Guy Charlemagne Champagne

Champagne Guy Charlemagne is situated in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, in the small village of Mesnil sur Oger. As father to son winegrowers since 1892, they only harvest and vinify grapes from their own Chardonnay vineyards and produce around 130 000 bottles per year and most part of it is sold outside France.

I fell in love with this champagne house and its wines some years ago after tasting some bottles of the Mesnillesime vintages that I still today hold as one of the best buys when it comes to vintage champagne, I base this on the pure power and great finesse in the wine that I like and appreciate.

All of the wines are well worth the money.

On my recent visit I tasted the whole range of wines with the recently realised 2003 vintage of the wine that Christina refers to as the “kexchoklad label” all Swedes know what that is J

The wines of Guy Charlemagne is a champagne with great muscular presence, wonderful acidity and aging potentials, I try to use this as an reference wine on my tastings with great success, people just love it.

Another cool thing is that you can make your own personal label on the wines, great gift idea don’t you think?  

POL ROGER IN MY HEART

Upon arrival to the private office of champagne Pol Roger I noticed that the Swedish flag was in front of the house as an honour to us and that made us feel very special and welcome.

The champagne house of Pol Roger dated back to 1849 in Epernay and is still one of very few houses that are still privately owned with Christian Pol Roger and others in the family.

You can not write anything about this house with out mentioning sir W.Churchill who in 1908 bought his first bottle of Pol Roger and stayed unwavering client thru his life and called the house “the most delightful address in the world”

When Churchill died in 1965 the house declared mourning and in 1975 to celebrate the 10: th anniversary of his death the pay an tribute to an old friend by launching the Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill.

Entering the cellars of Pol Roger was a fantastic experience with all the new fermentation tanks and newly restored cellars, I have never seen something like this during my travels in wine countries, I can just say WOW..

Even more amazing is that everything is totally manually made with even the remuage made on every single bottle by hand, I don’t know any other champagne houses that are doing that considering the volume that they put out every year, I have the greatest respect to this great house.

The VIP tasting of all the wines in the range was a tremendous treat and an unforgettable memory that will stay with me until the next visit J

I sure believe in the sun & wine god   

Unga EKO kockar & girl power

Efter en lång tur med utagningar och semifinaler så var det äntligen dags för den stora finalen av Unga Eko kockar som gick av stapeln i Växjö denna helg, vinnarna av årets tävling var tjejlaget från dackeskolan i Mjölby som gjorde en utomordentlig tre rätters meny med tanke på deras ringa ålder, dessa tjejer visar vägen att vi säkrar en framtid för Svenska kockars förening och alla våra tävlingslag.
ETT STORT GRATTIS TILL EMMA, JONNA & FRIDA
Och ett tack till PM & vänner för en strålande middag på kvällen och ett extra tack till Per för den goda Chambollen.

här kommer även lite bilder på tjejernas rätter.

English:

This is from an competition this weekend where students from the 2:nd grade at restaurant school ware competing for the Ekological trophee.
what a great future we have in this country. bevare all the guys here comes the girlpower.

Why do you write in English?

That is an very easy question to answer, half of my readers on this blog are from outside Sweden and as I am a very humble guy and most Swedes know English I think that this would be easier for everybody to understand and if you don’t please do not hesitate to write me and I will translate It for you, this will at the same time be a big challenge for me to do considering that English absolutely not are in any way my native language.

There will be some in just Swedish and sometimes in Serbian just for fun and I will improve over time so please have patience with me.

 In Vino Veritas

Mouton Rothschild the magic Chateau

This famous chateau is located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France, Mouton Rothschild is one of the First Great Growths of Bordeaux Grand Crus, alongside Château Latour, Château Haut Brion, Château Margaux and Château Lafite-Rothschild.

The Bordeaux Classification of 1855 came about when wine brokers were tasked by Emperor Napoleon to create a classification of the wines of Bordeaux. The rating was based (mostly) on the price that the wines were bringing in the market and it divided these top wineries into five classifications. These classifications are known as 'Growths'.

Mouton was the first of the grand wines who started to do all the bottling at the chateau to assure quality of the wine.

 Historically, however, Château Mouton Rothschild was excluded from First Great Growth status. This, it was thought to be so because the vineyard had recently been purchased by an Englishman and was no longer in French ownership.

 In 1973, after decades of intense lobbying by its powerful and influential owner, Mouton Rothschild was elevated to "first growth" status - this was one of the two changes in the original 1855 classification (in 1856 Château Cantemerle was added to the Grand Cru list). This prompted a change of the Château Mouton motto: previously, the motto of the wine was Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis. ("First, I cannot be. Second, I do not condescend to be. Mouton, I am."). Today the motto is Premier je suis, Second je fus, Mouton ne change. ("First, I am. Second, I used to be. Mouton, I do not change.")

Mouton Rothschild's 203 acres of vineyards produce Cabernet Sauvignon (77%), Merlot (11%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Petit Verdot (2%) that is used in the blend. The wine is fermented in oak vats (one of the few châteaux in the Médoc that is loyal to this traditional method) and then matured in new oak casks.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild, father of the current owner, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, came up with the idea of having each year's label designed by a famous artist of the day. Since 1946, many of the world's great painters and sculptors have created works (displayed at the chateau) that are also reproduced on the labels of the wine.

