Tour de France without bikes but with wine and bubbles: J de Telmont

December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The initial plan was to just drive home after visiting the Beaune vineyards, but then I saw the Champagne region wasn’t an enormous detour to get back home… so what else could I do?? I just had to make the little ‘detour’ via the Champagne region to visit my 2^nd Champagne vineyard aka J. de Telmont. I wanted to visit the J. de Telmont vineyard for a while now, it is one of the 3 champagne vineyards on my ‘wish /to do’ list (the other 2 are Bollinger that I visited last year and the 3^rd vineyard I’m not gonna say yet 🙂 ). I know there are more than 3 vineyards in this region, but these are already for a long time the only ones I feel like visiting…. (it is like with everything else, you always have a few favorites)

When most people think of the Champagne region they automatically think of Reims or Erpernay, but there are many more little towns around those 2 bigger ‘cities’ where Champagne is made. I know this is only my 2^nd time in this region, but I do find it funny to see how close all the Champagne houses are to each other… no matter how you turn your head, you’ll always see another/ different one 🙂 Just made something clear, there is Champagne and champagne. I’ll clarify, it is not because on the label there is written ‘Champagne’ that it means it is a good champagne… Drinking a good champagne is a totally different sensation. In a good champagne there might be lots of bubbles, but they don’t disturb you or don’t get acid reflux or a headache the day after like you sometimes get when drinking ‘lesser quality’ champagnes. In case you were wondering, J. de Telmont is one the good ones, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about them 😉

What I like and admire about J. de Telmont is that besides making very nice Champagnes, they also try to teach people how the whole ‘making-of’ process works. (BTW this is also the motto and philosophy of the house: conviviality, hospitality and sharing) They even go that far that you can blend your own champagne aka ‘Les Ateliers J. De Telmont‘ … I can hear you think that this is probably something only for professionals?? Wrong! This is something they do for and with everybody who is interested in it . Even the best sommeliers learn a lot from these workshops. For our visit we were honored to be guided around by mr. Bertrand Lhopital himself, 4^th generation of the Lhopital family to lead the company and to work (together with his team) to make every champagne they make their best champagne. He told us that from time to time some couples who are getting married come to make their own champagne for their wedding…

I did already tell you this but just in case you forgot, champagne gets made from 3 grape varieties:Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. These grapes must come from the area/region defined by the Champagne heritage board, if they don’t the finished product may not wear the name ‘Champagne’ but rather ‘Crémant’ (like Crémant de Loire, Crémant de Bourgogne). Champagne gets made in 2 fermentation periods. During the first fermentation the champagne makers will be making an actual (normal, but slightly more acidic) wine and it is only during the 2nd fermentation (aka Malolactic fermentation) by adding sugar that over time the bubbles will get in the wine and it will be come a Champagne. The assembling of different wines (from same or different grapes) happens just before the 2nd fermentation. Then what makes that not all champagnes taste the same?? Well because every champagne maker will just like any other winemakers ‘play’ with assembling wines from different vintages, age their wines in wooden barrels or stainless steel tanks and age wines longer etc…. all of this also in combination with working with the best grapes and traditions (FYI these are just a few examples)

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J. de Telmont was founded in 1912, but it was not until 1959 that André Lhopital (Bertrand’s grandfather) decided to change their name from Lhopital into Telmont… Why Telmont?? Well, it might seem like it corresponds to a person (I also initially thought this), but this is not true. As new name he wanted to use the name of his best parcel of land with historic vines from the vineyard on them aka “Beaumonts”. Unfortunately this name was already in use and there was refused by the CIVC. Mr Lhopital then opted to chance “Beaumonts “into “Belmont”, but again CIVC refused as there was still too much resemblance with the name“Beaumonts”. As Mr. Lhopital was no quitter he decided to try one more time by change “b” into “t” and adding initials to make it more special with as a result that in 1952 finally CIVC approved the vineyard was known as J. De Telmont 🙂 talking about perseverance!!

It was not my first contact with J. de Telmont as I was already able to taste some of their Champagnes during the yearly ‘Best Belgian sommelier’ trophy from which J. de Telmont since a few years is sponsor. It was during these first contacts that J. de Telmont came on my ‘wishlist’ of vineyards I definitely wanted to visit as the few things I tasted gave me taste for more exploring of their selection 🙂

I don’t want to sound cliche because I keep saying this, but I love hearing a passionate person like in this case mr. Lhopital speak. It is so contagious, I mean you just want to keep listing to what they have to say. They can make the most technical things sound like some the easiest and explain it in such a way that you can actually understand it as they really want to you to understand it (without only throwing around with fancy terms that sometimes make things more confusing). This is also what I always try to do in my blogpost of when explaining something in person. A good example was that we got to taste some wines before their 2nd fermentation to understand how the wines keep developing and change over time and during the 2nd fermentation. The frosting on the cake for me (besides tasting the finished product) is always walking through enormous cellars where maybe millions of bottles are stored from all vintages… a walk through Telmont’s history basically.

To celebrate this exceptional anniversary, the family Lhopital wants to share some of their history by reselling some of their older (best) vintage from 1964, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1990 and 1992. Champagne from ‘Collection Héritage’ as they are called are elaborated with 100 % Pinot Meunier grape variety You would expect this would be for exceptionally high prices, but you are wrong. They Lhopital family wanted the prices reasonable as they want everybody to be able to enjoy this and not only the happy few… it is part of their philosophy (sharing). It speaks for itself that they won’t be giving them neither, but can be bought ,depending the vintage, from 70 to 150EUR… Just as comparison if you would want a Burgundy or Bordeaux wine from 1964 you’ll have add a few zero’s.. J. de Telmont just wants everybody to be able to enjoy a bit of that legacy. SOOO if you want to know how 1985 tasted like… here is you chance 🙂

My absolute favorite champagne of the Telmont selection would be the Centenaire which unfortunately is not for sale and can only be tasted in exceptional cases like this year’s Gala diner after the ‘Best Belgian Sommlier’ trophy where fortunate enough to be part of :-). This one does without any doubt get followed by the O.R.1735 which is has the wonderful smell grilled/ freshly baked brioches or bread with notes of vanilla and a taste that makes every sip of champagne a feast… the O.R. 1735 is in a few words a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru (Grapes come from Grand Cru area’s). If you afterwards compare it with the ‘regular’ Blanc de blancs, you’ll find the same notes, but less complex and less vanilla notes.

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From the non 100% Chardonnay champagnes my preference went to the Grande Réserve Brut which had and is the perfect balance between all 3 grape kinds as it exists out of equal shares of all 3 grape types (Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir). A very round full bodied wine with notes of fresh hard white fruits. I guess it won’t come as a surprise when I tell you that by miracle the just mentioned champagnes found its way to our homes (both mine as Carlos’) 🙂 🙂 My excuse was my daughter’s birth and being able to celebrate it with a good glass… not sure what Carlos’ excuse was 😉 ???

After our visit we can confirm that their philosophy isn’t only a few words, but in fact their way of work as it felt like visiting friends for whom they took all their time and we were the most important (hospitality and conviviality)and we learned a lot about champagne making and got to taste some real beauties (sharing)….Just the way I like it!!

