Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Four Countries. Four Bottles. Your Euro Wine Trip.

Four Countries. Four Bottles.
Your Euro Wine Trip.


Itinerary: Meet at Karwig Wines, Carrigaline 11.00 any weekday. Countries visited: France, Germany, Spain, Austria. Virtual trip possible on-line.

Chateau Mouret Graves blanc (AOC) 2014, 12.5%, €16.90, Karwig Wines

Advice from Graves on choosing a wine.
Start without preconceptions, start simply. I like. I do not like. Then try to explain why. But always return “to the notion of pleasure”. This wine made ​​me happy . Did not make ​​me happy. So yeah I bought. No, I did not buy.

I was also talking to Joe Karwig about the Mouret and he admitted that he loves the blend. He was speaking to the converted. Still, the question remained: Would this wine make me happy?

The blend of Sauvignon blanc and Semillon can vary quite a bit but this is of classic proportions with sixty per cent SB. The nose and finish are probably more Sauvignon. On the palate it delivers fruit and refreshment; it is light, clean and crisp. Green fruit, herby and grassy aromas are followed by a bright acidity in the mouth, all the characteristics you’d expect to find in a blend of these proportions.

This classic example did indeed make me happy and is Very Highly Recommended.

Moselland Riesling Classic 2014 (Mosel), 11.5%, €13.60, Karwig Wines

When people chat about Riesling, there is often a noticeable division of opinion between those it pleases and those who don't like it. This one could go some way towards bridging the divide as, on the label, it is recommended for a chat. It is also recommended for chicken, salads, fish and seafood.

It has a light straw colour and pleasing floral aromas. Nicely balanced and pretty full-bodied with no shortage of fruit, no shortage of finish either from this crisp dry wine. Moselland, created over 25 years ago, is the largest wine-growing co-op in the Rheinland-Pfalz. It pleased me and is Highly Recommended.

Las Renas Monastrell 2013 (Bullas DO), 14%, €12.45 Karwig Wines

We reviewed the 2012 edition of this wine a few months back. The 2013 is also good, maybe even a little better. Monastrell is the Spanish equivalent of Mourvedre.
Bullas

Color is cherry red and it has rather intense aromas of red and black fruits. It is fresh, young and fruity, smooth, medium bodied, very pleasing and easy drinking, well balanced with average persistence at the finalé. An excellent well-priced wine and Highly Recommended.

Winzer Krems, Sandgrubel 13, Blauer Zweigelt trocken 2013, St Severin (Austria), 13%, €14.45 (check net) Karwig Wines

Blauer Zweigelt, or just plain Zweigelt, is the grape here and the colour is a light red, almost see through. Red fruits, cherry (mainly) and strawberry, in the aromas. Fresh and fruity too on the palate, traces of spice, mild and velvety, with good acidity. Light and lovely indeed, ideal for summertime recreation rather than winter mediation. Delightfully different and Highly Recommended

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

An Excellent Ehrhard Riesling. .. from the source..

An Excellent Ehrhard Riesling

from the source

Carl Ehrhard Rheingau 2010 Rudesheimer Riesling Kabinett, 11%, €17.80, Karwig Wines

The Rheingau is the spiritual heart of German wine, the birthplace of Riesling, according to the World Atlas of Wine. This bottle from the source is excellent and Very Highly Recommended.

The colour is a light honey and you’ll see quite a few tiny bubbles clinging to the glass. And yes there is a wee whiff of petrol in the aromas. On the palate, it is lively, full of fruit flavour, even a hint of sweetness too but it is tart as there is a crab apple acidity at play, all making for a lovely finish. Well worth a try.

Kelly’s Patch Chardonnay 2013, Australia, 13.5%, €11.05 Karwig Wines

This crisp Chardonnay, all the way from Victoria, is highly recommended. Colour is light gold, with green tints, and it has white fruit aromas. Crisp and fruity (melon, peach, and citrus), it has moderate acidity and not a bad finish at all. The year was a good one and this well made wine is Highly Recommended.

The story here is that Kelly’s Patch is named after the Kelly family whose homestead stood here long before the vines. The notorious Ned Kelly was born here and his iron mask features on the bottle. His father was a Kelly, deported from Tipperary in 1841. His mother came from Antrim, so it is rather appropriate that the wine is now imported via Magherafelt.

Winzer Krems, Grüner Veltliner Kremser Goldberg Kellermeister Privat, Kremstal DAC.


This is another superb white wine from Karwigs, that I tasted with the two above. Did a review of it late last year and you may see that here.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Make Friends with Karwig’s Gru-Vee!

Make Friends with Karwig’s Gru-Vee!
In the vineyard: Das Grüne Heupferd

Winzer Krems, Kremser Goldberg Kellermeister Privat, Kremstal DAC

Vintage: 2013, Grüner Veltliner, 12.5%, €18.10, Karwig Wines

It is always worth a call to Karwig Wines in Carrigaline. Even more so when they have new Austrian wines in, as they have now. Picked up a few the other day and this Grüner Veltliner is my standout favourite. 



Colour is a pale honey, micro bubbles clinging to the glass. There are aromas of white peaches with some floral elements. On the palate, is fresh and lively (those bubbles?) with lovely fruit flavours, the slightest traces of sweetness yet well balanced all the way through the lingering finish. Very Highly Recommended.


