An Exciting Wine from Germany!

http://www.schiefer-trifft-muschelkalk.de

 

The Old World is often regarded as having the “best wines” due to their long standing history of traditional winemaking and perfect environmental conditions for grapes to grow. Whilst the most expensive and sought after wines can originate from Italy, Spain and more notably Bordeaux (France), there are also many other extremely good value wines from countries in the “New World” Due to climate change and advancing technologies, it is now more possible for vineyards to flourish in places once thought to having unfavourable growing conditions. And so, it would be foolish to adopt this mindset when there are lots of amazing wine being produced in countries like New Zealand, Austria, and the United States.

In Appenheim of Germany, Silvaner grapes are grown to produce The Gruner Silvaner 2018 vintage from Jurgen Hofmann’s portfolio. The vineyards are cultivated on soils of shell limestone which really highlight the minerality in the resulting wines. On each bottle of the Hofmann collection, there are individual pictures associated with it. The Gruner Silvaner features ‘four aces representing the playful exchange of aromas’.

The Gruner Silvaner 2018 has fragrant aromas of stone fruit and green apple. The green apple follows through bringing a refreshing acidity with lots of minerality on the palate with a dry medium finish. An exciting wine for those who are looking to be adventurous and want to experience that stoney minerality and refreshing acidity in a white! Especially more so if one has not tried a wine from Germany or from the Silvaner grape variety!

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Learning Wine One Glass At a Time

As a novice to wine culture it can be very daunting to learn all the technicalities such as the geography, terminology and even the varieties of grapes is so huge. Nevertheless if you really open yourself up to the experience of tasting wine, the knowledge will follow, one glass at a time. I, myself have been a bartender for most of my career and know many things spirits and cocktails, however wine is so vast and complex I never gave it a chance to learn more until now.

This week I will be learning about Peique Tinto Mencia (2018) from the region of El Bierzo, Spain. Located about three hours northwest of Madrid, the terrain is mostly hilly and so the grapes are hand-harvested. The Mencia grapes are grown on vines between forty five and fifty five years of age on clay and sandy soil which surprisingly comes through in the tasting of the wine. Currently, it is run by Bodegas Peique with Jorge, Mar and Luis Peique looking after the whole operation.

The wine itself gives off a beautiful deep ruby colour. The aromas include hints of red fruit on the nose. Tasting notes include slight acidity at first which then evolves into a nice dry earthiness with subtle notes of blackberry in the background, before finishing with nice and easy tannins.  Medium bodied, overall a genuinely nice bottle of wine for those who enjoy dry and earthy notes in a red. A new drinker of wine, there is no need to over-complicate flavours. See what you can taste by comparing it to flavours you had before. If you have a bad memory like myself, jot down your tasting notes so you can compare it to futures wines.

Beat the January Blues with a little wine Education!

An informal and fun way to discover a whole world of wine!

€160 for 6 Weeks Limited to 8 Places

This course runs for 6 weeks, one evening per week, starting on Tuesday 2nd of October. The Wine Appreciation Course will give a comprehensive overview of the wines of the world. The various styles, vintages and the relationship of food and wine will all be covered. Each evening we will sample a selection of wines, notes will be provide. (Should you wish detail information that can be provide also) Each Class begins promptly at 7.30 pm and will run for one hour and half.

The next course, will begin at 7.30 on Tuesday January 28th, and will run every Tuesday until Tuesday 3rd of March.

Wine School Key Features:

• Basic tasting techniques including putting words to wine
• Tasting the major grape varieties
• Discovering your favourite styles of wine

The Tasting Schedule

Introduction to French Wines

Introducing the various styles, grapes and wine philosophies of the leading wine producing country in the world. It starts from basics and it covers France’s principal wine regions and grapes.

Introduction To Australia & New Zealand

Australia is country that is emerging from a bit of an identity crisis, now looking to produce regionally distinct wines. We reckon Australia has never made better wines. New Zealand has nailed it’s flag to great Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. Come and sample Clare Riesling, Marlborough Sauvignon among others.