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The end 🙂 We go back home with lots of new knowledge and a trunk full of wine 🙂

Tour de France without bikes but with wine: Maison Louis Jadot

November 28, 2014December 1, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It might seem strange to visit more than 1 vineyard in the same region or even in the same town. But every winemaker has its own way of making wines and therefore have wines will taste differently… also they don’t all have vines on the same places or might use different grape varieties. As second Bourgogne vineyard we visited Maison Louis Jadot. Maison Louis Jadot is not as old as the previous vineyard I wrote about, but nearly as old Jadot was founded in 1859 by Louis Henry Denis Jadot and belonged to the Jadot family until 1985. In this year in order to ensure the company’s future, Madame Jadot (who didn’t have children) decided to sell the company to the 3 daughters of Rudy Kopf, Jadot’s US importer and a very good friend of her. FYI these 3 sisters are still alive and kicking, they still visit the vineyard once a week or once a month (can’t remember it exactly). Maison Louis Jadot today gets run by Pierre-Henry Gagey and this since 1985 (with the helping hand of Technical Director Frédéric Barnier since 2011) . Obviously more things happened between 1859 and 2014, but I decided to keep the history to a minimum as you can read most about their history on their website 🙂

Our visit of Maison Jadot was at their ‘new’ location or better ‘cuverie’ (where they bottle and ago most wines except for the old vintages) where they moved in just a few years ago . I would have loved visiting their original location aka ’Couvent des Jacobins’, that as you might already guessed from its name used to be a convent. The ‘Couvent des Jacobins’ is still used as storage/aging location for the Grand Cru wines and some of the older wines… but one cannot have it all and their new location is as magnificent and incredible but just more modern :-). The mental picture that sticks in my mind when I think back (besides the one from the enormous cellar) was the production hall. Yes, production hall!! It reminded me a bit of a concert arena (that big) where they had a specific way to make and distribute their wines in/to barrels and stainless steal (INOX)tanks. They pump the grapes in INOX tanks via a unique stubbing system that I have never seen before. Also they will be pumping the grapes in both INOX and wooden barrels, the reason they pump it in both types of barrels is purely related to space 🙂 as in that stage the types of barrels don’t matter yet. FYI the aging in tanks all happens naturally, as for as far as we were told there is no temperature control! Like for example the Gamay grapes they destem the grapes in order to allow them to undergo a vinification according to the traditional method from the 19th century. This basically means the fermentation is done with wild yeasts, with maceration periods lasting two up to three weeks. What I also noticed during their explanations by Baptiste (our guide) is that as they don’t regulate their temperatures automatically they depend on seasons and weather even more than other vineyards. Anyhow, a very interesting method they use!

The cellars were also an eye-catcher with wooden barrels as far as the eye can see. It is like when you’re walking through Harrods in London, you always find a new room you didn’t see before with more stuff … in Jadot’s case always a new room with more wooden wine barrels. I’m not sure how many it were, but A LOT!! We considered ourselves lucky to be able to taste some wines directly from the barrel itself. First of all to experience how some wines taste during their aging process (young, not completely developed or maybe ready for bottling), but also to afterwards being able to make better comparisons with the similar finished/ already bottled wine from a different year. A way of tasting you learn a lot from to my opinion… I think Carlos also had a favorite?! Or he forgot spitting and started feeling it 😉

Something I noticed about the Jadot wines had a more herbal/ complex taste and smell compared to the ones we tasted at Bouchard for example. Best way for you guys to try this is to for example buy a particular wine from the same region from different wine makers and taste them next to each other. This will prove 100% what I’ve been saying until now that 2 (of more) winemakers might have vineyards on the same location, but both of their finished product will have a completely different product! Of course this might have also been because of the selection they served us, but still…

Plan appellations Jadot (2)

Feast your eyes on the soils 🙂

To make the tasting of the bottled wines more interesting Baptiste made it a blind tasting. I admit I wasn’t nearly as good I started thinking I was 😦 I think most of the wines we tasted were Mâcconais which is close to the Beaujolais wine region where the wines also have this more herbal taste/scent … but this is my amateur opinion. It is true lots of wines should be drunk accompanied from some food (Cheeses, meat, etc…) as this will make you look at these wines from a totally different perspective. Nevertheless I did find a few favorites like the Corton-Pougets Grand Cru 🙂 (Carlos even insisted I took a picture with it as I couldn’t stop saying how good it was)

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BUT I did learn lots of new things during our visit and cannot wait to open one of the Jadot Bottle I now have a home and learn some more 😉 On the question which of the Burgundy wines I liked the most I wouldn’t be able as they were too different + they all have something I like for a different occasion (If I don’t find one I’ll make one). You try them and see what your opinion is?!

Up to Champagne….

In case you would want more about these wines please contact Peter lauwerens from Cinoco – Le palais Du Vin +32 (0)475/595.3456 – peter.lauwerens@cinoco.com

Tour de France without bikes but with wine – Bouchard

November 24, 2014November 25, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

After a good night of sleep (which we needed because the day before was a very long day) we set sail to visit a vineyard in one of Beaune’s most ancient buildings that goes back to Louis XI (15^th century) and where thanks to Michel Bouchard there is wine made. Up to today this vineyard is still family owned with Christophe Bouchard as current General Manager. I must add that eventhough the vineyard is still family owned and lead by a Bouchard family member, it is now owned by the Henriot family (who are also owner of Henriot Champagne). Welcome to the Bouchard vineyard I’d say! We are in Beaune… for those who didn’t know it yet, we entered the world of Bourgogne/Burgundy wines. Together with Bordeaux, Bourgogneis one of the most spoken about all over the world (mainly the wine world I’m sure). Most wine makers from outside of France either follow the Bordeaux or the Bourgogne methodology to make their wines … so I was really interested in knowing/seeing what was so special about it and what fascinates/attracts all the winemakers to this wine region, but also why they all come here to learn everything about winemaking.

First things first. What do you guys need to know about Bourgogne/ Burgundy wines to be able to mingle in when people are talking about this wine region? The Bourgogne wine region is located somewhere between Lyon and Dijon in which we can distinguish 4 different departments: Yonne (Chablis), Côte-d’Or (Côtes de Nuits and Côte de Beaune), Saône-et-Loire (Chalonnais en Mâconnais which is next to the Beaujolais (Fleurie) wine region) and last but not least Nièvre. The vineyard from our friends from Bouchard is in the Côte-d’Or which is basically the heart and soul of the Bourgogne wine region.

As grapes, they mainly use Pinot Noir for the red wines and for white wines this would be Chardonnay. Sometimes they’ll also blend with other kinds of grape like Pinot Blanc for whites and Gamay Noire or César for the reds. Bouchard mostly sticks to the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Something that always used to confuse me in the past with French wines was when they started talking about ‘Premier cru’, ‘Grand cru’ and/or ‘Village’… you agree?? The difference between them all is mostly the location of the grapes which leads to either a very affordable or very expensive wine 🙂 (so even in winemaking it is all about ‘location, location, location’). The ‘Grand Cru’ represents the best of the best where the grapes were able to grow in the best conditions (best weather, sunshine, nutrition, etc…) whereas the regular wines aka ‘Appellations Régionales’ in “lesser” conditions (there are obviously more differences, but my example is just generally speaking). Due to the fact that there are not that many grounds/area’s that are considered as ‘’Grand Cru’makes it that it only represents 2% of the total wine volume and therefore are also much more expensive than the ‘Appellations Régionales’ or the’ Appellations Villages’ For example. A fact you do also need to take into consideration is that Grand or Premier Cru wines also age much longer (so a bigger investment for the winemaker) Maybe the pyramid below will help you understanding.

