Just got the latest Bibendum newsletter in my inbox.
There are four new wines for December 2007 :
I just recieved a newsletter from Enosvezia in my mailbox. Enosvezia are offering a range of top Barolos from Paolo Scavino :
This wine was imported by Bibendum. Though only information on the 2003 vintage is available.
On the Misiones de Rengo website, there was only information about the 2005 vintage.
This wine had some good fruit but was ruined in the winery by too much time in toasty oak which overwhelmed the mid-palette and finish.
Colour : Black cassis
Aroma : Toasty oak, coffee, blackcurrant
Taste : Dominating toasty oak which builds up too overwhelm on finish, oaky tannins at finish, warmth of alcohol at finish, some nice dark berry and blackcurrant fruit initially
Alcohol : 14%
Price : 116 SEK
Mark : D+
Website : Misiones de Rengo
Website : Bibendum
A list of all wine importers in Sweden, including links to their websites, can be found on the Nordic Wine Institute website (under Links or Länkar).
Website : Nordic Wine Institute
I just received the latest edition of Fine Wine Magazine.
In this issue, there are articles on Provence, Katnook Estate in Coonawarra Australia, Languedoc, Krug in Reims Champagne France, Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss and Domaine Rolly-Gassmann in Alsace France, Miquel Torres, and the upcoming Drinks Auction (which the communistic Systembolaget monopoly have to be involved in !).
It is free to subscribe; see the website.
Both English and Swedish versions can be downloaded from the website.
Website : Fine Wine Magazine
Dina Vingårdar are now making available, to wine lovers in Sweden, 3D Wines' rent a row of vines offer.
It costs 1180 SEK to rent a row of vines for the year then you have the opportunity to buy up to 4 cases of wines; the minimum if one case. They have a large selection of vineyards across France from which to choose from. You can change vineyards each year. This year the cost of a case of wine was 870 SEK. If you don't choose one of the special wines then you get a present card for 310 SEK. You can pick up the wine from the vineyard or have it delivered to you but you have to pay the freight charges. I have asked twice for how much extra this would be but have not received any satisfactory answer as yet.
Website : Dina Vingårdar
Website : 3D Wines
Weingut Meulenhof is owned by Stefan Justen who is also the cellar master. The winery owns 4 hectares of vineyard.
This wine is imported by Modern Wines Sweden, according to BK Wine, but there is no information on their web site.
Colour : Pale yellow
Aroma : Lemon, petrol, turmeric, honey
Taste : Apricot, honey, lime, petrol, wine gums
Alcohol : 8.5%
Price : 100 SEK
Mark : B
Website : Modern Wines Sweden
This wine was made from organically grown grapes. Robert Blue was the winemaker.
The wine is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Syrah, and Merlot 6%. How on earth this can be labelled as a Cabernet Sauvignon varietal is beyond me; even though it is legal.
The wine was aged 13 months in French and American oak with medium to medium plus toast. 39% was aged in new oak, 30% in once-used oak, and the remainder in neutral oak. Coopers included Vicard, Alain Fouquet, Seguin Moreau, and Ermitage.
The wines total acidity is 0.55 grammes per 100 ml, the pH is 3.57, alcohol is 13.9%, and the Brix at harvest was only, compared to Napa for example, 24 degrees on average.
Colour : Deep maroon
Aroma : Raspberry, blackcurrant, cold tea
Taste : Slight oak, blackcurrants, red fruits, smooth tannins
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : 135 SEK
Mark : C
Website : Bonterra Vineyards
This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (20%), and Carbernet Franc (20%).
There is no mention of the 2005 vintage on the Laroche Wines website though which seems to rarely updated with information, preferring to try to dazzle with fancy graphics.
L’Avenir vineyards are situated in Stellenbosch. The soil is Origan – Glenrosa type (decomposed shale with clay underneath). The grapes were harvested between the end of January and the middle of March. Fermentation was done with selected yeast strains and took five days at temperatures up to 25° - 32°C in stainless steel tanks. The wine underwent a cold maceration for 36 hours. It went through malolactic fermentation and was matured for 14 months in French barrels. There was no fining and at bottling, the wine was sterile filtered and bottled under vacuum for maximum protection. The winemaker was Tinus Els.
The residual sugar is 3.2 grammes per litre, pH is 3.53, and TA is 5.9 grammes per litre.
This wine won a bronze medal at the 2007 Veritas show.
Colour : Dark purple
Aroma : Tobacco, blackcurrant, cold tea, raspberry
Taste : Long strong tobacco finish, burnt rubber and heat at end, blackcurrant, raspberry, oak, and hints of liquorice
Alcohol : 14%
Price : 99 SEK
Mark : C+
Website : Laroche Wines
Website : L'Avenir Vineyards
Yet another newsletter arrived today.
Enosvezia are launching 4 wines from Tommaso Bussolas on December 1st 2007.