On my first Mouton from the vintage of 1976 the label was painted by Pierre Soulages and was a gift from a friend on my 20:th birthday and that changed my direction in to wine and made me be more focused on wine and food pairing, I was an chef at that time and very nerdy in to food without knowledge of wine, what a great start it was, many thanks my dear friend Lars Bogren for introducing me to the world of wine.

Mosel Rieslings with a twist

I was in Mosel last week with Christina, granny Jorunn and Bianca to see how the new vintage is doing and on site there I tried to explain some about the German wines and quickly realized that this is not an very easy topic, but my friend Glenn is putting it down like this when he tries to explain just how sweet is sweet? The Germans have simplified this process by including the information on the label of each wine bottle.

Let's start with Kabinett: The lightest end of the German wine spectrum. They are the least sweet of the German Rieslings. This wine is great as an aperitif.

Spätlese is next in line for the sweet category. Breaking up the word spat means "late" and "lese" means "harvest". Put them together it means "late harvest". These grapes are fully ripened, a little sweeter than Kabinett and typically are more expensive.

Auslese wine is made from selected bunches of grapes which have been left on the vine and allowed to become overripe. Some of the grapes have been attacked by Edelfäule (botrytis cinerea an noble rot, a good mold which forms on the grapes as they shrivel up to become raisin-like, extracting the water, but leaving a honey flavor in the grape).

Beernauslese wines are specially selected grapes which have been affected by Edelfäule, choosing the ripest bunches. It is made only in outstanding years and is very expensive.

Eiswein is exactly what it suggests. The wine is made from overripe grapes unaffected by Edelfäule, but left on the vine until caught by frost. The grapes are pressed to separate the frozen water from the very sweet juice. Eiswein can be enjoyed with just about any sweet dessert or it can be the final course.

Trockenbeernauslese sometimes known as TBA is a wine that may be hard to pronounce but is unforgettable once it reaches your palate. The wine is usually ultra-rich and deep golden-orange. The term literally means dried up selected grapes. It is only made in selected years and is affected by Edelfäule. The selection is hand picked from a single vineyard.

German Rieslings display a mineral quality with pear, yellow/green apple, white peach, floral and honey notes. They are typically higher in acidity lower in alcohol which makes them a good match for spicy dishes. It can also be grown in Alsace, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A., Chile, and South Africa.

Look for the label that has the famous German Eagle with the grape cluster. This represents the Verband Deutscher Pradikatsweingüter Association also known as the VDP. It is the oldest recognized wine organization in the world founded in 1910. This association insures quality in the wine by meeting certain members' uncompromising dedicated standards starting with self-imposed regulations.
In Bernkastel we stayed in the Riesling house, a small hotel upstairs and a great wine shop on the bottom floor with the best selection on Mosel wines and always a selection of older vintages for a great bargain, I just love old Rieslings and I will get back with the harvest report in  the next weeks.

Årets Glögg 2011

Tyskarna dricker glühwein, fransmännen har sitt vin chaud och engelsmännen värmer sig med mulled wine. Här i Sverige dricker vi glögg.

Blossa glögg görs på ett mer än hundra år gammalt recept från vinhandlaren J.D. Grönstedt i Gamla stan i Stockholm. Det har inte förändrats sedan Vin & Sprit startade tillverkningen år 1917.

Men som alla andra familjer har även släkten Blossa växt med åren. Med rötterna i traditionen har släktträdet fått nya grenar, utvecklats och föryngrats. Blossa för traditionen framåt med nutida design och spännande nya smaker. Blossas röda och vita lättglögg finns numera i närmsta livsmedelsaffär, medan samlare och entusiaster köar utanför Systembolaget inför premiären på Blossas läckert paketerade årgångsglögg.

All glögg i Blossa-familjen utgår från samma grundrecept. Smaken kommer från den unika kryddblandningen, som bland annat innehåller kardemumma, ingefära och nejlika. De färska kryddorna kommer från utvalda odlare på så vitt skilda platser som Kina och Guatemala, och får dra i sprit i sex månader på fabriken i Åhus.

Den viktigaste ingrediensen vid sidan av kryddextraktet är starkvinet. Blossa innehåller upp till tre olika sorters starkvin av sherry-typ, som tillverkas speciellt för Blossa i Spanien. De tar fem år att framställa och har en inbjudande karaktär av torkad frukt och russin.

BLOSSA 2011: Det är bara åtta år sedan den första årgångsglöggen presenterades, men den har redan blivit en kär familjemed­lem. Blossas årgångsglögg är både trendig och traditionell, den tillfredsställer vårt behov av förändring samtidigt som den bottnar i hundraåriga sedvänjor. Årgångsglöggen får sin smak av traditionella ingredienser med julkänsla. Tidigare år har den bland annat smaksatts med clementin, blåbär och saffran.

Årets upplaga av BLOSSA 2011 har fått smak av kaffe, odlat i Finca Las Delicias i El Salvador. Servera den rumstempererad med en isbit eller värm den på traditionellt vis (89 kr/750ml).