It is also very possible that for example a particular wine can all 4 gradations of wine of the pyramid. So for example a ‘regular’ Nuits Saint-Georges and a Nuits Saint-Georges 1ière cru 🙂 . To understand the best the difference between them you should just buy all 3 and taste them next to each other… a whole new world will open, I promise!

Back to our visit to Bouchard which was basically a walk through history (without some King doing his business behind the curtain in the hallway that is 🙂 (luckily)). All kidding aside, Bouchard might be one of the most beautiful vineyards I have ever visited and it being in an ancient castle with everything still intact makes it soooo incredible. I was also surprised to find out they still have a few bottles from the 19^th century that believe it or not that are still drinkable! They did admit that not all of the bottles preserved as well. A reason why Bouchard still has bottled wines of the 19^th and 20^th century, is because they first of all can age them in the original conditions and they change the corks every X years (depending on the wine they do it more regularly, but mostly between 20-30 years) . The moment they change the corks, they do check if the wine is still OK or not. In case it is not OK anymore they don’t keep that bottle… this makes that the bottles they do still have are still good to drink… can you imagine to drink a wine from over 200 years??? Obviously this is only something a few fortunate people are able to taste, but still….

BTW Comme Chez Soi’s wine-cellar reminds me a bit of the Bouchard cellar (less ancient obviously) … just FYI that I mentioned that 🙂

I hope it doesn’t come over in a wrong way or make you think differently about me, but it was 10:30 in the morning we started tasting wine 🙂 🙂 BUT in my defense, when I say tasting I do mean tasting and spitting out the wine (so NOT drinking it) no matter how good they were. It might be strange we started tasting the reds and afterwards the whites, but according to a French saying, ’Blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge, rouge sur blanc tout fout le camp’ that says that it is better to first drink red and than white wine 🙂 so we didn’t want to argue with that…

Already from the first sip I was converted into a Côte-d’Or Bourgogne fan… even the first, a 2011 Monthélie , wasn’t the highest level they had or more complex wine yet it was definitely my cup of tea :-). It was a very playful wine that everybody would like and is easy to drink and that leaves a very fresh fruity taste in your mouth. FYI all wines we tasted were 2011 Premier Cru’s (besides the first that is as that was an Appellation Village)… which proved (not that I needed it to be proved) I prefer the stronger/ more complex wines and that I am one spoiled brat :-).

My Absolute favourite from amongst the red wines we tasted was the Nuits-Saint-Georges – Les Cailles Premier Cru with scent and taste of very ripe dark red fruits like cassis or bil/blue berry and even lickerish accents in it and yet very elegant to drink without too heavy tannins…. The second favorite would be the Volnay – Caillerets Premier Cru which is made from the Bouchard Family’s first and oldest vineyard… It must be said that these wines are best with a stronger meal and not really like a Monthélie that can be drunk on a summer’s day outside with some friends.

What I was surprised to read is that unlike the Rhône valley where red wine is 89% of the total wine production and I did also assume it would be the same for Bourgogne… but I was wrong as it seems that 70% of the total wine production in this region is white??? Who knew (I didn’t, nor expected it)

When tasting their white wines I started understanding why… the most famous white wines from this region that for sure ring a bell are Chablis (Chardonnay) or Pouilly-Fuisse. FYI not all chardonnay wine from this region is Chablis! What is nice about white wines, is that most of the time you can distinguish ‘easier’ what flavours or smells they have. Like the white variant of the Monthélie (and with variant I mean that you can drink outside on a sunny day with friends) would be the Bourgogne Chardonnay La Vignée where you can find hinds of peach and pear.

Again here my preference went to the stronger whites. Number 1 would be the Meursault – Genevrières a rich wine with hinds of vanilla, wood (not too much) that can still ago for 8 years and would be a perfect match for foie gras or poultry. N°2 and 3 would be the Beaune du Château Premier Cru (Marzipan, almonds, grilled bread) and the Montagny Premier Cru (Honey).

I could keep talking about how they taste or with what they would go well, but there is only 1 way to find it all out yourself and that is by tasting it yourself (I know I say it every time, but it is true). Also I think this post it more than long enough and I hope you already learned something 🙂 BUT there is still more to learn!!

To be continued….

info about these wines like where you can buy them contact Peter Lauwerens: Cinoco – Le palais Du Vin 0475/595.3456 – peter.lauwerens@cinoco.com

Tour de France without bikes but with wine

November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

This year the main theme on my blog has been wine. I had the occasion to visit some vineyards across Europe, in Spain, Italy and Portugal and learn lots of new things . When my wife told me she had to travel to San Diego for a few weeks for business I saw this as the perfect opportunity to organize myself a little French wine trip together with one of my best friends Carlos. The main reason for traveling to France was because it is the wine country I know less about … so I found it the time to learn more about French wines 🙂 . The other reason is/was knowing that in a few months my daughter will be born and visiting vineyards will be out of the question for a while :-)… Reason enough not to travel to just 1 wine region, but to make it through 3 French wines regions… Going from Cornas (Rhône), through Beaune (Bourgogne) to end up in Damary (Champagne). It seemed very logical to start our trip with the most distant location which in this case was Cornas at the Jean-Luc Colombo vineyard. For people who are already following me for a while ‘Jean-Luc Colombo’ might sound familiar because I did already talk about their wines. A few years ago I had a sommelier lunch in company of the lovely Laure Colombo (daughter of…) who introduced us the world of their (Rhône) wines resulting that I their vineyard has been on my ‘wish/to do’ list ever since!

Jean-Luc Colombo’s vineyard is as mentioned located in Cornas, a town in the Northern part of the Rhône wine country where the main grape (aka cepage) used for the Red wines is Syrah (aka Shiraz for the Australians) and for the white wines Viognier and Marsanne. I emphasize that there vineyard is in the Northern part, is because there is a big distinction that can be made between Northern and southern… already starting with the use of different grapes as in the Southern part of the Rhône they mainly use the Grenache grape for the red wines. (Find here the complete grape list used in the Rhône region). We also couldn’t have picked a better day as it was the most beautiful (sunny) day they had in weeks… Unfortunately Laure wasn’t able to join us for the visit as she was held up in the UK… but she left in the good hands of Florie who revealed some Colombo’s ‘secrets’ for making a good Rhône wine. I did found it a pity I didn’t get to see where the magic happens aka winemaking itself is done, I would have really enjoyed to see it… on the other hand I did get to walk through the vines on a very sunny day and had a taste of some of their wines. When driving through this region I also got why people like coming here 🙂 Beautiful region

What I have learned over the last year is that there are so many different ways of winemaking, everybody tries to find his/her way to make the perfect wine year in year out… as they also keep perfecting and exploring their techniques or even finding new/better techniques . Obviously it are still the grapes itself that play the main role on how the wine will be, but it takes the masters touch/hand to turn the grape juice into a wonderful wine!! Just like an artist who is making a new painting or sculpture…