Introduction To Argentinean, Chilean and South African Wines

Much like Australia these countries that boomed for one style of wine and are now looking to attract people with their regionally distinct styles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc,  Malbec, Carmenere, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Introduction to Spanish & Portuguese Wines

Spain the trendiest wine country at the minute. This course will acquaint you with Rioja, Rueda and Rias Baixas along with Tempranillo, Albarino and Garnacha. Portugal long in the Shadow of it’s bigger neighbour produces some stunning  Vinho Verde and Douro reds.

Introduction To Austria & Germany

Germany and Austria are fast become a customer favourites with their fruit driven stylish reds and crisp refreshing whites. This week is the one that surprises most!

Introduction to Italian Wines

This will introduce you to some of the major wine regions of Italy, a country that we could focus a whole six week course on and only cover one region. Areas covered will be Piedmont, Veneto and Tuscany.

Places can be booked by emailing tadhg@woodberrys.ie or alternatively by calling 091-533706

A Rioja for all occasions: wine tasting

Join us for Spanish wine tasting on Friday October 18th between 5pm and 7pm. Come and sample some great Rioja wine and their new competitors from Ribera del Duero, Jumilla and more as we travel along our very own wine road. We will be introducing some new

Entrance tickets are €5, which includes a €5 voucher redeemable against any wines purchased that weekend*. Tickets can be gotten here

*Voucher Valid until 20th October.

La Dolce Vita – An evening of Italian Wine Tasting Evening

Join us on what will hopefully be a sunny July evening for a tasting of some of the best Italian wines available in Ireland. We will have over 20 stunning Italian wines open from Alto Adige in the North all the way to Salento in the heel of Italy. Customer favourites like Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Valpolicella, to exciting wines such as Traminer Aromatico, Vernatsch, and regions and styles making a comeback like Soave and Orvieto.

Tickets are €5 per person but are redeemable as a €5 off voucher on the night against purchases. Tickets can be booked here on Eventbrite.

Soave – a superb Summer sipper!

Soave (“swah-vay”) is a small Italian village near Verona and Venice which is famous for its white wines made mainly from Gargenega grapes. It is full of citrus fruit flavours, like melon and it has a touch of almond. As great as Soave is, and it is great as a Summer sipper it is much maligned by years of cheap bulk crap served in Italian restaurants in Ireland!

Courtesy of http://www.winefolly.com

Coffele‘s delightful Castel Cerino Soave Classico exuberantely draws in the taster, keeping its excellent harmony and elegance. With the passing of each year, its youthful quality changes and becomes more mineral in the flavour and complex in the taste. Exclusively from their  organic hillside vineyards in Castel Cerino, in the heart of the historic Soave Classico zone, which range between 490-1470 feet above sea level.

The wine is a brilliant, straw yellow, with hints of green when young. The aromas are subtle and fresh, suggesting white flowers, from hawthorn to cherry blossoms, underpinned by fresh apple, white plum, sage, and minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry, with structure and good balance. The long finish has attractive almond notes. Makes an ideal aperitif. Also perfect with fish and shellfish. Goes very well with delicate pasta dishes, especially risotto with peas or asparagus. €17.95

 

 

Albarossa – a peculiar Piedmontese grape

Albarossa is a crossing of Nebbiolo di Droneroand and Barbera, developed in 1938 by Italian enologist, Professor Giovanni Dalmasso. As a varietal wine, Albarossa has many of Nebbiolo’s aromas, such as violet and rose, but lacks Nebbiolo’s distinctive tarry notes. In terms of flavor, Albarossa has more in common with Barbera and typically shows dried and sometimes spicy herbs, and plenty of red fruit characters. When pressed, the juice makes for ruby-red wine with purple tinges. Up until the early 2000s there was very little of this variety in existence, even now only a handful of wineries produce wines from this variety!

