Vineyards

Wine discovery at the aperos de bordeaux part II

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In the surveying eyes of  cyclist Stanneke Ockers I went to the last Aperos Vintage de Bordeaux in Antwerp or better. I must admit that I liked this edition a lot, even better than the one from last week!!

I don’t  know what it was that made this better, but there was something that gave me a great feeling from the moment I walked in café Mombasa . Like I come here every week … the place was really packed! Café Mombassa is a corner bar right in front of the city hall of Borgerhout with an interior  you would see in weekend issues  of Weekend Knack magazine or or some other interior magazine… It doesn’t get more vintage than this. With one remarkable item, namely the original bicycle from Stanneke Ockers  ok and maybe also the very large picture of him :)….

After a few minutes the South of border band featuring Bruno de Bruxelles started playing, they played a mix of jazzy, Latin American and bluesy music. This made the evening even smoother.

But ofcourse this was a wine event, so the main thing I was here for, was wine 🙂

I first started off with a nice glass of bubbles, a Crémant de bordeaux blanc –Cuvée Andrea by La réserve de Pabus, a very nice refreshing starter to loosen my taste buds (for who wants to know, almost 100% use of Sémillon grape).  You can’t stand on one leg (or not long)… so I continued with a glass of Crémant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé by Jaillance, an immediate taste of red fruits. A real harmony in my mouth. This rosé crémant was made entirely out of Merlot grapes (that you might know is one of my preferred grapes). So far my evening was only going crescendo… it looked promising for what was to follow.

As you might remember from last  I wasn’t really crazy about the white Bordeaux wines… but the Graves by Château Pont de Brion  that I had this time did have everything  to convince me. You could taste that this was a wine that had been in a barrel for a while, also it was a very full taste in your mouth… some might call it a more complex flavor. In the “technical” details it said taste of pineapple, but I didn’t really taste this (but that could just be me 🙂 ). Le moment supreme of the evening was the red Fronsac by Clos du Roy a wine with a lot of character and 90% Merlot which gives it a notions of red fruit (but I’m sure you remember this from my post from last week).   All 4 wines would be wines I see myself adding to my collection of wines …

So conclusion, I passed a very nice evening and I hope that the organisation will have some more of these great after work Aperos vintage de Bordeaux, maybe in Gent ? If they do, all you guys should check this out! What more do you need than a good bar, nice wine and good music (and I have to admit, nice young ladies 🙂 )

For all of you who would want to buy some of the wines , you can do so via www.bordeaux-coups-de-coeur.be

A night at Aperos vintage de Bordeaux

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I finally managed to get to the Aperos Vintage de Bordeaux in Antwerp at Café Vitrin last week. I really like the concept of Aperos Vintage, they looked for great locations that change every week. On top of that they always manage to have great music live music or Dj’s , this week’s musical part got done by Bent Van Looy (Das Pop) and last but not least a wide variety of Bordeaux wines.  Also the vineyards that introduced their wines change every week. So basically all the ingredients for a successful event! I must really say that they succeeded in their aim.  The location was really great, I had already passed by Café vitrin lots of times, as the name might already reveal that there are a lot of windows 🙂 and this actually made the café look bigger. Another reason why they can call it a success is because there were a lot of people, I even bumped into some old friends of mine 🙂 which is always great.

But ofcourse the Key element of this event is/were Bordeaux wines. My first question would be, what do you guys actually know about Bordeaux? Besides maybe a few names like Margaux, Saint-Emilion, Pomerol…you might have picked up. Did you know that there are also white, rosé and sparkeling Bordeaux wines?  Something that I personally find very important is at least knowing where Bordeaux is located

And also what the different are in this region vineyards  or ‘Terroires’ like the French  call them.

Don’t worry I’m not going to stuff your heads with tons of information about wine. But I’m convinced that there are always things that one should know… This way you’ll be able to jump into the conversation when the wine topic comes up next time :-).

Red Bordeaux wines are mostly made from 3 kinds of grapes  Merlot, Carbernet-Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (some also add some Malbec or Petit verdon). For those who want to know more about grapes, check this website . Personally I do prefer the wines that have a higher percentage of Merlot, as they are more fruity. A Cabernet for example would be much more powerful and herbal like.

For the white wines the grapes that are mostly used would be Sauvignon, Sémillon and Muscadelle (some also add for example Merlot Blanc). For the white wines the Sauvignon will mostly give a more citrus kind of flavor to your wine, so basically it gives the wine some freshness.

I think that will do for the moment 🙂 I could keep telling you guys more things, but I have to stop somewhere. But for those who are interested, let me know, and I’ll get you some more info.