A few more facts(besides the grapes, but I already told you about that) I want to share with you like for example that 89% of the wine they produce in the Rhône valley is red wine and only 4% white wine… another important thing to know is that from the 5 soil types in Rhône Valley the Colombo family chose the most difficult to work with 🙂 as in Cornas there is a granite, basically a very hard soil and yet the vines seem to survive already hundreds of years and they have roots that grown up to 15 meters underground to find nutrition…Also all the little green areas (small forests) between the vineyards are protected by law as they have a very big influence on . The Cornas vineyards are as mentioned very old and go back to the 9^th and 10^th century!! Legend has it that Charlemagne himself tasted the wine when traveling through Cornas in the year 840, and liked it so much that he had some sent on to his residence in Aix la Chapelle…Historical !! 🙂

A big difference between the Jean-Luc Colombo vineyards and the ones from their colleague winemakers in the region is the way they plant and grown their vines. At the Colombo vineyard they grown the like rose arches (see picture below and I’m sure you’ll get what I’m talking about). One of the reasons for this is that this way the grapes won’t touch the soil. Something we also noticed was that they used tree bark in-between the vines, this is to keep the coldness underground and to keep the grass from growing in-between the vines…

Knowing that 89% of the wines produced in the Rhône valley are red, it won’t come as a surprise that most of the wines in the Jean-Luc Colombo range are red, but they do also have a few nasty white ones that I didn’t expect to find in this region… Trying all their wines would have been a too much, so Florie made a selection of her own favorites that she was sure would be of our liking. We started with tasting 2 white wines, the La Redonne with its fresh and very floral smell and the Belle de Mai that had not such an open smell, but you have a light buttery, nutty and woody scent. My preference went to the 2nd one because it had a richer taste eventhough the scent of the first was sooo nice 🙂 . The favorite reds were without ‘Les Méjéans’ that some very nice hinds of raspberry and was very mineral. The ‘Les Terres Brûlées’ on the other hand had a more concentrated scent of red fruits (jam), the taste was as lovely . Last but definitely not least was the ‘Les Ruchets‘ which maybe is my n°1 (of the wines we tasted that is), it was most complex/strong wine we tasted… I think it would even be better to enjoy it with some red meat of stronger cheeses… I know it were my favorites as I bought some bottles to drink at home 🙂 I’m also trying to describe the wines in the best way (not being a professional doesn’t make it easier)

Something nice to know is that all the names of the wines reference to parts of the city of Marseille where Jean-Luc Colombo is originally from. All drawings you’ll find on the labels of the bottles were designed by a local Cornas artist if I remember it right.

Sun, great wine, a lovely young lady joinng us… can you imagine a better way to spend a day?? Great start for our first stop on this French wine trip!!

BTW, I’m getting better and better keeping my blogposts “shorter” 😉

To be continued….

Visiting Megavino 2014

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

As mentioned in a previous blogpost, I’m not really a convention center person. I always feel like I’m begging for a glass of wine… I know that I shouldn’t feel like this, but in some way I do. On the other hand for many years I accompanied my dad and 2 of his friends to Vinitaly a wine convention in Verona (with around 5000 exhibitors/winemakers). The difference there was that this was I was able to spend more time with my dad (and a good excuse to travel) and we usually would also only visit the winemakers he knew personally and therefore it felt less like begging and more like just visiting a friend (which it also was). My visit to Megavino in Brussels this year was for the exact same reason, to visit friends… coincidentally mostly female friends that took me (and my friends) on a trip through their wines 🙂 🙂

My first stop was at the French Pavilion to join the always lovely Miss Vicky (that all of you probably all know from me mentioning her in some of previous blog posts). Not only is she a very nice French young lady, her life also turns ALL around wine. She makes wine, writes about wine, knows almost everything about wine and travels the world to share that wisdom and to bring together people to drink and share their experiences about wine both Miss Vicky as other wines (in a nutshell). One of Vicky’s goals (I think) is amongst other to put French wine in the picture again and give them a younger image. In which to my opinion she ( lots of French winemakers also support her in that mission) succeeds. Megavino this year was also a little family moment for Miss Vicky as she brought her whole family to the convention (besides her mom). Surprise , surprise, her whole family also work in the wine business 🙂 (besides her brother whose main activity is art). So I was able to try all their wines and I’m really not able to say which vineyard I preferred, Miss Vicky’s or her dad’s…. What I can say is that we (me and my friends) had a preference for their Fleurie (both Miss Vicky as from Domains des Moriers) because of the fact it is an easy to drink wine with a nice aftertaste and from Miss Vicky’s white’s I did like the fresh en fruitiness of the Beaujolais.

My next stop was to meet Claudia from Podere Marcampo. I had never met Claudia before, we only knew eachother from our correspondence over the internet 🙂 normally the plan was to visit her vineyard during my trip in Tuscany earlier this year, but due to a few schedule changes we didn’t make it happen… The combination of Claudia’s and her enthusiasm when we met at Megavino made me wanting to immediately join her to visit their vineyard in Italy :-). Podere Marcampo is a fairly new small vineyard (only 2ha of vines and around 10000 bottles a year) that was started around 2006 when father Del Duca purchased Podere Marcampo. Wine making isn’t (yet) their main focus as besides winemaking they also have already for many years a refined enoteca/restaurant in the historical centre of Volterra called Enotaca Del Duca (a must if you are ever in the area). They also have a Agriturismo in the middle of their vineyards on top of a hill with some breathtaking views (also around Volterra). I didn’t stay their yet myself, but one of my friends did and enjoyed every moment of their stay :-). Regarding their wines you can still feel and hear they are still looking for the exact direction they want to take and are still experimenting a bit… what you must know is that the area around Volterra is not really seen as a wine area as the climate isn’t as mild as for example 50 or 100km around them . Nevertheless this didn’t stop them (difficult is also an option 🙂 ). Because of the use of Sangiovese and Merlot grapes and the fact the wines aren’t too heavy, makes their wines an every person’s friend. I must be honest and admit that some of the wines I tasted were still a little too young, but still very drinkable 🙂 I’m already looking forward to try their wines when they are a bit older!

The frosting on the cake on this day was without any doubt the Master class I was able to take thanks to France Wine (UbiFrance) about wines in Amphora. It basically is a ceramic container in which they age and conserve wine already since the 8^th century before Christ!!! The reason I subscribed for this course was because it just intrigued me that a technique like this still god used after century’s aaaand that it was my friend top sommelier Cesar Roman who would be teaching the masterclass. It might seem unbelievable, but I learned quite a lot in those 45 minutes, like that the first signs of winemaking can be found in Georgia (country)… form all places I never expected it was Georgia 🙂 . And this is just one of the many things I learned, but I’ll be talking in more detail about this in one of my next posts. The taste of the wine wasn’t 100% my cup of tea 😉 (“of course not, it was wine 🙂 🙂 hahaha, sorry!! Bad joke I know) but just like with all wines, I’m sure there also some very good or better amphora wines of my liking…

I did visit more stands, but I wanted to keep it “short” 🙂

So even-though I’m not really a convention center person I did have a great time at Megavino! Thanks guys!

