Category: Wine

Voyager Estate, 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot

Rarely do I use my blog to comment on a single wine, but exploring my ‘cellar’ over the Christmas period I came across a Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (1995) that I had bought there when I visited the winery a decade ago in February 1999.  I had fully expected it to be past its best, but far from it, this was a rich, delicious wine that was well worth the wait!

The first surprise was the colour – still a surprisingly deep red, without anything like as much browning as I would have expected from a wine of this age.  The nose was very clean, combining the typical blackcurrant aromas I had expected, but with a very distinctive scent of tobacco – a definite touch of Monte Cristo Cuban cigars!

The taste was smooth and complex, with the fine tannins having mellowed and softened – rich, soft blackcurrant fruit with a touch of cedar.  Excellent depth of flavour – and full of subtle complexity that was difficult to describe.

The label had the following account of the wine: “The 1995 season was long and dry.  The vines carried a small crop, with intensely powerful fruit flavours and fine grained tannins.  The resultant red wines represent the ultimate in Margaret River wines. Intense cassis and concentrated mulberry are beautifully integrated with the toasty characters from 24 months maturation in French oak.  Its intense amount of flavour, complexity and abundance of fine tannin augur extremely well for a long and rewarding life.  While it will be drinking well from 1999 it will be at its sublime best in 12 years time and beyond”. [13.9% alc/vol].

So, if you can find a bottle, it is definitely worth buying – and drinking – although I guess there cannot be many bottles left of this really lovely wine!

Sagrantino – Berlin

The Sagrantino grape makes one of my favourite wines. It has strong tannins and tends to be low yielding, producing wines that are rich, dark, complex and long-lived. The classic area where it is grown is the small town of Montefalco in Umbria.  The Sagrantino di Montefalco denomination has a maximum yield of 48 hl/ha and needs to be aged for 30 months before being sold, 12 of which must  be in wood.  Traditionally it has been used to make a wonderful passito style wine, made from partly dried grapes, but in recent years a dry secco has been introduced.  The Sagrantino grape is also used in making a cheaper, lighter style of wine, dominated by the Sangiovese grape and usually blended with some Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, known as Rosso di Montefalco.

Sagrantino smallSo, when I came across a small restaurant and wine bar called Sagrantino in Berlin in February this year, I was determined to return to see the extent to which it captured the essence of Umbria! Friday evening provided just the opportunity – and I was not disappointed.  Tucked away on Behrenstrasse, just to the south of Unter den Linden and to the east of Friedrichstraße, Sagrantino is certainly worth getting to know.  With several different Rosso di Montefalco wines, as well as the wonderful passito made by Arnaldo Caprai, it is a great place to chill out at the end of a day. Guess this might become one of my favourite places in Berlin!

Prague – a selection of restaurants

Prague has to be one of my favourite cities in the world!  At any season, and despite the masses of tourists, it is possible to escape and find some wonderful hidden away places.  A short visit over the last couple of days provided the opportunity to explore some new restaurants that I would definitely recommend:

  • ProvenceLa Provence (Štupartská 9) – in the style of a French brasserie, serving really excellent food.  The salmon and steaks were delicious, but the desserts are indeed special: outstanding sorbet (beautifully presented) and fantastic Tarte tatin.  This restaurant is really worth searching out – and beneath the ground floor brasserie, there is a romantic cushioned dining room in the downstairs cellar.  An interesting wine list combines local Czech wines with fine French wines.
  • Mount Steak (Josefská 1) – a very different kind of restaurant from La Provence, and definitely not for vegetarians!  Mount Steak serves an enormously wide range of steaks from kangaroo to crocodile, but also has a good range of fulsome local Czech dishes with plenty of dumplings!  The pork and chicken were really good value and delicious.
  • Černý Slon (Týnská 1) – I first visited here almost a decade ago, and remember enjoying the traditional Czech food and wine.  Little has changed since then!  Hidden away near the Old Town Square, Černý Slon still serves good traditional Czech fare – the duck (with dumplings) is definitely worth trying as an example of old-style Czech cuisine.
  • Breakfast at the Hilton Old Town (V Celnici 7) also has to be one of the best international hotel starts to the day – with excellent friendly service and really fresh food.

Croatia: seascapes, wine and food

DubrovnikSo, I have been hiding away in the Dalmatian coast of Croatia for the last week – and greatly enjoying the amazing coastal scenery!

