€24-29

Recently, I found myself drinking with friends who were discussing which type of vegetable they would like to be. When I asked them how they would rate me, Charlotte suggested I could be a squash. Unfortunately I never really found out why she classified me in this way, partly because she went on to say she would quite like to be a courgette. Today's wine, luckily, is not like a vegetable. Instead it is very easy to describe in terms of fruit: take the most deliciously juicy peach you can imagine, add passion fruit, and caramelise it with lots of sugar and some gold, sprinkle finely with herbs and serve in a stony cup with a dash of menthol, spice and lemon juice. As you can see this description really does not work in relation to vegetables, but I can tell you that if this wine were a human being it would have to be the young Liv Tyler - just in blond.

Uncertain what you are looking at here? Somehow strangely attracted yet also confused? Doubtful whether this actually belongs on a wine blog? If this is what you feel looking the above picture then welcome to my world of confusion and doubt about a wine of which I am not sure if it should exist at all. What do you do with a wine clocking in at 15% alcohol? How do you feel when you realise it is a white - and from one of the coolest wine regions of a cool wine growing country? Should Mosel winemakers really do this? Should any (white) wine be so strong? Is it actually drinkable? If you want a definitive answer to these questions, please do not read on.

Nine days into the new year and we're already sticking our noses into the sparkling wine again. Is that hedonistic cheek on our part or a commendable discipline in making good our new year's resolution number 2? Actually, it's neither, since this is a postscript to our new year's eve.

Lively, but not over-strong bubbles, a smell of ripe apples and quince. Bone dry and almost austere at first taste, but at the same time fairly creamy and intense, with the tiniest hint of oak maybe, and in the end, it's mature quince and apple fruit again, maybe also a hint of tangerine, with very fresh acidity all the way through.

It was New Year's Eve and the Wine Rambler committee had assembled in Munich to drink some god-damn wine. And what could be better to conclude an evening of feasting and drinking with friends than one of the elegant, sweet Mosel Rieslings that Theo Haart turns out year after year? To celebrate the end of 2009 it had to be something special, an 'Auslese' ('selection', one of the highest ratings in the often confusing and not always meaningful German wine classification system). Made by a good winery and stored well these wines can last for decades, so a 2006 Auslese can almost be seen as a young wine when drunk at the end of 2009. Or as darn tasty, at any time. [read the full post...]

If it comes to really powerful red wines, I have come to love what the Spanish do with the Tempranillo varietal. At their best these wines are powerful yet not overpowering, bringing the thunder without forgetting the elegance. Bodegas Aalto is one of the wineries that got a lot of praise over the past few years - which is remarkable seeing as the only got into business around 1998. On the other hand, it may not be so remarkable after all as the people behind Bodegas Aalto are some of the best known Spanish wine professionals: winemaker Mariano Garcia (who came to fame at Ribera del Duero's Vega Sicilia) and Javier Zaccagnini (formerly head of the 'Consejo Regulador', the regulatory body of the Ribera del Duero appellation). With financial backing from investors such as the Sherry company Osborne, they identified and bought vineyards in the Ribera del Duero, some of them with 60 year old Tinto Fino vines (a Tempranillo clone), and started restoring them. The first wine, the 1998 vintage, was not as good as hoped and was never commercialised, but the later vintages put the winery into the premier league of Spanish winemakers.

Here in the UK, most people would probably associate the Shiraz grape with Australia. Germans and Austrians, however, like to call it Syrah, and if they were into wine they might know that Austria produces a few nice ones too - and this Syrah is one of them. [read the full post...]

Württemberg, Swabia, home of the gleaming Mercedes Benz, the Bausparvertrag, the Kehrwoche and the Häuslebauer (untranslatable terms, because they describe specific anthropological phenomena). And wine country. Many a railroad passenger passing by the beautiful and spectacularly steep vineyards around Stuttgart may have wondered why these wines are consumed avidly by Württembergers themselves, but, too often uninspired and uninspiring, given the cold shoulder by the rest of the wine world. [read the full post...]