2014 Best Belgian Sommeliers Trophy

October 14, 2014October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

Wine has now more than ever become such a great deal of my life and I keep learning every day. Watching this year’s finals of the Best Belgian Sommelier competition made me realise there is still a very long way if I ever want to be as good as the finalists :-). What made this year’s final extra special is that for the first time the “Belgische Sommeliers Gilde”, “Prosper Montagé” and “VVS” have joined their forces in organising 1 collective competition (instead of all separate contests).

Every year again I am surprised how tough the finals of the Trophy of Belgian Sommelier is. Lots of people despise it a bit and don’t get the whole sommelier thing or the importance of it. Trust me when I say a good sommelier who knows what he’s talking about and how things should be done is a world of difference with one who doesn’t! During a dinner for example. I dear you to check it next few times you go out for dinner or lunch and after a while you’ll know what we’re talking about and their importance of making your food experience more complete! Another possibility would be to come and see the 2015 finals as they are open for everybody to come and see. You’ll be surprised of the level these guys work at. before I continue I must introduce this year’s victims 🙂 🙂 : Benoît Couderé (Karmeliet), Antoine Lehebel ( Villa Lorraine) and Jasper Van Papeghem ( Hostellerie L’ Esco )

Some parts of the competition might seem simple, but they’re not. What first of all makes it so difficult is that there are so many different types of wine from so many countries each having their uniqueness but also similarities.Also there some ways/ rules on how bottles should be opened, decanted and served… On top of that all stages of the competition are to be done in certain amount of time going from 3 to 15 minutes. The first “test” is for example a very good example of seeming simple… Just like last year the finalist had to serve according to the rules of the art a particular bottle of J.L Telmont champagne. So far nothing special might think, which is true if it weren’t for the fact the finalist has to explain what is special about the champagne he is serving, taking into account that the oldest person at the table is celebrating its birthday and that all of a sudden somebody from the public joins the table and asks a Belgian beer (and yes here again the finalist has to tell something about)… still taking into account he only has I think it was 10-15minutes (not sure anymore) to fulfill this task and there is a whole room full of top sommeliers, journalists and “regular” people watching your every move .

The most difficult part according to most spectators was where the finalist has to make corrections to a wine list. The errors on the wine list can be grammatical, a wine being in the wrong section of the menu, as well as that for example there is written a wine is Millésime but according to the other specifications it is not possible this wine is a Millésime. Me personally I always find the most difficult part the tasting and recognizing wines or alcoholic drinks… where they have to tell as much as possible about what they taste, like country, grapes, vintage, etc… knowing they (the jury) try everything to confuse the finalist by for example serving the drink in a black tinted glass. FYI the whole completion gets followed by a bailiff to make sure every happens correct and that all 3 finalist get treated in exactly the same way. Also the jury judging the finalist exists out of a international group of people of Top Sommeliers, Top wine journalists (no, not talking about myself ;-), but about somebody like Fiona Morrison for example). After all 3 participants did their thing the answers are show, this sometimes gives big surprises.

Again, I think I still have to learn a loooooooot before I could ever participate or to maybe even get close to level of the participants. This year’s winner was Antoine Lehebel ( Villa Lorraine)!!!! Last year he was 2^nd and before the start already a favorite. All 3 participants were very good, but Antoine gave the most correct answers and seemed the most fluent of all 3. Congratulations to Antoine! I must admit I was jealous about all the gifts he got :-). Another advantage of the joined forces of the organizers of the contest is that the winner gets even more gifts than last year 🙂 I hope to see you guys next year to get a new view on the world of sommeliers!

More about the celebration of the victory in my next post …

The mandatory holiday wine trip: Bodegas Beronia

September 29, 2014October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The last few years my interest for knowing more about wines has grown a lot. I’m also of the opinion that you learn the most about something (in this case wine) by visiting the actual vineyards instead of reading about it in books… That’s why mostly in the last 2 years I visited quit a few vineyards in Europe. Being only 1 ½ hour drive from the Rioja wine region during my stay at San Sebastian, it would be a crime not to visit some Bodegas… Like with the food I promised my beautiful wife that I would only be visiting 1 vineyard during our trip (although there were a few more I wanted to visit), so I had to choose wisely :-). Just like with the food in San Sebastian, here I again have the perfect excuse to come back to Rioja.

I decided to visit Bodegas Beronia, which was a decision I quickly made because the first time I tasted one of their wines at restaurant Pazzo in Antwerp I became a fan. I know there are lots of great Bodegas in Rioja like Muga or Viña Tondonia… but 1 vineyard is 1 vineyard and a promise a promise 🙂 and Bodegas Beronia seemed like the perfect place to start learning more about Rioja wines. Bodegas Beronia was founded in 1973 by a Gastronomy club and since 1982 is part of the Gonzalez-Byass group who helped Bodegas Beronia to grow and to invest in new technologies. In 1973 the winemaking was more to provide friends and family from wine, nowadays they produce around 5 million bottles and this without reducing the quality the founders aimed and cherished. They basically helped them to make an even better product.

Just like with all my blog posts about wine regions, also for Rioja wines there are a few basic things you should know. But don’t worry I won’t get to technical and try to keep it as simple as possible. Let me start with the Rioja region itself. This region can be subdivided in 3 regions – Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja. With the last area (Baja) being the most southern, where due to the drier and warmer climate than in the other 2 resulting in deeply coloured and higher/more alcoholic wines with some wines at 18% alcohol (due to the more sugar in the grapes because of the warmth). They usually blend this wine with wine from the other 2 regions. Rioja Alta on the other hand is close to the little town called Haro and as “Alta” may already make suspect is also located more North. Rioja Alta is also the region where Bodegas Beronia is located. In the Alta region (located higher above sea level) produces brighter fruit flavored wines and in comparison with the ones from the Baja region with a lesser alcoholic percentage. The most full body wines will be produced in the Alavesa region. So mix the 3 together and you have a winner ;-). I must also add that most of the wines produced in the Rioja are red, you can also get white and rosé wines (some also very good ones), but the focus is mostly on red wines.

To make the Rioja wines they always use a blend (mix) from a few grape variaties mostly Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Graciano, and Mazuelo. Just FYI, the Tempranillo will make that you can age the wine more. For the white ones they will mostly use Macabeo in combination with another grape like Malvasia for example.

FYI, just like in other wines region in Rioja there also is a Supervising board to make sure the wine is made according to the rules and tradition. For example vineyards can only use small barrels not the huge ones you sometimes see in other wine regions… or the cost of the grapes used to make Rioja must exceed by at least 200% the national average of wine grapes used in all Spanish wines.