Dubrovnik – despite the thousands of tourists – has to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.  The opportunity to reconstruct it after the Serbian bombings of 1991-92, when an estimated 68% of the buildings in the old city were damaged, has been grasped imaginatively and effectively – the walk around the city walls is truly magnificent.

VinesI was hoping to explore some of Croatia’s vineyards and wineries during our stay – but with prices of most of the ‘quality’ wines for sale being between$30 and $50 a bottle, I swiftly changed my mind! To be sure, it is indeed possible to find some reasonable  wines at much less than this, but I cannot imagine who is willing to pay such prices – perhaps there are far too many over-rich tourists!  If Croatia wants to establish itself as a  reputable wine-making country, it needs to start making better value wines!

The food was also, sadly, a bit disapponting  – tasty enough, but we did not manage to find any restaurants that really impressed.Konavoski The best – and reasonably priced – was Konavoski Dvori near Gruda to the south of Dubrovnik.  The restaurant is in a restored watermill, and on a hot August day the swift-flowing river that runs past the dining tables provides a very welcome cool breeze!  Meat is cooked in an iron bell on charcoal – which keeps it succulent and moist.  Other restaurants worth visiting include:

  • Dubrovnik: Restaurant Orhan (Od Tabakarije 1) – situated at the foot of the Lovrjenac tower on the edge of a small bay some 200m away from the walls of the old city. Good seafood salads and grilled meats
  • Trogir: Alka restaurant (Obrov 10) – serving customers in the centre of the old town for 40 years, this restaurant has particularly good tradtional Dalmatian beef pašticada (marinated in vinegar, lemon and rosemary, and then cooked wth carrots, cloves, muscat nuts, red wine and prosciutto)

Lugano grottos and wines…

Smiley smallThanks to Isabella Rega, I had an opportunity  last week not only to learn much more about the exciting research ongoing at the Università degli Svizzera italiana in the field of ICT4D (NewMinE Lab and webatelier.net), but also to enjoy something of the culinary and vinous traditions of Ticino.

Hence, some additions to my periodic listing of interesting restaurants:

  • Canvetto luganese – this really good small restaurant is owned and managed by the Fundazione Diamante, which provides support and work for people with disabilities, integrating them into a diversity of different enterprises.  Since 2003 it has been recognised by the Osterie d’Italia di Slow-Food, and offers a range of delicious regional foods.  Its handmade pastas and ravioli are particularly good, as was the steak tartare!
  • Grottos – the hillsides around Lugano are replete with small restaurants, originally built around caves (hence the name ‘grottos’), but now offering some excellent freshly grilled meats and local foods in open air surroundings.  I particularly enjoyed dinner at the Grotto Circolo Sociale Montagnola, which had really excellent grilled grilled costine, as well as lunch at the Grotto Ticinese, where we shared risotto, grilled meats and salads, sitting under the trees on an otherwise very hot and humid day!
  • In Lugano itself, La Rosa dei Venti is situated on the lake shore by a small yacht club – a heavy rainstorm forced us inside, but the seafood risotto was good!

Barrell smallAs for wine, Ticino often suffers from rain and dampness in October which has a tendency to cause rot – but sadly not of the noble kind – the Botrytis cineria here in Ticino is far from benevolent! Hence, grape growers have been keen to plant early ripening varieties, most notably Merlot.  In recent years,  these red grapes have also been used to make the white wine Bianco di Merlot, which can have complexity and subtle flavours – when well-vinified they have a fresh acidity that goes really well with the local food.

  • Tenuta Bally & von Teufenstein, with vineyards and winery at Vezia, a short distance from Lugano, produces a good range of interesting wines.  As well as a rich and fruity Bianco di Merlot, their red wines (Cresperino 100% Merlot; Riserva Ernesto 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon) are generally much fuller and with better tannin structure than many of the rather light Merlots that can be found in Ticino.  Their Tre Api Merlot Riserva from the excellent 2007 vintage is made from old vines, and has fine soft tannins with a real richness of flavours – combining redcurrants, blackberries and violets.  They also make a rosati wine (Sarabanda) and a sparkling Spumante di Merlot, as well as a white (La Piana) that combines Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon, and an 100% Chardonnay (La Sfinge)