One of the wineries that produce this wonderful wine is Cossetti. Run by three sisters who received their wine-making passion from their father who made wines in Piedmont all his life. Their Albarossa is made from grapes that are hand picked, pressed and macerated for 15-20 days; induced malolactic fermentation after racking and subsequent aging in cement vats for I year. The resultant wine is, intense ruby red colour with purple reflections, clean and ample bouquet with scents of red fruits and light spices. Full-bodied and fleshy palate, with good structure and softness. And pairs well with pasta dishes, white and red meat, medium aged cheeses

 

 

The Grape with 3 Names

Trollinger or Schiava or Vernatsch is a red German/Italian wine grape that was likely first originally cultivated in the wine regions of Sud  Tirol and Trentino, but today is almost exclusively cultivated on steep, sunny locations in the Württemberg wine region of Baden-Württemberg. It is primarily known under the synonyms Trollinger in Germany, Vernatsch in Sud  Tirol and Schiava in other Italian regions. Characteristically, the grape produces moderately acidic wines that are light bodied, light-colored and have fruity strawberry flavours with smoky notes.

Tiefenbrunner Vernatsch 2017

Its freshness makes this red, a wine for enjoying even when very young. It is harmonious and mild, with fine, fruity aromas of sour cherries and bitter almonds. A pleasant freshness accompanies its elegant, juicy body in the finish. Pair with appetizers, especially South Tyrolean speck, salamis and sausages, cheeses and veal dishes.

International Wine days – Sauvignon Blanc

Celebrate International Sauvignon Blanc Day 4th May

Seriously wine grapes have their own days! Sauvignon Blanc’s is this friday and to celebrate we have 15% off all Sauvignon Blancs until 7pm Saturday 5th May. And if that wasn’t enough to strike your fancy we’re hosting a free drop in tasting between 6pm and 8pm on Friday evening.

As a grape that is widely planted is has many different flavours and characteristics, some apply all over the world such as it has low to no tannins, it is rarely oak aged but can be oak fermented. It also maintains a medium to high level of acidity making most wine refreshing and is almost always dry in style.

Common aromas and flavours included citrus, gooseberry, Lime, granny smith apple, pear Guava and Passionfruit. Some more funky aromas are in the herbal category like basil, green bell pepper, freshly cut grass, lemongrass, celery and the just plain strange aromas of Cat’s piss, chalk, and wet concrete.

Call in on friday a sample some of the Sauvignons we have open!

2017 Wine Harvest, a difficult year.

Healthy chardonnay grapes, left, and sunburned ones. Photographer: Elin McCoy/Bloomberg

January is as good a time as ever to deliver bad news, and many European countries are taking time adding up the tallies of the previous year’s grape harvest and reporting yield’s down as much as 25%. Adverse climatic conditions in 2017, including heavy hailstorms and hard frosts in the spring as well as drought in the summer, caused considerable damage to vineyards all over Europe. The result, most of the wine-growing regions in Europe are had a very low harvest for 2017.

Italian wine body Assoenologi estimated that Italy would see one of its smallest wine harvests for 60 years in 2017, down by 25% on last year, that’s a reduction of roughly 5.5 billion bottles. Things are not much better in France where they have had the worst harvest since 1945, according to France AgriMer, an agency that works with both the industry and government. Wine production to fall by 18% on 2016 after spring frosts ravage vines, but hot summer could deliver top vintages – meaning price increases across the board for low yields but higher quality fruit.

The outlook in Europe’s other large producer is not much better with Spain’s output dropping down 20% from 2016, and in Germany the estimated vintage is down 12%. All in all 2017 proved to be a difficult year in Europe.

Despite wild fires in both California and Oregon the north American harvest is likely to be similar to last year. South Africa saw very small increases in yields, about 1.4%.  In South America, both sides of the Andes were affected to varying degrees by the shift from the wetter El Niño  weather system to the drier conditions associated with La Niña weather system. In Mendoza, Argentina yields were down about 30 percent compared to normal. And in Chile yields were down about 22% due to drought and forest fires. New Zealand also experienced a drop in yeilds by about 9%. Philip Gregan, CEO of New Zealand winegrowers, attributed the smaller harvest of 2017 to wet weather over the summer season. Australia was the only country to undergo modest yield increases at roughly 5% despite a tricky vintage.

The conclusion is that unfortunately the price of your favourite wines will probably increase this year a wineries increase excellar prices to try to cover lower quantities produced.