If you like aged Riesling, if you want a perfectly balanced, well rounded wine, if you crave the sensation of a wine that makes your palate feel smooth and peachy - go for this gem from the Mosel. Followers of the Wine Rambler will have noticed that we do tend to like the fruity Rieslings Theo Haart makes and this one is no exception. It is, in fact, the oldest Haart we have tasted for the Rambler and it demonstrates the potential of these wines. [read the full post...]

It has been a while since I had my last Gauby, quite a while, but I still remember the yummy cherry flavour of his 2005 red. So I thought the 2004 might be just the wine to have with a duck breast with balsamico glazed baby carrots.

The first thing you notice is the deep, dark, glorious red colour. It is followed by a nose of cherry (hurrah!) and berries with a woodland-pepper-spiciness that finds a good addition in a hint of wild animal smell. The pleasant sensation continues in the mouth where the fruitiness of well rounded cherry-berries is nicely balanced by spicy herbs and a hint chocolate, all of which are presented in a cool, smooth way. The tannins are already well integrated. [read the full post...]

It has been quite a while since I tasted the sibling of this wine, the Graacher Himmelreich Spätburgunder of the same vintage; so sadly, I cannot really compare them against each other. What I can say though is that both are excellent Pinot Noirs.

Very dark straw colour, a tinge of gold

Smells of peaches and pineapples pickled in petroleum (there's German white wine for you...), marzipan, dried herbs, and smoke. Reminded me somewhat of the more powerful Grüne Veltliners.

Great density and an oily, liqueurish mouth-feel, some maturity (camomile tea, bread), but most of all great smoky minerality. The finish of dried peaches, smoke and salted almonds is long and intense.

This Ökonomierat had to stand up to veal escallops with sage and parma ham, which might have been a suicide mission, but he came out quite the hero.

Not a wine to have every other day, but then today wasn't every other day, and this is not a wine like many others.

Surprisingly dark colour for a Pinot.
Smells very ripe, black cherries, some marcipan and some smoked bacon. In the mouth well integrated, but still a tad too dominant oak, very dense and powerful, nutty, no signs of age. [read the full post...]

Not very strong, but aged and sophisticated in the nose; herbal notes with maybe some peach. At first, I was almost scared the wine had cork but then I realised that it just had a nicely/strangely aged mineral. Overall, not too sweet, but very well balanced, sophisticated, very soft fruit with just the right amount of acid.

Also quite deep and yet light, elegant. Despite the sophistication very easy to drink, aged mineral with a very nicely integrated hint of petrol.

It seems unfair to compare this wine to the others, but if I had you here right now I would certainly open the last bottle of this one I still have in my wardrobe. Haart strikes again!

The colour is outstanding and as bright and intense as I have ever seen from a Spätburgunder. It is brown, but also violet and changes with the light in the most pleasant way.

In the nose the Pinot Noir is aromatic with interesting fruit (cherries and berries) and wood (think nutty, smoked wood) and roast aromas. While the oak feels well integrated in the bouquet, I find it too strong on the tongue. Fruit and acidity are decent, but not sharp enough to overcome the oak.

A decent wine, no doubt, but at least at this stage of its life the balance does not work for me with regards to the wood and it seems to lack that little bit of substance to justify the price anyway.

The first thing you notice about this wine is the bellied bottle that gives it an air of gravitas. Then comes the colour - I have never seen such a strong and intense red-brown Spätburgunder.

The cork smells of smoke and oak, but in a very sophisticated and incredibly smooth way - and the wine is even more intense: Black cherries and a hint of mineral in the nose. In the mouth lots of fruit, black berries, cherry, all in a very sophisticated way. A little chocolate and coffee mixed with morbid notes of hay and vegetable complement the taste.

Immensely enjoyable. So far the best Pinot Noir I have tasted.