want to check menu before hand because waiters start asking for order soon after your arrival.

REVIEW: FOOD 3,5/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4-/5

Petra wine - reijosfood.com

http://minos.fi/





Red wine glasses – does the size matter? (Part I)

16 11 2013

Wine glasses - reijosfood.com

There is lots of fuss about the importance of glass on the taste of wines. Some thoughts around the topic in two posts.

Compared two totally different red wines, Faustino VII 2011 and Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2010. Part I covers tasting of most modest Faustino, Faustino VII, which should be full-bodied Spanish tempranill0 with medium tannins and delicately spicy regarding to Alko notes.

Red wines - reijosfood.com

Tested both wines in four different red wine glasses:

Glass 1: Sommeliers Bordeaux GC (Riedel, Austria)

Huge 27 cm high glass with capacity of 0,86 litre. Could take the whole bottle! Glass maker Riedel recommends it to be used with following wines/grapes: Bordeaux (red), Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chablis, Fronsac, Graves rouge, Listrac, Margaux, Médoc, Merlot, Moulis, Pauillac, Pessac Leognan (Rouge), Pomerol, St. Emilion, St. Estèphe, St. Julien

TASTING NOTES: Glass is too big for tasting because spinning the glass is quite clumsy. Huge size makes you too careful which does not help in the tasting. Mixed opinions compared to Vinum glass; actually it was a difficult task to rank these glasses with similar shapes. With affordable Faustino VII, glass did not provide any extra amazing experience; so we have to wait for how better French wine manages.

Glass 2: Vinum Bordeaux (Riedel, Austria)

Typical 22,5 cm high red wine glass with capacity of 0,61 litre. Recommended by Riedel to use with following wines/grapes: Bordeaux (red), Carmenère, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zweigelt

TASTING NOTES: Maybe easiest shape and size to taste Faustino VII. THE NOSE and THE TASTE were in balance. Vinum Bordeaux glass was the WINNER OF THE TEST! 

Glass 3: Essence (Iittala, Finland)

23 cm high with capacity of 0,45 litre and designed by Alfredo Häberli for Iittala in 2001. No recommendations for wines or grapes. In Finnish Iittala web -site also classified as beer glass.

TASTING NOTES: With Faustino VII Essence glass did not impress. It managed worst in THE NOSE and THE TASTE tests. Alcohol covered bouquet of tempranillo and flavor of the wine was bitter. LOSER OF THE TEST!

Glass 4: Basic tasting glass

These glasses are usually used in basic wine tastings. This glass was brought on from Barcelona Estacio Enologica 100-year celebration but glass type has also been used in Finnish Wine Fairs several years ago.

TASTING NOTES: Bouquet of tempranillo was most pleasant and easily identified, but taste of wine was as bitter as it was with Iittala Essence glass. Too much tannins and spices.

Glasses - reijosfood.comWine glasses - reijosfood.com

Conclusion

Size does not matter but the shape really matters. It is important to choose right glass for different type of red wines. Maybe Spanish tempranillo is not the best wine for Riedel glasses, because it was not recommended by glass maker. One option might be that Riedel ignores certain countries/regions/grapes. However, tasted wine was quite modest and immature. None of the glasses did not improve taste significantly.

In Part II we analyze Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2010 which was tasted by using the same glasses.

http://www.riedel.com/collections/glass-collections/





Why Helsinki’s restaurant scene is as its hottest right now?

15 11 2013

Great article about Helsinki restaurants!

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/why-helsinkis-restaurant-scene-hottest-now-224400031.html

Can recommend both restaurants mentioned in the article. Reviews can be found by using search.

SPIS

Restaurant Spis - reijosfood.comSPIS - reijosfood.com

GROTESK WINEBAR

Quail - reijosfood.comFoie gras - reijosfood.com

Again good reason to visit Helsinki!





Wine review: Christmas Riesling 2012

10 11 2013

Would you buy wine because there is Christmas tree on the label and name of the wine is Christmas Riesling?

Christmas Riesling - reijosfood.com

Wonder how one wineyard (weingut) can name it’s wine as Christmas something? Has the wine something to do with Christmas?

After tasting, nothing!

Wine comes from wineyard Lergenmüller, Pfalz (The Palatinate), Germany.

THE LOOK

As you can see the label highlights Christmas. The wine itself is straw-colored and slightly greenish.

THE NOSE

Typical light young riesling. Some fruits and raisins which we often find in rieslings but no one else seems to do so; at least when it comes to professional reviews.

THE TASTE

Lack of petrol and minerals makes this wine light and boring. The name Christmas would require more character.

Facts and figures:

Alcohol: 13,00 %
Extract : 25 g/l
Acidity: 7,5 g/l
Sugar: 6 g/l
Energy : 80 kcal / 100 ml (320 kJ / 100 ml)
Closure: metal screw cap

Wine is basic riesling which suits for aperitif and with food without too much spices. Tried it with sushi and it did not pair at all. Christmas Riesling 2012 does not create a Christmas athmosphere neither reminds you of Christmas tree or presents. For Christmas I recommend Finnish Glögg or Gluhwein.

Only positive thing is the price of the wine; it is only 8,95€ in Finnish Alko’s.

REVIEW: OVERALL GRADE 2/5 – BANG FOR THE BUCK 0 / +++

http://www.lergenmueller.de/





Restaurant review – Slow food at Teatterin Grilli

8 11 2013

Slow food - reijosfood.com

Late dinner in Helsinki? Typical time to start dinner in Finland is 6PM – 8PM. If you want to enjoy dinner “the Southern European way” and start it, for example 10PM, you have to choose restaurant carefully in order not to be forced to eat in rush. And I do not mean hot dog stands or McDonald’s.

