Wine review: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2016 & Albert Bichot Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2016

20 11 2016

 

Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. Wine is released for sale on the third Thursday of November. “Beaujolais Nouveau Day” used to see heavy marketing, with races to get the first bottles to different markets around the globe. But not any more.

The current release practice is to ship the wine ahead of the third Thursday of November, and release it to the local markets at 00.01 AM local time. In Finland Alko, monopoly company selling wines and alcohol, starts selling these wines at 09.00 on Thursday 17th November, 2016.

This year wines available from Alko were Albert Bichot Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau and Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau.

 

THE LOOK

Label of last year’s wine from Georges Duboeuf was much more colorful. Maybe it is time to slow down a bit? Did it scare consumers?

Both wines are almost violet, blue-reddish like young wines always are. The color in the first picture is a little too dark than wine is in natural.

THE NOSE

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

It seems that Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau has more deep bouquet.

THE TASTE

Young, light fruity wines. Berries dominate, but on the other hand taste is skinny. Aroma is better than taste, but with unspiced food and pizzas, both wines pair well.

Facts:

                             Georges Duboeuf                                        Albert Bichot
Alcohol:        12,00 %                                             12,50 %
Extract:        30 g/l                                                28 g/l
Acidity:         5,5 g/l                                               5,3 g/l
Energy:         70 kcal / 100 ml (280 kJ / 100 ml)   80 kcal / 100 ml (290 kJ / 100 ml)

REVIEW:

Georges Duboeuf  OVERALL GRADE 4-/5 – BANG FOR THE BUCK ++/+++

Albert Bichot OVERALL GRADE 3,5/5 – BANG FOR THE BUCK ++/+++


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Copas y Tapas – Finnish food & Spanish wines

18 11 2016

Restaurant Copas y Tapas is one of the best Finnish food restaurants in Helsinki. The name might be a bit misleading, but allmost all ingredients and dishes are Finnish. What is unique Spanish, are the wines, which are usually from small Spanish producers.

As have visited at Copas y Tapas several times, this post is not typical review. The idea is to clarify that restaurant serves Finnish food dispite the name. What is also remarkable that most of the ingredients come from local or small producers, which usually are listed when dishes are served to the tables.

Menu of the Day costs 49€. You can choose from four different main course; fish, vegetarian and usually from two meat options. Usually one meat dish is a little bit more expensive due to ingredient. Restaurant also prepares vegan versions. Recommend to ask for that when making reservation and you can enjoy delicious set of dishes.

Starters always include three bites, usually delicious soup and two other small dishes.

This time pictures tell more than writing. If you would like to know more about dishes, please ask.

 

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Usually let waiters to choose wines which pair with dishes.

This time had for aperitif Raventos i Blanc, nice and bubbly cava http://www.raventos.com/

For main courses recommendations were Laderas de Leonila with beetroots and Altos Iberico with ragu. Both wines matched perfectly with food.

Digestive or dessert drink was Gramona Gra a Gra from pinot noir grapes. Already favourite from last visits.

If you are interested in wines at Copas y Tapas you can always hear short lecture of wine origins, procuder and wine itself. Restaurant start to import themselves wines next spring, which sounds fascinating.



 

As Copas y Tapas is family run business, you can see it in the service. Extremely polite but natural.

This time shall only give overall points which is 5 without no hesitation.

http://www.en.copasytapas.fi/

 


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Restaurant review: Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki

5 11 2016

Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki was established in October 15, 2012. It’s location is excellent, opposite to Stockmann Department store by Aleksi street. Dining room and bar are at the 2nd floor and shop at the 1st floor.

All restaurants must develop their operations in order to attract new customers and keep existing. Visited HRC in October 2016, when they had special vegetarian menu. Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki was celebrating Vegetarian Awareness Month by expanding its legendary menu offerings and introducing brand new limited-time meatless options.

For starters there were no vegan options available, so ordered only main courses.

Vegan main course was KEFTA BURGER A house made burger of potato, shiitakes, portabellas, balsamic glaze, barley, thyme and seasonings served on a burger bun with a sriracha hummus, arugula and tomato.

It is now easier to find vegetarian/vegan options in restaurants in the Helsinki area.  It was a nice option having a vegan burger made from other ingredients than lentils or chick peas.  The burger was juicy, and hummus was a good addition to the dressing.

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For meat dish ordered ORIGINAL LEGENDARY® BURGER Topped with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, golden fried onion ring, crisp lettuce and vine-ripened tomato.
Every half-pound burger (225g) is made with HRC proprietary blend of premium grade beef. Grilled medium well and served on toasted brioche with seasoned fries.
Must say that quality and taste of burger had improved a lot compared to last visit. Burger itself was enough “moist”, couple of times it had been quite dry making it almost difficult to eat. Also fries were well prepared, big enough not to be over cooked.

 

For wine had young 35 South Organic Cabernet-Carmenère-Merlot 2015. Wine was full-bodied, medium tannic, with blackcurrant and blueberry notes. For vegeterian month organic wine suited well.
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Below is a picture of Vegetarian Menu.   It could easily become part of the regular menu as they did a great job at putting the menu together.


Hard Rock Cafe chain is quite successful because of concept and food (if you do not dislike that kind of dishes). Service is quick and polite and always chance to practice english.

Once there was even Planet Hollywood in Helsinki, but global restaurant concept did not survive.

O’Learys has established restaurant in the capital area. Tries to serve similar food with sports concept. But unfortunately food is not at the level what HRC can offer

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

Some examples of decoration….

 

http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/menu.aspx?LocationID=627&MIBEnumID=3


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