The aging of the Rioja wines happens in French oak, American oak or both types of oak. The biggest reason (historically) why they also started using American oak is that French oak was getting very expense back in the days… and this would in the end result in the wine makers having to sell their wines more expensive and having less competitive price

After the location and grapes used is maybe the difference between the types of wines. There are 4 categories:

Rioja: less than 1 year aging in wooden barrels
Crianza: aged for at least 2 years from which 1 at least in wooden barrels. At Bodegas Beronia. 1 year in wooden barrels and the rest in bottle.
Rioja Riserva: aging at least 3 years of which at least 1 in wooden barrels. At Bodegas Beronia it stays 18 months in wooden barrels and 18 months in bottle before being released.
Rioja Gran Riserva: aging at least 2 years in wooden barrels and 3 years in bottle and only produced in exceptional years. In case of Bodegas Beronia the last vintage for the Gran Riserva was 2005 and aged 24 months in French and American oak and I don’t think it has yet been released on the market

The references I make to the Bodegas Beronia wines above are the ones from the Classic range as they also have a few other ranges like Single variety (100% wine of 1 type of grape), Premium Range (special vintages) and ecological wines.

A vineyard visit without tasting is like going to a bakery without buying bread… Bodegas Beronia or better Julia and Maria-Jesus assembled a collection of wines for me to tasting out of the first 3 wine ranges. If you don’t know much about wines and want to get introduced or better to get used to the Rioja wine taste the best way to do this by tasting the Single variety wines that as mentioned are made 100% from 1 grape kind (Tempranillo, Graciano, Viura and Mazuelo). You can see them as an “everybody’s friend”. With as exception the Mazuelo as it has a quit exceptional taste that most people would only appreciate accompanied by a good steak or aged red meat (or strong cheeses)… so more for the advanced wine lover to taste without food :-). I liked the Mazuelo a lot even without the food and can’t wait to heat up the BBQ for that meat 😉 to complete the wine taste even more. Oh yes, a taste I liked a lot in this wine was the taste en smell of mele cotogne jam (I think in English this is called quince apples) which brings me back to my family in Croatia who filled pancakes with this jam 🙂 and is a standard to eat when I visit them.

The Classic Range (or better Reserva and Gran Reserva) and Premium wines where definitely of a next level and 100% my cup of tea. It was actually their Rioja Reserva that convinced me of their quality a few years ago at restaurant Pazzo and during my tasting at the Bodega convinced me again. Having a alcohol percentage between 13,5 and 14% and having aged in new oak barrels their taste is much more elegant, fruity and fresh than one would expect. You would expect a more aggressive and wood taste and scent. Which one I liked best if difficult to say, that’s why I bought all of them to try again at home 😉 (Les excuses sont fait pour s’en server). I have already done the effort of not going to the top restaurants, so some wine for me seems like an honest alternative.

No the real reason is just because they all have their particular taste and depending on the occasion one wine will be more fitting than the other. Still keeping some similarities between for example the Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva in the chocolate and mature black/red fruit taste. Sometimes I did smell things thanks to the help of Maria-Jesus, because sometimes you just can’t put your finger on what it exactly is. The frosting on the cake however was the Reserva 198 Barricas so if I must really choose a favourite it would be this one (I think because of the slightly more spice aromas, but also because it was just good 🙂 ). Again here as these wines are stronger it is better to enjoy these wines paired with a meal, some cured ham or cheese.

Mmmm, not as short as I had hoped to keep it… ah well that’s the way it is 😉 Tonight I’ll sit back and relax with a nice glass of Rioja wine 🙂 hope you will too. Hope you learned something new thanks to this post?! I know I did…

A special thanks to Julia and Maria-Jesus for their wonderful explanation and introducing me more in the world of Rioja wines !

Top lunch with Top sommeliers at a Top location

August 29, 2014October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

It is not every day that you get a blind wine tasting lunch in the company of 11 top sommeliers and if they then add that it is at Villa Lorraine in Brussel aka one of the most historical restaurants in Belgium, one just cannot refuse. For those who don’t know Villa Lorraine, this was the first restaurant outside of France to be awarded with 3 Michelin stars in the 1970’s. In 2010 after 61 (opened in 1953) and the founder’s death, Marcel Kreusch ‘s family decided to sell the restaurant. Nowadays it is head chef Alain Bianchin taking the lead and making sure very delicious dishes leave the kitchen. Since the re-opening 4 years ago Villa Lorraine has already been awarded again with 1 Michelin star. FYI The restaurant is divided in 2 parts. One part is the “gastronomical” part and at the other side there is a brasserie, where in case you find a bit more economical or better less “complicated” but still very refined dishes on the menu than at the Michelin awarded part.

Before I continue I do want to add that for this post I chose to use the pictures taken by the professional photographer (Pascal Hermans) from that was present during the lunch as I would never be able to make such beautiful pictures myself. Just FYI in case you thought I became a great photographer over night 😉

The aim of this lunch was to learn more about and to discuss the theme wine(s) and to get to learn new products or get a new impression of ones you already knew. I also think there’s no better way to do this than amongst professionals (besides me, as I’m not a pro yet) This is why they had brought togehter 11 top sommeliers like William Wouters (previous Comme Chez soi, Villa Lorraine) Cesar Roman (Comme Chez soi), Gregory van Acker (De Jonkman), Antoine Lehebel (Villa Lorraine) Luca Gardini (Italian sommelier nominated in 2010 as World’s best sommelier) to name a few and Lorenzo Zonin (winemaker and ambassador of Zonin winery) who was also the person who to take the initiative to have this kind of lunch. To make the lunch more fun and also more open for an honest discussion he decided to make the wine tasting during the lunch a blind tasting. Due to the fact that you don’t know the wine you are actually tasting you won’t be influenced by its name or the vineyard and therefor you’ll be more honest in your responses. What basically happened during the lunch is that with every course we got 3 different wines from which (without being able to see the bottle) you had to tell if the wine was either French or Italian and from which Vintage it was 🙂 . This is where you separate the boys from the men and you get to see how the pro’s do it 🙂

It was Lorenzo Zonin himself who had picked out the wines for the blind tasting, both wines from their own estates as from French friend estates. Which shows that winemakers are also open for other wines then their own :-). Unbelievable but true, 3 people where able to guess the country and vintage of all wines… I unfortunately wasn’t one of those 3, but I was pretty happy with my result that from 95% of the wines I was already able to tell if they were French or Italian. (Proud of myself). In my defense, I don’t get to taste new wines every day like a pro :-). The problem with these kind of tasting (for me) is that lots of times the wine smells and tastes familiar, but I just can’t put my finger on which one it is or from where I know the smell. Just like with sports or with anything you want to be good at, here it is also practice that will help you to get better and good guidance by a pro (which I’m very happy to have).

I’m sure you guys are very curious on finding out which wines it were we had to guess and what we ate with it? I’m gonna tell you anyhow (even if you don’t want to know 😉 ) and I’ll be honest what the answers were that I thought they were (the ones that I can still remember that is 🙂 )

After some bubbles (Ca’bolani prosecco) to open out taste buds it was time to start our lunch and the real work. For our first course, raw and smoked salmon with a dill cream we were served the following wines:

Wine 1: 2013 White Bordeaux by Doisy-Daëne -> very floral smell, but you could immediately guess it was from Bordeaux
Wine 2: 2009 Aquilis by Ca’bolani -> I first thought this was more a Vernaccia from Monte Oliveto, but I was wrong 🙂 (but at the moment itself I wrote Vermentino, but I actually mend Vernaccia)
Wine 3: 2008 Sancerre Blance by Vincent Delaporte (from Chavignol terroir). This was the most difficult to guess from the white wines. Couldn’t immediately place it, besides it being from France.