As a pleaseant and interesting surprise noted that restaurant serves Slow food until 30th of November. You could choose from separate list Finnish delicacies which you could never usually eat. Meats and other rare foodstuff are purchased from small producers directly without middlemen.

Restaurant Teatterin Grilli is situated in Esplanade Park (Espa) behind Swedish theatre. Restaurant (dining room) is open until 1AM on Saturday but if you want to continue in the Night Club, it is open until 4AM.

Decided to order one starter from Slow food menu Broiled lampreys from Ulvila, mustard dressing and roasted archipelago bread and one from ordinary menu Cold smoked Baltic herring tartar, poached quail´s egg and vendace roe.

Never eaten lampreys. Sometimes you can get those at markets but in Helsinki restaurants I have not seen lampreys before. A little bit crisp and chevy at the same time. Closest food might be vendaces but in this case mustard dressing made the experience totally different. Herring tartar was delicious but amount of roe could have been greater.

Lampreys - reijosfood.comHerring at TG - reijosfood.com

For main courses again Slow food 2x Rosè-roasted grey partridges, creamed sugar beet and gravy-velouté.

Partridge is a rare fowl bird which can be hunted for a short time in the autumn. Breast fillets were rose as the name of the portion promised but bird legs were dry. Never seen sugar beet to be offered as side dish, as it is usually raw material for sugar. Anyway, worth to order and maybe not possible to repeat in the near future. The outlook of portion was not so attractive as it could have been at this price level.

Wine suggestion for partridges was Luna del Sur Pinot Noir from Bodegas Callia, Argentina. It paired perfectly with the bird.

Partridge at TG - reijosfood.com

Two desserts were available on Slow food menu but decided to choose desserts from traditional menu; Cranberry crumble with baked apple ice cream and TG- dessert trilogy; White chocolate mousse, arctic cloudberry soup and Granny Smith sorbet. Crumble was a little bit tart due to cranberries but soft ice-cream hided it nicely. Mousse was really sweet, almost too chunky and sorbet did not fit to the triangle so well.

Scrubmle at TG - reijosfood.comDessert at TG - reijosfood.com

Restaurant Teatterin Grilli does not let you down. Food is always delicious and it serves best gourmet burger in Helsinki. At 10PM when we arrived dining room was almost empty which is a proof tht Finns eat early. Waitering was still at good level dispite the late time.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

Teatterin Grilli -reijosfood.comTeatterin Grilli - reijosfood.comTG - reijosfood.comTG - reijosfood.com

http://www.teatteri.fi/teatterin-grilli





Restaurant review – Gastrobar Emo

1 11 2013

Gastrobar Emo - reijosfood.com

Gastrobar Emo is easy to step in to enjoy easygoing service and good food. Emo (Dam in english) was opened on the 21st of August 2013 in the same place where Michelin star restaurant Olo used to be. Owners are partly the same which should be a proof of excellent food experience.

There is also separate wine bar which provides opportunity to enjoy an aperitif or glass of wine. With drinks you can order snacks from bar menu. We visited wine bar after dinner, there is narrow corridor between dining room and bar but it also has separate entrance.

Emo Wine bar - reijosfood.comEmo Wine bar menu - reijosfood.com

Quite soon after you arrive you will get some snacks and fresh bread with celery butter which was really tasty. Brown paper bag is one way to serve bread but it would have been easier to take bread from bread basket.

Bread at Emo - reijosfood.com

You can choose your dinner from 3 “starters”, 4 “main courses” and 3 “desserts” up to assemblage of 6 foods. Our group decided to go for 3 courses and ordered first 2x FINNISH VENDACE’s and 2x WILD DUCK WITH RED CABBAGE AND APPLE.

Name Finnish vendaces might be misleading; we got Finnish fish but the way it was prepared was actually better than traditionally fried vendaces. Frying in oil instead of frying in a pan with butter made vendaces more crispy but not so greasy. On top of that side dishes were a perfect match.

Vendaces at Emo - reijosfood.com

Next courses were 3x GREENLAND HALIBUT WITH POTATOES “GOBBAS GÅRD” and 1x WILD DUCK WITH RED CABBAGE AND APPLE.

Halibut was bull’s eye. Cooked to a turn and two different ways to serve potato complemented fish nicely.

If you take wild duck for starter it is served on stone plate, which is clever idea to convert “main course” to “starte”r. There was three different ways to serve duck and again duck paired perfectly with cabbage and apple.

Halibut at Emo - reijosfood.comWild duck at Emo - reijosfood.com

And for dessert 3x EUROPEAN CHEESE SORTIMENT and for me second main course 1x GREENLAND HALIBUT WITH POTATOES “GOBBAS GÅRD”

There were 3 different cheeses on the plate: blue cheese, cow and goat cheese. Apple and onion conserves supplemented taste of cheeses nicely.

Cheese plate at Emo - reijosfood.com

One kind request; please make portions a little bit bigger 🙂 Or maybe intention is to eat at least 5 portions which hopefully are not too small. Otherwise Emo manages food part fine and earns a place as laid-back little brother of Olo.

We asked recommendation for dry riesling and waitress suggested MAX FERDINAND RICHTER MülHEIMER SONNENLAY RIESLING ZEPPELIN 2012 MOSEL from Germany which we ordered. After tasting, as wine seemed not to be dry, asked for the amount of sugar. 35g for “dry” is quite a lot, but wine itself was basically OK. A positive thing is the pricing of wines; most of them were less expensive than they usually are in a fine dining restaurants like Emo is.

Waitering was thoughtful and professional but we could have managed without overflowing twitter.

REVIEW: FOOD 4,5/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

http://emo-ravintola.fi/en/








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