Back to Aperos. The best part of the evening, trying the wines 🙂

I tried following wines:

White wines:

–          Château Merlet – Cuvée Les Collines Fleuries by Cordier

–          Château Montfollet – Le Valentin by Chateaux Solidaires

Red Wines

–          Château Le Clairiot by UniVitis

–          Château La Grosse Pierre – Cuvée la fontaine  by Tutiac

–          Château Beauséjour Hostens

–          La source de château Goubau

My preference went to the ‘Beauséjour’ and ‘La Source’, both stronger wines (I like). The La source was more fruity and then the beauséjour and had a nice aftertaste. This thanks to the higher percentage of Merlot. My personal nr 1 would be the La source. The other 2 wines Grosse Pierre and Le Clairiot are lighter wines and are more as apero.

Overall very nice wines for a great budget and a wonderful concept!! Looking forward to explore next week’s Aperos Vintage wines!

Aperos vintage de Bordaux goes Antwerp!

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All you people that were not able to taste the wonderful Bordeaux wines in the streets of Brussels, don’t feel sad! First of all because tomorrow you still have the change of going. Secondly because  starting from  November 9th the Aperos Vintage story continues, but this time in Antwerp!!

The Brussels event has already been a huge success, will you help to make the Antwerp edition an even bigger success?

In case you don’t remember about this event (shame on you), you can read all about it in one of my previous blogposts

The first dates for Antwerp are already available:

Wednesday  9 november at Café Vertigo

Draakplaats 3, 2018 Antwerp

www.cafevertigo.be

Wednesday  16 november at Vitrin Café

Marnixplaats 14, 2000 Antwerp

www.vitrin.eu

Wednesday  23 november at Café Mombassa

Moorkensplein 37, 2140 Antwerp

www.cafemombasa.be

 

But those who still want to expierence the Brussels edition:

Wednesday  26 october at Bar du Matin

Chaussée d’Alsemberg 172, 1050 Brussels. Metro Albert 3

Concert van Jack Fire

 

See you in Antwerp!

And yet we went to another vineyard

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Today my aunt asked my something I have never heard before… she wanted to invite us to a restaurant???? She never did this, as she makes everything better herself. So not accepting it is not an option. Apparently lately she does this more often together with some friends 🙂 (which is really great)  She invite us to this very nice restaurant near the Slovenian boarder, Azienda agricola Stanig aka “Al vecchio Gelso” Which is also a vineyard 🙂 (I like). She actually wanted to take us to Stanig, as she had already been here a couple of times and liked very much. But also because she knows my brother is really crazy about the local wine called “Ribola Gialla” which you have in the form as a regular white wine and as a kind of spumante that I actually didn’t know also existed. So she wanted us to taste it and when maybe even take a few bottles for my brother. When I arrived at this restaurant I immediately knew this was something I liked, surrounded by vineyards, apple trees, etc…. lovely.

We first got offered a glass of this famous “Ribolla” or as they call it “Ribollicine”, and I can guaranty that it was indeed good. The grape has a realy nice smooth taste with tones of citrus in it. Really worth trying!!

But ofcourse we didn’t only come to drink :-)!We also had some delicious food. Do you remember my blogpost from Piemonte when I talked about restaurant Gemma? Well this was the same kind of restaurant, everything homemade, with love, very friendly people and more food than you can eat. As an antipasto, we started light with some San Daniele ham and some local cheese. We then took a Trio from pasta (as we couldn’t choose) Orzotto with the first broccoli from the season (like risotto, but with orzo instaid of rice), a kind of lasagna with pork sausage sauce and tagliatelle with porcini.   To accompany this we had a local red wine “Schioppettino“, an interesting taste, a more herbal kind of wine… I don’t think it would match with everything, but the bottle was empty at the end, so it couldn’t have been bad. (btw if you don’t finish your bottle, they give it to you to take home) We didn’t finish eating yet 🙂 as ‘secondo’ or main course we took the ‘involtini di’anatra’ (duck roll), roast and rabbit. They all came with a slice of white polenta and for the whole table we took some “zucchini”, “potatoes baked in the oven with rosemary” and some spinach. There was NO more room for dessert, only for a coffee.

As we were at the vineyard and I had wanted to take a few bottles of “Ribolla” for my brother I also took the liberty of buying an extra box of wine for me and my brother with an assortiment of the regional wines… And may I just say that the wines from Stanig have a nice tase. One of my preferred red wines from this region would be “Merlot’ (more than Cabernet’, for the white wines my preference would go to the Tokai Friulano (previously known as Tokai), but the Malvasia and Sauvignon are also very nice.

And may I also add that I like the look of the bottles (I know what is in it is more important, but they really look nice)

After our diner and wine purchase we did a little walk across the vineyard and set sail to go back home (to eat some more in the evening) after having a wonderful and tasty lunch.

FYI, as this is an agriturismo they also have rooms available…. Just a suggestion

Beni di Batasiolo

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As you could read in my previous posts, I’m currently visiting a longtime friend (Fiorenzo) from my father, who owns together with his family the ‘Batasiolo’ vineyard. But that is not the only reason this wine house is close to my heart, also for products they offer and produce.