The mean course we got served Cuckoo from ‘Malines’ with girolle mushrooms and grenaille potatoes. I glad they chose for a lighter main course. Very soft flavors and cooked “comme il faut”.

With this dish we were served the following wines

Wine 4: 2010 Rocca di Montemassi
Wine 5: 2010 Margaux by Chateau Siran For this wine Luca Gardini could even tell the vineyard it came from (#impressed 😉 )
Wine 6: 2010 Clos Floridene

What followed was some cheese. Now I’m not sure that you know this, but I’m not a cheese lover, so I just had the salad… I know, I have already tried it a lot, but most cheeses just don’t float my boat.

Wine 7: 2009 Acciaiolo by Castello d’abola: One of my favourites from the Zonin Gamma and is the best of Tuscany in a glass.
Wine 8: 2011 Château Valandraud: This what a tricky one :-).
Wine 9: 2011 Symposio by Principi di Butera: the thing with southern wines like this is that they seem aged, but in fact aren’t. The reason for this is the strength of the grapes and its alcohol percentage (thanks to the lots of sunhours year round)

One just has to end the meal in beauty, both for the food as the wine. For as far as the wines were concerned 1 I recognized immediately as it is one of my favorites and one of the best of its kind aka the Vin Santo from Castello d’albola. Like an angel peeing in your mouth….For the dessert or better desserts 🙂 Yes one cannot stand on 1 leg very long. I’m sure the pictures of the dessert say enough?

Just for the record, the wines we had with our desserts

Wine 10: 2004 Vin Santo by Castello d’albola (A must try for everybody!!!)
Wine 11: 2010 Sauterne by Doisy-Daëne

And as this was not enough I enjoyed another glass of Vin santo with some ‘friandises’

FYI, this was a tasting, so we didn’t always drink the entire glasses of wine 🙂 just a sip of every glass…

I couldn’t encourage initiatives like this more than I do know… may lots of these follow!!I had a wonderful meal and wonderful wines….

The moral of my blog post and this lunch is basically that wine is such a wonderful product and that even-though you might drink it every day, there is more in it than that… I mean so many new tastes to discover and when you think you know something 100% I’m sure one moment or the other you’ll be proven wrong. Basically a subject where the conversations about it will never stop. The outcome of this lunch is that everything we wrote down about the wines during the tasting will help wine estates like Zonin to keep making good products for everybody’s taste. So basically next time you taste a wine you’ll know that for 1 millionth I helped making that wine 🙂 🙂

I do know that not everybody will be able to have a tasting this way, but I’m sure if you go to Villa Lorraine (or any other restaurant with a good sommelier) and ask Antoine to surprise you with the wines and keep it a secret until the en… I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take you on a journey through the wonderful world of wine!

One last special message to Gregory: I didn’t forget that you’re going on holiday to Santorini (it only took you to tell me 3 times) . The reason I’m saying this is because I asked Gregory 3 times during the lunch where he was going on holiday (I swear it was NOT the wine and I was listing to what he was telling, I sometimes just forget quickly) 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks again to everybody for making this such a great experience! Also a special thanks to Hasselt Millesime (especially Cathérine) for helping Lorenzo getting this organized in Belgium!!

A reason to smile: Taylor’s port

August 4, 2014October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Since my visit to Tio Pepe last year I became a very big fan of wines like Sherry, Porto and Madeira (as they are more or less similar products). So I figured now that I was doing a Portugal trip and stopping in Porto, a visit to a Port lodge is just obliged! I am of the opinion that if you do something you do it well and therefore if you want to visit a Port Lodge you visit one that makes a high quality product… which in this case lead me to the Lodge of Taylor’s or better Taylor’s, Fladgate and Yeatman as those are all 3 names of the founders from Taylor’s Port and the full name (FYI, this is still a family owned Brand). First things first, there are a few things you should know about Port wine before we can talk more about Taylor’s itself (although one can’t go without the other 🙂 ).

I already mentioned it a few times in previous posts , the wine itself gets made in the Douro valley where the grapes are actually picked and later in the process they will be transported to Vila Nova de Gaia to age. Of course there is more to it to make a Port. There around 48 different types of grapes that port makers use to make Port wines, in the case of Taylor’s they only use 10 of those4 white varieties and 6 red of which 30% is still pressed by trampling them barefoot (so not using a machine). The manual trampling is because it gives the best result, not entirely because of tourism. I’m sure you have already heard some people speak about Ruby or Tawny and maybe if you are lucky also about Vintage or LBV (Late Bottled Vintage), but have no clue what the differences are? Well let me enlighten your thoughts by briefly explaining it to you (trying to keep it as short as possible). The most important things to know is that the 2 big port wine “types” or “families” are Tawny and Ruby all the other terms used are usually indicating a special type of those 2…

Let’s start with Ruby (Vintage) that thanks its name because of its color resembling the color of the ruby stone/diamond . Ruby ages in large(old) barrels (in case of Taylor’s always wooden barrels) as they don’t want a hard wood smell/flavor in the wine. This wine gets made with the best grapes from good years.

LBV (Ruby style) stands for Late Bottled Vintage. LBV gets made every year from the best Ruby grapes. Once it is put in a bottle it won’t change or age further anymore. Best is when you open the bottle to decant it, otherwise there might get oxidation in the bottle and you will have some expensive vinegar :-). Also the difference with the Vintage would be just like the name indicates is that it is bottled later… It is also important that once you opened the bottle to drink it within 3 months if you want to enjoy it in the optimal conditions and maximum flavors.

Tawny on the other hand gets aged in smaller wooden barrels (French oak) giving them a slightly woodier flavor, but not too much as they use old barrels. Taylor’s also prefers their wines having a herbal taste instead of a wood taste. Tawny also gets made with a combination of grapes from different years. Differently than Ruby, Tawny does change over the years in the bottle, it will get a lighter color. Tawny is also best served a little bit cooler. It is also best to drink the Tawny within 6 months

Something you should also know is that Taylor’s doesn’t sell his used barrels like some other Port makers. They re-use their old barrels (they repair them of course) as when they are older than 60 years they don’t give any more flavor to the wines in them… the oldest barrel that still gets used is one from 1864… talking about an investment.

I think this is already a good base for you to know about Port, if you want the Port making process in more detail, please check following link.

The tour around the Lodge was nice, but tasting the finished product is even nicer (also if you do it in company of a real port specialist like Luis Carneiro). As I might have already told, is that Taylor’s Port house is part of a group of Port 3 port houses: Taylor’s, Fonseca & Croft. These 3 together are aka the Fladgate Partnership :-). Which made the tasting better as we tasted all Port from all 3 estates. This tasting taught us that although they all belong to 1 group, each one still has their own identity, tasts and uniqueness. This is first of all because of the location of each estate and grapes (see on map below), as the altitude, north/south location, types of grapes, etc… will have a big influence on the finished product.

