WIne tasting | Reijosfood

Tasting of 6 Fair Trade wines

26 10 2014

Yearly Wine, food and good living expo was again at Messukeskus (Helsinki Fair Center) on the 23-26.10.2014. There are several wine tastings arranged during the event. We were able to make pre-booking for one of them and participated in tasting of South-African and Argentinean Fair Trade wines. Restaurant Savoy sommelier Antti Uusitalo was in charge to lead us to the secrets of less often noticed wines.

Thandi Sauvignon Blanc

First tasted wine came from South-African Thandi Wines, which was established in 1995. It was the first winery in the world to receive Fair Trade certificate.

Sauvignon Blanc is not out favourite, so the expectations were quite low. However, wine was really light and first it was difficult to find any black currant bouquet or taste. After 1/2 hour typical Sauvigon Blanc was easier to recognize. Suits for shellfish and chicken. (3/5)

El Condor Torrontes Chardonnay

Next wine came from from Argentinean La Riojana wine house, which was established on 1940. Grapes used in production are local Torrentes and Chadonnay. Torrentes rolled over Chardonnay and typical butter and oak taste was not found. Easy wine to be enjoyed well chilled for aperitf and slighlty spiced foods. (3+/5)

Thandi Shiraz Rosé

Next wine was again from Thandi Wines

Grapes used are in Thandi Shiraz Rose is produced from Shiraz-grapes (85 %) and Pinotage-grapes (15 %). Amount of shiraz makes the wine quite red. Wine is really dry for rose, a littke bit spicy and fruity. Suits for aperitif and with lightly spiced food but would also try with Asian flavors, though (3,5/5)

Bundustar Merlot 2013

Then tasting moved to red wines, first one came from Home of Origin Wine, South-Africa. Wine house is quite young, it was establlished in 2002. Name of wine comes from word ubuntu (community)

Typical Merlot, spicy and lots of tannins. Suits with red meats and spcicy food (3,5/5)

Café Culture Pinotage Coffee Mocha Pinotage 2013

Next wine was produced by KWV, established in 1918, which is the biggest wine exporter in South-Africa.

Is this wine? Really interesting (odd) experience! Wine tasted like old smoky cigar butt. There was coffee to be found in bouquet and taste. Would not buy ever! (1/5)

Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Bonarda

Second wine from La Riojana and last wine tasted.

Nice bouquet from Cabernet Sauvignon which was supplemented with Bonarda grapes. Best of all tasted Fair Trade wines. Would buy to home as taste is well balanced and full of dark berries (4+/5)

I have not picked wines based on ethical or sustainable reasons but tasting of these wine definately raises these topics when visiting next time wine shelfs. Maybe even will buy last wine tasted Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Bonarda, which was positive surprise and price only 9,98€ at Alko.

In next post will write brifly about the Champagnes tasted during Expo.

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Tags: Fairtrade, Finland, Messukeskus, red wine, rose wine, Tasting, white wine, WIne tasting
Categories : Champagne, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Wine, Wine review

Champagne glasses – does the shape matter?

7 06 2014

Usually we use traditional champagne flute for bubbling drinks but wanted to compare it with different types of champagne glasses. Results can be found below.

Iittala champagne glass (on the left-hand side)

The problem with Iittala champagne “flute” was that it filled mouth with bubbles. Iittala has same design for Essence glass series and although shape of the glasses look impressive, maybe the wine itself has been forgotten from the beginning.

Iittala champagne coupe (on the right-hand side)

The broad surface area allows champagne to lose its carbonation more quickly, making it less suitable for the current style of very dry champagnes, compared to the sweeter champagnes. So, you have to be quick drinker or pour only 8cl at a time.

Sparkling wines scent was not so pleasant but amount od bubbles in the glass was awesome. However, they disappeared before getting in to the mouth.

Basic tasting glass (in front of the picture)

As sparkling wines can be classified as a white wines, they can be served in white wine glasses too. “Tulip” or “belly” shape in which the rim of the glass is narrower than the midpoint, permits the drinker to get more of the aroma than a from traditional flute, while still not having enough surface area to cause the champagne to quickly lose carbonation.