Already being the 3rd generation (4th and 5th are also already ensured), you can be sure that the Dogliani family knows what they are doing. The name Batasiolo was only given to the ‘Azienda’ or vineyard around 1978, before they used to call it “Cantina Chiola”.

What really keeps surprising me is that eventhough Batasiolo is exporting to more than 63 countries worldwide, they are still able to keep the same high level taste and still have the same respect for the traditions of making wine.

MY personal favorite Batasiolo wines are:

La Corda della Briccolina, Barolo DOCG (red)

Sovrana, Barbera d’Alba doc  (red)

Bricco di Vergne, Dolcetto d’Alba doc (red)

Langhe Doc Rosso (red)

Granée, Gavi DOCG (white)

Bosc dla Rei, Moscato d’Asti docg (dessert)

Langhe Chardonnay DOC (white)

Ofcourse the most famous wine they are producing is without any doubt the Barolo (and I’m sure everybody knows this wine) that is a monovitigno wine. The reason for that is that they only use 1 kind of grape, the Nebbiolo. Barolo is also one of those wines you keep in your winecellar for years, 20 years easily. As you might already expect, this is a stronger kind of wine J not your every day table wine 🙂 .

The other day I had a tour around the ‘factory’ to see how the wine gets made, because what better moment then during the vendemmia??

Staying right in the middle of the vineyards, I got to see the workers picking the grapes.

But being a bigger wine house and making sure being able always stay at the same level, Batasiolo searches for the best new techniques and machinery to make this possible.

What I didn’t know (and I already know Batasiolo a lot of years), is that they also make special “Kosher” wine for the local Jewish people, who at the moment I was there were checking if the making respected the Jewish traditions. And as Batasiolo is already doing this for some years I think they are indeed respecting them 🙂

Basically first the grapes get squeezed to get the juices out (for the precious Barolo Nebbiolo grapes, the machine even separates the fruit from the pit and for the white wine it even peels it??? Wow, what a machine.

I just needed to add the next picture, because I really like engraved wood.

And as I said I really really find it amazing the machines like the one on the below picture, that clean the bottle, fill it, label it, close it, put it in a box, but the box on a pallet, etc…. I admire the person who invented this!!

And I’m sure it will not surprise that I tasted wine that morning (yes, at 10 o’clock), we tried 3 Barolos, from different vineyards from Batasiolo… and they all 4 tasted different… what could be seen a strange,, as they are from the same grape and treated in the same way… but in fact it is nature who helps a hand to give them all something different. I also tried the Sovrana (that I really like a lot) and the Barbaresco… (I just had a sip from the wine, I didn’t drink it all 🙂

If you have the chance, you should really taste the Batasiolo wines as they are really Worldclass!! (let me know when, then I’ll join you guys 😉

A sip of Grappa for an instant Italian feeling

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In my last year of high school  we had to choose a product that we had to work around the whole year. We had to write a marketing plan, plan some advertising, etc…. to promote and sell your product. I chose Grappa.  My first choice was actually Whiskey, but my dad made me change my mind 🙂

You might find it a strange choice, but I changed my mind because Grappa was/is a product people aren’t familiar with. I know that the teachers didn’t complain about my choice 🙂 .

What is grappa actually? Grappa is a distillated liquid made from the grape left overs  after making wine.

When you would use the whole grape (or fruit) this liquid would be an “Aquavit” and not “Grappa”. What would obviously make that “Aquavit” has a softer taste, while “Grappa” has a much stonger taste. Grappa’s origin is in Italy, the parts close to Slovenia/ Croatia, like Friuli, Veneto, Alto Adige,…  

Within the Grappa itself you also have a distinction:

–          Monovitigno: made from 1 kind of grape

–          Polivitigno: consists out of all different kinds of grapes (as well white as red)

–          Aromatic grape: like the Moscato grape

My preferred Grappa and Aquavit distillery would be Nonino , which was also the company I worked with for my highschool thesis. To learn more about how the Grappa is made,  my brother and I went to visit the Nonino distillery . We took a guided tour with Cristina Nonino (daughter) and Giannola Nonino (mother)… who really took their time to explain everything we needed to know.

We also had a tasting (at 10.30a.m). But lilke for every drink, there is a special way or correct way how it should be drunk/ tasted, so  they also explained  us the best way is to taste Grappa. The best way to taste Grappa would be when the grappa is at room temperature (12°C) served an open glass and slowly drunk. My all times preferred grappa is the Picolit (made from the rare Picolit grape) . To make a “caffé corretto”, you should use the traditional grappa. Some of you will  be happy to hear that grappa goes well with dark chocolate 🙂

For the ladies who have a sweet tooth I would highly recommend the Gioiello, which would be a Honey distillated drink… very tasty.

The high school assignment story ended well.  All the teachers liked the work I wrote (I think the tasting during my presentation helped). If you would like more info about Grappa, don’t hesitate to ask me. It would be taking a trip down memory lane.