If we would have to draw a line between the 3 different brands or give characteristics that make them different, I would say that Taylor’s is the most straight and stronger taste (less sweet taste), Fonseca a more rounder and more fruity (a nice cherry after taste 🙂 and slightly sweeter ) and Croft as the sweetest from all 3, but then again also very play full flavors… In general my preference went to the 20 (30 and 40) year old tawny Taylor’s ports and Single harvest Port from 1964 as my favorites because of their round, full and nutty flavor. My fiancée had a bigger preference for the Fonseca & Croft ports, I think because they were a bit sweeter and fruiter… and I think she definitely liked the 2009 LBV from Croft because of its chocolaty flavors :-). One thing is sure that Port wine is best for at the beginning or end of a meal as during it might become a bit heavy (minimum 19,5% alcohol). Like with all things, this is a personal taste… and my biggest problem like with all visits to vineyards is that I want them all in my collection 😦 . That’s it I’m moving to a warehouse 🙂 😉

FYI, please check following link to find out the best way to serve Port wines. I’m also convinced that if you are not used yet to drink Port wines the best is to start with the White or for example the Bin 27 by Fonseca or maybe using a Croft Pink in a cocktail (mixed with Tonic water, few leafs of mint and slice of lemon) . After this the next level would be the LBV and if you get used to it the vintages…

I did get hungry from all that tasting, so a “light” lunch at the Barão Fladgate Restaurant in the Taylor’s lodge (open for public). I followed our host on taking a succulent piece of Lombinho meat with a Port sauce, my fiancée on the other hand preferred keeping it light (although she made up for it with a dessert) and took the Turbot with sepia Linguini. For with our 40 year old Taylor Port we chose the perfect dessert for on a summer’s day, they heaviest (but definitely worth it) chocolate dessert from the menu: Chocolate cake with dark chocolate sauce, milk chocolate mousse and white chocolate mousse.

PEOPLE, please stop seeing Sherry, Port or Madeira as old people drinks!!! Just try a good Port (or Sherry or Madeira) and a whole new world will be opening for you, one with lots of flavors and with lots of history!!! DO IT 🙂 you won’t regret it, I promise you (and don’t buy the junk Ports, buy a good one or try a good one in a place where you know they only serve good stuff)

THE END!

Every wine is their best wine: Niepoort

July 29, 2014October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I have already met quite a few winemakers, but non as “crazy” about wines as Dirk Niepoort, owner and fifth generation of the Niepoort winery. Niepoort has so many different types of wine in its assortment that I think not even Dirk himself knows 100% how many they actually make 🙂 🙂 Next to their “regular” gamma of wines and Port wines, Dirk also has something he calls “projects” (basically Dirk’s playground 🙂 ) . These “projects”go from making a Portuguese Riesling to making Baga to …. Niepoort even has an own app for your Smartphone where you can find almost all their wines (including some of the projects), but I’m sure there are still other projects that haven’t been officialised yet and therefore aren’t on the app yet. BTW, Dirk also loves to taste good wines (also non-Niepoort), he didn’t tell me, but something gave it away 🙂 (see pictures below)

We had an appointment to meet Dirk Niepoort in Quinta de Nápoles in the Douro valley, but due to unforeseen circumstances he was only able to meet us in the evening, so it was the lovely Gabriella who showed us around the estate and introduced us to the wonderful world of Niepoort wines where we enjoyed again some very beautiful views of the Douro valley.

The Niepoort vineyard can be subdivided in 2 parts, the Port wine vineyard and the “regular” wine vineyard. Like with all Port makers, Niepoort also age most of their Port wines in Villa nova de Gaia. Their regular wines on the other hand in Quinta de Nápoles in the Douro valley. When you first arrive at this Quinta you think it is a small vineyard as you only see 2 small houses, but once you enter them you notice that half the hill ( at the interior 4 levels down) is all part of the wine estate and is where the wines are made and age. Inredible!! With a total wine production between 1,5 and 2 million bottles a year (depending on harvest, etc… of course)… Niepoort is seen as a big vineyard amongst the small ones and a “small” one of the big ones :-). I must be honest with you and admit that until maybe 1 or 2 years ago I was of the idea that Niepoort only produced Port wines, so that is why my visit to the vineyard was mostly with a focus on their regular wines… What I won’t be doing is describe all their wines, as that would make my blogpost even bigger than they usually already are + they are already very well described on their website that I would just be doing double work. So in case you want to know all their wines and project do check the Niepoort website or download the free app of your Smartphone or tablet. A nice thing to know is that the first wine Dirk Niepoort made since his “leadership” of the Niepoort vineyard was the 1990 Robustus that back in the 90’s didn’t get released, but since 2004 got tributed under the same name (and I’m sure also an improved version). Not sure why it didn’t get released in 90’s though…

For me Niepoort wines are fun wines, first of all because of the fun product in the bottle, but also because of the bottles itself or better their labels. You will ALWAYS be able to recognize a Niepoort wine (even from a far distance) thanks to its “stamp-like” labels (or at least, that is what it reminds me of – check picture below) and their country specific labels… Yes, country specific labels. They have a particular type of wine (Fabulous wines) for which they had asked designer Cordula Allesandri to make a comic book story to label their bottles and for each country a different one… It’s almost a pity to throw away the bottle afterwards… (I had a few “Allez santé” at home). A collector’s item I guess …although I’m not really the type of person who likes to keep the bottles too long in their cellar as they are to “njammy” to not touch…

Dirk Niepoort is “private” person, someone who doesn’t talk that much when you first meet him (at least that the impression I had, but it could have been because of me of course). Once you start talking about and tasting wines you see him opening up with sparkles in his eyes… and the enthusiasm to have you taste all his best wines and all his new wine projects. If it were for Dirk, I think he would have opened every barrel. I know I keep repeating myself, but it is so much more fun to be around a person who is passionate about something and who wants to teach you something than somebody who doesn’t like what he’s doing… and Dirk has that enthusiasm x 10 🙂 and the amount of knowledge he has about wines from all over the world, WOW!

Luckily for us we visited Niepoort on ‘Dia de São João’aka St. John’s as because of this we could join the celebration that goes along to this day involving food and meeting interesting people. On Dia de São João it is tradition to eat grilled sardines and a local soup… to make a long story short, we had a wonderful celebration with lots of food and some great Niepoort wines… basically it all comes down to that it are the simple things in life that make people happy not matter how rich or famous… Simple food and wine in the company of Friends and/ or family . Events like this are also what I dream of whole year while working in Belgium…

Niepoort has such a wide range of Ports and wines that it is difficult to really indicate a favorite, I mean for every moment or occasion you’ll find the perfect wine due to their difference and particularity. Each wine is as good as all the passion, know-how, good products and devotion you put in them, this makes that every wine you make is your best wine… Although I would suggest to try all of them, from the Ports I loved their Colheita’s and from their “regular” wines to many to mention… my wine-cabinet will be to small for all the new wines I’ll be buying after my Portugal trip 🙂

Enjoy!

Spinelli's Dolce Vita

My passion for life

Wine

Tour de France without bikes but with wine and bubbles: J de Telmont

Tour de France without bikes but with wine: Maison Louis Jadot

Tour de France without bikes but with wine – Bouchard

Tour de France without bikes but with wine

Visiting Megavino 2014

2014 Best Belgian Sommeliers Trophy

The mandatory holiday wine trip: Bodegas Beronia

Top lunch with Top sommeliers at a Top location

A reason to smile: Taylor’s port

Every wine is their best wine: Niepoort