Maputo restaurants

Not everyone would automatically think of Mozambique for its culinary excellence – but for those who like fine seafood, Maputo’s restaurants are definitely worth exploring.  Mozambique is a forgiving country, and despite the violent war of independence it still retains certain classic Portuguese traditions, not least the tendency to serve rice and chips with most main courses.  It is also possible to find great Portuguese wines – definitely a step up from most of the South African onesprawns available on the wine lists.  Here are just a few of my favourite places to eat in Maputo:

  • Costa do Sol – on the coast to the north of Maputo – serves fantastic fresh seafood in an art deco atmosphere.  The vinhos verdes go down well with the lobster and prawns!
  • Restaurante Escorpião (Recinto da Feira Popular – Maputo. Tel. 21302180. E-mail: restauranteescorpiao@hotmail.com) – serves typical ‘Portuguese’ cuisine – and has one of the best collections of Portugese wine outside Portugal (try the Borba with one of the meat dishes).
  • Maputo Waterfront restaurante (Av 10 Novembro 74,http://www.paginasamarelas.co.mz/pag/2226032468_PAG_A.html) – serves excellent seafood and meat dishes – try one of the combination dishes, such as chicken and seafood.  As its name suggests, it is right on the waterfront
  • Restaurante 1908 (Av. Eduardo Mondlane,946 – Maputo. Tel. 21424834.) – a sophisticated restaurant in the centre of Maputo, serving Mozambican and Italian food.  As its name suggests it is in a building constructed in 1908!

The proposed High Mosel bridge

Approval has apparently recently been given for the building of a 4-lane 160 metre high concrete road bridge, the B50 High Mosel Bridge.  Campaigners note that this will have a severe impact on the vineyards and villages of Ürzig, Zeltingen-Rachtig and Wehlen, which make some great wines (visual impression).  Where the road is planned to continue on above Graach, it also threatens the stability of the vineyard, and disregards the landscape integrity of the Graacher Schanzen hillfort.  For an open letter written to Angel Merkel about this by Sarah Washington, see http://mobile-radio.net/bridge.html .

Brussels restaurants

Continuing my periodic restaurant commentaries, last week in Brussels provided a great opportunity to listen to advice from friends who live there, and explore hidden away restaurants.  While I am tempted to keep these to myself, I enjoyed them so much that I thought I would share them here in the hope that these excellent restaurants will benefit from additional business.  Just don’t be there when I am!

  • La Quincaillerie – Rue du Page 45, B-1050 Brussels.  As one of the first restaurants to set up in the trendy Chatelain neighbourhood, La Quincaillerie stands out among the many fashion boutiques and purveyors of upmarket knick-knacks. It has an excellent wine list, and particularly good seafood and chicken; I really enjoyed the Tartare de boeuf au parmesan et à la roquette.  To drink, I would recommend the 2005 Gewürztraminer from Louis Sipp à Ribeauvillé in Alsace
  • La Canne en Ville – Rue de la Réforme 22, B-1050 Brussels.  Exceptional!  Try the Duo de coquilles Saint Jacques rôties et filet de sole farci à la mousseline d’écrevisses, beurre fouetté au citron.  And to drink, be adventurous and taste the Bourgogne rosé Marsannay Regis Bouvier 2005.

Berlin restaurants…

sagrantino-smallWalking through Berlin, I came across a restaurant named after one of my favourite grape varieties (Sagrantino) and apparently serving wines made by one of my favourite producers (Arnaldo Caprai, from Montefalco in Umbria)!  The restaurant is Sagrantino – does anyone know if I would be disappointed going there?

In the meanwhile, four other interesting places to eat in Berlin, each with their own distinctive atmospheres are:

Kaz

OK – who’s interested in finding out more about one of the most quirky wineries in Sonoma?

A short trip to Berkeley last year, and the generosity of friends who took me up into the Sonoma Valley for a quick wine exploration before catching the plane, provided the opportunity to visit wineries that I had never previously been to.  Our last stop was without doubt the best – at the Kaz Vineyard and Winery.  It claims to be the smallest winery in the valley that sells to the public – but it produces some of the best wines I have tasted recently. Part of the success is that the winemaker/owner, Richard Kasmier, picks his fruit earlier than many of his neighbours.  This means that the wines tend to have slightly higher acidity, and this contribute to the richness and complexities of the flavours.  Great names for the wines as well:  Moo Vedra for the Mourvedre, and Hooligans for the Grenache!

For their contact details, check out

Kaz winery
Kaz winery

Kaz Vineyard & Winery
233 Adobe Canyon Rd.
Kenwood, CA 95452