These are :
I just got the latest Sigva AB newsletter in my mailbox. They are launching three new wines from Quinta do Noval, located in the Douro in Portugal, on December 1st 2007 :
In my mailbox has just popped up the latest newsletter from Occasion Wine AB. In December, they are launching two German wines :
I just received my copy of Grapevine, number 4 2007, which is published by Tegner Hermansson. Not much of interest contained it though. I did notice that they were offering a wine box of 6 wines for the Christmas period which looks interesting.
The contents are :
VinUnic have published the December 2007 edition of their Våra Viner newsletter.
Guigal's 2003 LaLa wines are unleashed on Sweden. Italy's Tenuta San Guido's Sassicaia 2004 and Guidalberto 2005, which I might buy, are also available. From California comes Shafer's Hillside Select Cab 2003 and Relentless 2004.
Website : VinUnic Våra Viner Nyhetsbrev December 2007
This wine was sealed with a screwcap. It was imported by Vinalliansen but no mention of the 2005 vintage appears on their website !.
This wine is a blend of 60% Cinsault, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Syrah.
Colour : Pale red/ruby
Aroma : Violets, blueberry, white pepper
Taste : Violets, liquorice, blueberry, smooth tannins, slight spice and white pepper on finish, thin moothfeel
Alcohol : 14%
Price : 77 SEK
Mark : C+
Website : Massaya & Co
Website : Vinalliansen
For 39 pounds it is possible to adopt a vine for a year at the Three Choirs Vineyards in Gloucestershire in the UK. This is a nice option if you intended to visit the UK and would like to do some vinous-related touring and visit a vineyard whilst there.
You will get :
There is no mention of any vintage on the label.
I served this wine chilled and really liked it but as it warmed up it lost its bite and fruit.
Dr Phil Spillman is Deakin Estate's winemaker. He joined the Wingara Wine Group from Villa Maria in New Zealand and, prior to that, worked at BRL Hardy and Chittering Estate. Craig Thornton has been Deakin Estate's vineyard manager since 2005.
The Deakin Estate property and its wines are named in honour of that visionary, Alfred Deakin. It was purchased in 1967 and then planted to premium wine grapes which were sold as fruit until 1980 when a winery facility was built. The Deakin Estate range was launched in 1994.
There is no mention of this wine on the Deakin Estate website !.
Colour : Deep black/purple
Aroma : Dark fruits, blackcurrants, blackberries
Taste : Fizzy but does not last that long, liquorice, dry, unsweetened bramble jelly
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : 99 SEK
Mark : B-
Website : Deakin Estate
Alto's history dates back to 1693, when it was part of a larger farm named Groenrivier ("Green River").
In 1919, the then owner of Groenrivier, Hennie Malan, divided the farm vertically in order to sell half of the land to his brother-in-law. The development of Malan's share was a co-operative venture between himself and his son, Manie. In the next few years they set about converting this partial wilderness into a wine farm, to which they gave the Latin name, Alto, a reference both to the altitude of the vineyards and their own aspirations. They built a homestead and a cellar, and planted the lower slopes with vines.
Malan's choice of red varieties was based on a shrewd assessment of the nature of his land. When Piet du Toit bought Alto in 1959, neither he nor the experts he called in for analysis and advice could fault the planting or the wine created by the Malans. When Piet retired in 1983, his son, Hempies, a well-known rugby Springbok, succeeded him. Hempies du Toit continued the fine red wine-making traditions of his predecessors until May 2000 when Neethlingshof's winemaker Schalk van der Westhuizen took over.
Colour : Black cherry/red
Aroma : Bubblegum, stewed strawberry
Taste : Long acidic finish, bubblegum, stewed strawberry, spritzy moothfeel
Alcohol : 12%
Price : 70 SEK
Mark : D+
A couple of months ago I bought "The Symbian OS Architecture Sourcebook" by Ben Morris. Symbian OS is what powers most Smartphones (example manufacturers being Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola). Ben is a freelance writer and system and product architect focusing on Symbian OS.
When not using, thinking or writing about software, Ben likes to write about wine and vines. He owns a small vineyard (less than one hectare) that he is restoring to production in Alba, Piemonte, Italy, at Google Earth 44 38.01 N 8 8.850 E or thereabouts.
Ben spends most of his time in London but is flying quite a lot, Ryanair, to Italy. He is also studying on a Wine Production part time course at Plumpton College in the UK. He has written an article for the UKVA's magazine around a Plumpton trip to the Vintech Expo in Bordeaux.
Last year, Ben made around 60 litres of Dolcetto and Barbera from old vines. This year, his aim was to make 200 to 300 litres. The summer in Alba was good this year; around the mid 30 degrees earlier and then consistently warm, mid 20 degrees. Some of the young vines, "Barbatelles", planted this year were lost to heat though some could come back. There were a couple of days of rain in August and a hailstorm with stones the size of cherries.
Website : Ben Morris
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