For this sparkling wine it did not work out. As the bouquet was so delicate, it did not improve in this glass neither taste felt stronger.

Traditional champagne flute – the winner!

The stem allows to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink. The bowl is designed to retain champagne’s signature carbonation, by reducing the surface area at the opening of the bowl. Both THE NOSE and THE TASTE were in balance and created best image of the wine.

Tasted sparkling wine was Bernard-Massard Cuvée de l’Ecusson Brut from Luxembourg. Review can be found from previous post.

The traditional champagne flute and flat coupe glass are fine for young wines – but for complex older champagnes, only a wide glass that curves back in towards the top and is filled only a little way will present the bubbles correctly. Unfortunately we do not have this glass in collection, but maybe have in the future.

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Tags: Bernard-Massard Cuvée de l'Ecusson Brut, Champagne, Champagne coupe, Champagne flute, sparkling wine, Sparkling wines, Wine, WIne tasting
Categories : Champagne, Food and Wine, Wine, Wine review

Wine review: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau

22 11 2013

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.

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 + / +++

Last years modest review:

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

Comments : 7 Comments »
Tags: Alko, Beaujolais Nouveau, Beaujolais region of France, Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau, red wine, Wine, Wine review, WIne tasting
Categories : Fine Dining at Home, Food, Wine, Wine review

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

16 11 2013

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.

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.

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/

Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: Essence, Faustino VII, Iittala, red wine, Riedel, Riedel glasses, Spanish red wine, Wine, WIne tasting
Categories : Fine Dining at Home, Food, Wine, Wine review

Wine review: Champagne Moet Ice Imperial

15 09 2013

Champagne Moet Ice Imperial with ice, mint leaves and lime peels; is it champagne at all or just nine-days’ wonder? On Mattolaituri it is a relevant question.

If Finnish summer continues and you can still relax in September on the “beach”, Mattolaituri has “one”, you must take full advantage of it. And what would be the better place than Mattolaituri to taste some Moet Ice Imperial, champagne which breaks the traditions.

Mattolaituri is situated in Kaivopuisto and open only in the summer time. Is has become most popular cafe-bar in Helsinki on sunny days. The name Mattolaituri (Carpet pier) comes from old tradition, when Southern Helsinki residents used to wash in sea water their carpets on the piers.

Moet Ice Imperial includes only 10-20% Chardonnay. Other grapes are Pinot Noir 40-50% and Pinot Meunier 30-40%. Although this mixture tells something about the wines nature, champagne seeks with other elements dignified but relaxed athmosphere.

THE LOOK

First of all white bottle, set of white dishes and not so typical champagne glasses makes champagne experience look precious.

Look of wine is golden but it changes lighter depending on the amount of ice and flavors; mint leaves and lime.

THE NOSE

You can notice that wine is medium-dry but it does not make sense to evaluate Moet Ice Imperial the same way as other wines. After adding ice and flavors scent changes to oriental.

THE TASTE

Because champagne is medium-dry taste is really fruity. Sweetness dominates too much. With ice, mint and lime zest it is summer drink, not champagne. Taste changes from icy to spicy when drink in a class lessens. You might not like mint leaves or lime zest in your mouth after finishing the drink. Again, no sense to evaluate like normal champagnes.

Moet Ice Imperial is not intended for drinking as such, it requires to be flavored. With tasted combination it is drinkable like Cava Sangria which, I think, is better if prepared properly. Champagne suits for aperitif but difficult to find food which pairs with medium-dry champagne which is flavored.

