14%

Kellerei Kurtatsch/Cortaggio, Weißburgunder Hofstatt, 2012

Julian — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 22:33:02 +0000

Kellerei Kurtatsch/Cortaggio, Weißburgunder Hofstatt, 2012

Is it too early to say that Italy, once haughtily ignored, is making a comeback on the Wine Rambler? In November, Torsten has had his eyes opened by a white from Trentino, and I, for my part, am more and more impressed with its northern neighbour, Alto Adige.

Now that everybody seems to concur that 2012 was over the roof on the banks of the Adige and the Isarco rivers, I have looked closer on reports of the last few vintages, and would you believe it, this has been going on for some time: Excellent on international varietals like Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, excellent on local growths like the reds Lagrein and Vernatsch.

So I've woken up to it: The Alto Adige has been stealthily creeping up on us. We can't have that, of course. So at the risk of blurring our core germanic focus, I will from time to time over the coming year report on what I have stocked up on.

Julian Sunday, 23/02/2014

Philipp Kuhn, Cuveé Luitmar, 2008

torsten — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 09:13:34 +0000

Philipp Kuhn, Cuveé Luitmar, 2008

So there you sit in Tuscany, enjoying the evening sun and sipping on your Sangiovese blend - oh, wait! It is not Tuscany but the German wine growing region of the Pfalz (Palatinate) and you are not drinking a Chianti but a German red. Sounds unlikely? Well, unlikely it may be but certainly not impossible: Pfalz winemaker Philipp Kuhn is well known for his red wines and one of them, the Cuveé Luitmar, is indeed made of Sangiovese.

Not just Sangiovese but also Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch (also known as Lemberger) - not exactly what you would expect from a German wine...

torsten Thursday, 26/09/2013

Tesco Finest, Central Otago Pinot Noir, 2011

torsten — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:24:44 +0000

Tesco Finest, Central Otago Pinot Noir, 2011

Since the early days of the Wine Rambler I occasionally (and boldly I like to think) set out to explore the world of German wine as UK consumers experience it: in the supermarket. Despite many setbacks I have persevered, out of patriotic and journalistic duty. However, after the flop with German wine from Waitrose even I needed a break - and so I have switched both supermarket and country, in the hope that Tesco and New Zealand would deliver the goods.

And as if that was not enough firepower I also brought in the tenth most powerful woman in wine.

torsten Tuesday, 19/03/2013

Domaine Berthoumieu, Haute Tradition, 2007

Julian — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 22:21:38 +0000

Domaine Berthoumieu, Haute Tradition, 2007

I haven't been drinking any wine in January (why not? Read all about it). The coverage of the Wine Rambler extended full committee meeting that brought me out of this lenten phase in style is coming up soon, and it will hold novelties and discoveries well worth the wait. But first, since it's still winter outside, how about another foray into the greasy skillet, the red meat, and the hard-chested red wines of the French southwest? Read on, if you not be too faint of heart.

Julian Saturday, 09/02/2013

Hansjörg Rebholz, Chardonnay "R", 2009

torsten — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 15:35:05 +0000

Hansjörg Rebholz, Chardonnay "R", 2009

We all have our missions in life. Big missions, casual missions, impossible missions and the odd small mission. One of my small missions is to convince co-Rambler Julian of the qualities of Chardonnay. Not that he dislikes it, he just does not feel the right excitement. Thankfully, today this mission nicely blends (in a pure, single varietal way of course) with the Wine Rambler mission of convincing you, gentle reader, that German wine is well worth exploring - and that includes German Chardonnay. Whether this is an impossible mission only you will know, but like Jim Phelps I am not one to turn down a mission when it comes to find me

torsten Sunday, 23/12/2012

Some Young Punks, Passion has Red Lips, 2011

torsten — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:57:49 +0000

Some Young Punks, Passion has Red Lips, 2011

Should I resist the tired cliché, should I raise above the overused joke? Even if I were that strong and even if I were not secretly in love with clichés I still could not do it in this case. Even my wine merchant felt powerless against the buying-wine-by-the-label joke: "We bought it despite the label!", was her excuse. I didn't have any: I bought it because of the label. Because of the name. And because that day I had set out with a desire to buy something different.

I trust that even after just a cursory glance at the Wine Rambler you will agree that I fulfilled that mission - but was it a success?

torsten Monday, 03/09/2012

Château du Cèdre, Le Cèdre, rogue, 2004

torsten — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:10:46 +0000

Château du Cèdre, Le Cèdre, rogue, 2004

It doesn't always have to be Bordeaux. That's a pretty obvious statement from a blog dedicated to German wine, but it also applies to France. Today, however, is not about German Pinot Noir (nor German Dornfelder, Syrah, Lemberger) and it is also not about Burgundy. Today is about Cahors, and that means the Malbec grape. It is also about slow roast lamb shoulder and Easter, but more importantly of course it is about...

...the first magnum bottle of red wine to be reviewed on the Wine Rambler. It took us very long, didn't it?

torsten Friday, 11/05/2012

Jules Taylor, Grüner Veltliner, 2010

torsten — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:33:21 +0000

Jules Taylor, Grüner Veltliner, 2010

Grüner Veltliner is an Austrian success story. Increasingly popular, well, fashionable - cool actually -, it stands for the renaissance of Austrian winemaking after the scandal of the 1980s. Leaving fashionability aside, the consistent quality of the Grüner ending up in my glass never fails to amaze me, and if you delve deeper into the subject you also learn how well these wines can age and how much substance they can have. So yet another Grüner to be reviewed on the Wine Rambler, you may say? Yes, but this one is different - it comes from New Zealand.

Never having tried a NZ Grüner before, I was very curious when I saw it in my favourite Battersea wine shop and took a bottle home with me to do some research - with Wiener Schnitzel, of course, and potato salad. Does New Zealand deliver?

torsten Monday, 24/10/2011

Weingut Kistenmacher & Hengerer, Lemberger Alte Reben, 2008

Julian — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:13:12 +0000

Weingut Kistenmacher & Hengerer, Lemberger Alte Reben, 2008

I confess that I read my co-Rambler Torsten's fine report on the marketing of German wine in the UK with the kind of sinking feeling that comes over me when faced with the strange irreality of wine marketing - a loop of popular perceptions created by marketing trends, which then need to be catered for by even cleverer marketing, a sense that I found nicely captured in Andrew Connor's comment as well. But how to leave the loop behind? By trying some goddamn German wine, instead of "German wine". Recently, we have been looking a lot at Württemberg, land of the engineers and car-parts manufacturers, and recently also the country's environmentalist stronghold, for that kind of new blood and new places. An example of how much can be achieved outside the classic growing areas, and outside pre-defined stylistic moulds, is the Kistenmacher-Hengerer winery of Heilbronn, a smallish town on the river Neckar.

So you're not quite prepared yet to move your Piesporter Goldtröpfchens and your Bernkasteler Doktors aside to make room in your cellar for this? Well then, here is our review:

Julian Saturday, 04/06/2011

Bodegas Mauro, Vendimia Seleccionada, 2000

torsten — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:15:51 +0000

Bodegas Mauro, Vendimia Seleccionada, 2000

I have been a fan of the Mauro wines since my dad casually handed me a bottle several years ago, remarking that I may like this. Well, he was right. Every other year since I had one of those Spanish beauties, and the most recent one we enjoyed at a Wine Rambler meeting in Munich.

Our regular readers may have noticed that Julian is more likely than me to go for the more substantial red wines, but the beautiful and deep Tempranillos from Mauro are just too pleasing to ignore.

torsten Sunday, 03/04/2011