By the way, don't worry if you over-buy. The winery says it is excellent to drink now (and I'd concur) “but has a storage capacity of 3-10 years, at ideal storage conditions even longer.” So now you know!

If you are in Karwig’s and looking for a red, here is one I can heartily recommended. It is the Caldora Sangiovese Vendemmia 2012, an IGT from Italy. This gives you an intensely fruity welcome, really easy-drinking and excellent value at €13.00! Caldora is the second label at the famous Farnese.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Reds from the Edges

Reds from the Edges
Thanks to the independents
Some unfamiliar grapes figure in these two excellent reds from the edges of old Europe, one from Austria, the other from Portugal. Not many of us, even if regular customers, will have heard of either the Blaufränkisch or the Alfrocheiro. The names of these grapes, excellent in their original areas, are not an advertiser’s dream (much easier to dream up a slogan for Merlot or Chardonnay).

But they survive, thanks primarily to the local winemakers and thanks to the independent wine merchants, of which we have a fair share in Ireland. They know, and more of their customers are coming to realise, that the bigger picture is made up of little gems whose names may not lend themselves to a catch-all slogan. Best of goods come in small parcels! (Not a bad slogan, come to think of it.)

Wohlmuth Aristos 2009 Burgenland (Austria), 13.5%, €20.59 Karwig Wines
You won’t find Wohlmuth in Hugh Johnson’s current handbook but, thankfully, you’ll find their wines in Karwig’s of Carrigaline. The Aristos, a blend of the local Blaufränkisch and Cabernet Sauvignon, is a product of the Neckenmarkt vineyard, one of a few owned by the Wohlmuth family, winemakers since 1803. The “most rigorous quality criteria” are applied while the terroir is regarded as ideal for the two varieties.

Austria is predominantly white wine country but it is a different story in the Mittelburgenland (close to the border with Hungary). Here the continental climate is ideal, especially for the juicy Blaufränkisch which also brings relatively high acidity to a blend.
Two thousand and nine was a good year in the area and it shows in this Very Highly Recommended wine. It is clean and bright with a medium red colour and aromas of dark berries. On the palate, you find the berries again, spice too, soft tannins and, yes, that balancing acidity, all the way to a long dry finish. Went well with steak the other night and the producers also recommended trying it with Lamb cutlets, also duck breast on lentils.

Flor de Viseu, Tinto Selection 2009, Dao (Portugal), 13%, €12.99-13.99, Wine Alliance stockists

Most people with a passing acquaintance of Portuguese wine will have heard of Touriga Nacional but Alfrocheiro, the main grape here, will no doubt raise a few eyebrows. Both are local grapes and popular in the Dao region.


The region, named after the local river, is the home of juicy friendly wines and this is one of them. You find red fruit aromas and a healthy looking ruby colour. The wine itself is warm, fruity and spicy. It is rather smooth with mild tannins, very engaging at all points of the palate and has a persistent dry finish. Very Highly Recommended.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Two Johann Strauss Numbers

Austria’s Grape: Grüner Veltliner
A Johann Strauss Duet.

On a coach tour through Austria some eight years ago, two things were unavoidable: one was dreaded dry pork (it featured in every dinner in the budget hotels) and the other was their “national wine” made from Grüner Veltliner.

So, I was nearly turned off pork but certainly I was turned on to GV or Gru-vee as some call it. GV may not be unique to Austria but it “belongs” to the country in the same way that Zinfandel is associated with California.

While it is a national treasure, the Austrians sometimes treat it quite nonchalantly as was the case in a wine tavern in Grinzing (close to Vienna) where they were serving it in half litre mugs at three euro a time. Quite a night. Wine, schrammelmusik and I don’t think we got pork there!

Memories of that Austrian trip came back as I recently tried two GV’s from Karwig Wines, both made by Weingut Johann Strauss in the Kremser area. This region, on the banks of the Danube and west of Vienna, is not too far east of the abbey of Melk, a famous tourist attraction that some of you may have visited.

My rainy day cruise by the Danube vineyards


Weingut Johann Strauss, 2009 Grüner Veltliner (Alte Reben, Kremser, Weinzierlberg), 13.5%, €15.70 Karwig Wines

Weingut Johann Strauss, 2009 Grüner Veltliner (Kremser, Sandgrube), 13%, €13.50 Karwig Wines


The first wine is made from the fruits of old vines (Alte Reben) in the Weinzierlberg vineyard while the second, not from old vines apparently, gets its fruit from the adjoining Sandgrube (sandpit) vineyard, both in the Kremser.

Joe Karwig says that location can be a quite important factor in Grüner Veltliner, though that didn’t seem to be the case here. Each has white fruit aromas and a colour of light gold (with green hints).

The first one has a pleasant tingly introduction, followed by fairly intense fruit flavours before a long dry finish and performed at a good level from start to finish. It is possibly a little more lush and slightly peppery than the Sandgrube but there is not much between them in my humble opinion. The Sandgrube has a very similar attack, again with nice bright fruit flavours and a similar finish.

So there you are, a pleasant alternative to the mainstream white grapes. I certainly enjoyed them and both are highly recommended, well worth a try.
Music in Grinzing wine house

Sunday, December 12, 2010

FIRST SWEET STEPS

Never know what you'll see in an Austrian field!

FIRST SWEET STEPS    

Unless you can get yourself to a tasting, you’ll have to fund your first steps into sweet or dessert wine. And quite a few of these can be