REVIEW: OVERALL GRADE 2-/5 – BANG FOR THE BUG 0/+++ (without ice and accompaniments)

REVIEW: OVERALL GRADE 3+/5 – BANG FOR THE BUG +/+++ (with ice and accompaniments)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mattolaituri/166211710057843

http://us.moet.com/Our-Champagnes/Moet-Ice-Imperial

Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: bar, Cafe, Champagne, champagne moet, Helsinki, Kaivopuisto, Mattolaituri, Moet & Chandon, Moet Ice Imperial, nine days wonder, Wine, WIne tasting
Categories : Bar, Cafe, Food, Helsinki, Travel, Wine, Wine review

Wine tasting without advance booking

8 08 2013

What a great wine tasting experience and without booking in advance! And odd dialog in the background while tasting wines.

Boutique hotel Yöpuu & Restaurant Pöllöwaari are located in Jyväskylä and provide quite unique hotel-restaurant combination. All 26 hotel rooms are individual and every room is decorated with its own personal style. Names of the rooms tell about style; like Marimekko, Aalto, Hemingway and Jugend.

Visited Winebar which offers a possibility to have a wine tasting with an iPad and without reservation. The tasting begins from tasting technique and continues to characteristics of wine. The price of the tasting is 20 € per person and it includes 8 cl of 3 different wines. However, machine did not beat the waiter as he professionally described wineyards, grapes and tasted 3 red and 3 white wines. And I think 8 cl per wine was just an rough guidance 🙂

Tasting started from lighter wines and ended up to full-bodied wines.

White wines tasted:

Roero Arneis from Matteo Correggia – grape Arneis (Italy). Unknown grape for us but definately has more bouquet than Pinot Grigio’s. (4-/5)

Te Muna Road wineyard Savignon Blanc 2011 from Craggy Range – grape Savignon Blanc (New Zealand). Typical aroma of grape but did not taste too much for black currant leaves. (3+/5)

2011 Estate Chardonnay from Ridge wineyards – grape Chardonnay (USA). Typical aroma of grape and some butter in flavor. (3,5/5)

Red wines tasted:

Pinot Noir from Becker Family – grape Pinot Noir (German). Stronger and darker than typical grape. (4+/5)

Baron Louis 2009 from Chateau de Montfaucon – grapes Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Mourvedre (French). Excellent ensable of grapes, full-bodied aroma and soft taste. (4,5/5)

Ridge 2009 Geyserville from Ridge wineyards – grapes Zinfandel 78%, Carignane 16%, Petite Sirah 4% (USA). Pleasant surprise for Zinfandel but maybe other grapes supplemented well. (5-/5)

My favourite was Ridge 2009 Geyserville as it had enough character. However, as Chateau de Montfaucon has Finnish hostess, would also rank Baron Louis high.

You can also order small bites from short menu and we decided to taste SLICE’s OF CHEESE chef’s marmalade, thin crispy bread. Goat cheese, white cheese and swiss gryerere suited well with red wines but for white wines of course not perfectly.

Winebar is quite unique in Finland and especially outside of Helsinki. It is really difficult to find such a place you can drop by without reservation. 20€’s for tasting 3 different wines and getting excellent service is unexpensive. Next time have to dine at restaurant Pöllöwaari because it is also quite famous.

Quite odd happened in the background while we tasted wines. Man dressed in orange clothes (yes, orange jacket and trousers) told to one of the Pöllöwaari waitresses, while interviewing her about the menu’s, that he writes blogs to one afternoon newspaper and intended to write about the restaurant. What did he expect; free meal or drinks in order to write positively? If he really was restaurant critic why tell beforehand about it?

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

PS. Yöpuu = Perch and Pöllöwaari = Owl grandaddy in English; not so easy to translate

http://www.hotelliyopuu.fi/en/4/2/Winebar

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Tags: Baron Louis, Becker Family, Chateau de Montfaucon, Cheese, Craggy Range, food, Hotel Yöpuu, Jyväskylä, Restaurant Pöllöwaari, Ridge wineyards, Roero Arneis, Te Muna Road, Wine, WIne tasting
Categories : Bar, Food, Hotel, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine, Wine review

Reijosfood

Tasting of 6 Fair Trade wines

Champagne glasses – does the shape matter?

Wine review: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau

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

Wine review: Champagne Moet Ice Imperial

Wine tasting without advance booking

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