This is a Great Pinot

English:

Merrlust is for me more of the other wines like the Rubicon and merlot, not the pinot until now J .

This wine is massive on the nose and expresses layers of fresh red fruit with a deep oaky character; I can just sit and smell this wine forever.

The taste is pure red berries and well structured tannins with minerality, muscular body and very nice acidity, great long aftertaste.

To all of you who can find this wine please do and enjoy or keep in the cellar for another 5-7 years, it will improve beautifully.
Thank you Miguel Chan for introducing this wine to me.

Svenska:

Meerlust historia började 1693 då huset uppfördes på egendomen. Den svala brisen från kalla False Bay som dagligen svalkar, har gett den dess namn. Meerlust betyder ”pleasure of the sea”.1756 kom det i familjen Myburghs ägor och är det än idag.

Få vingårdar kombinerar så storstilat fantastiska viner med ett tjusigt och gästfritt hem och naturligt sköna omgivningar. Atmosfären är avslappnad och nästan poetisk, den inbjuder till att sakta ner och njuta av livet.

Druvorna plockas tidigt på morgonen för att vara svala när de pressas. Vinet har jäst och lagrats på 300 liters franska fat från Bourgogne, (ek från Allier) i 11månader 70% nya och 30% använda för andra gången.

2009 var ännu en suverän årgång för Meerlust och man fick bl a utmärkelsen bästa Pinot Noir i Sydafrika på den tongivande Old Mutual Show.  Chris Williams är en brilliant vinmakare och har lyckats spegla årgången på ett fenomenalt sätt i vinet med en fyllig och komplex stil som vinner på att ligga i något år till.

Spanish Wine Festival

On 30th September and 1st October, the Danish capital was the backdrop to the 3rd edition of ‘Spansk Vinfestival – Vinos auténticos’, an initiative organised by the daily newspaper, Ekstra Bladet, and sponsored by Wines from Spain and the Spanish Foreign Trade Agency Office at the Spanish Embassy in Copenhagen The event was targeted at Danish wine professionals, but also had a special interest in targeting consumers.

Those present —more than 1200 people along the two days— enjoyed a friendly atmosphere in which major Danish Spanish wine importers offered tastings featuring 200 wines from first-class Spanish bodegas from almost every Spanish appellation and protected geographical indication In addition, the event also boasted a Cava Bar and a Sherry Lounge, two specific areas where the characteristics and diversity of both types of wine were showcased.

The programme was rounded off with five masterclasses: two of which were devoted to Cava and were graced with the presence of Joan Amat and Rosó Gabarró (chairman and marketing manager of the Instituto del Cava, respectively), accompanied by speaker Sergi Castro i Solé. Masterclasses were also given on Sherry ‘The New Spain’, and on some of the wines made by Peter Sisseck at the Dominio de Pingus bodega

In an event focusing on premium Spanish wines it is only natural that a taste of Spanish cuisine be included on the programme, and in this case, as might be expected, it was presented in the form of Tapas. The Tango Food Club — owned by Argentinean Gustavo Cordes, with prestigious Catalan chef, Sergi Benages at the helm in the kitchen — was in charge of the Tapas Bar, one of the most popular attractions of the event thanks to a magnificent collection of ‘designer aperitifs’.

To all of which must be added the huge success of the tasting event targeted at the newspaper’s Wine Club members in which around 40 young Danish wine enthusiasts were treated to a wide range of Spanish wines.

Thomas Svensson, the event organiser, acknowledged that at the moment Spanish wines are not as well-known in Denmark as French or Italian wines. However, he is convinced that Spanish wines do have a promising future, and maintains that interest is increasing rapidly thanks to their excellent value for money and the allure of native grape varieties.

The 2012 edition of the ‘Spansk Vinfestival – Vinos auténticos is planned for the 28th and 29th September next year.

Do you know FORVM vinegar?

Then you have to discover the great wines that are the base in this vinegars, today I meet my good friend Albert from the company CELLERS AVGVSTVS . FORVM  located in the town of Tarragona by the east coast of Spain (just south of Barcelona) The wines of this small producer are extremely good and always great value for money with special focus on the chardonnay wine and the super interesting wine made of 100% cabernet franc that will age beautifully for the next 6-7 years.

I love when people know what they are doing and have the greatest passion for the land and the products that they produce, all in all these people are just farmers with a special gift to bless us all with good wines.

The flagship wine is the TRAJANVS reserva made with the blends of 40% Cab S 40% merlot and 20% Cab franc.  The three grape varieties were harvested on the last days of September (Merlot one week before) and they were elaborated separately of the selected grapes from the oldest vines, in the estate “Les Deveses”, just in front of the Mediterranean sea.

The grapes first had a cold maceration during 48 hours and then fermented at 27ºC during 14 days in stainless steel tanks. The intense maceration lasted two more weeks (28 days in total).

In March 2006 the wine was sent to first year oak barrels, where it made the malolactic

fermentation and there it remained until the end of 2007 (21 months total), moving it to different barrels after the first 10 months. In January 2008 the “coupage” was made and got ready for bottling.

 Albert thank you!

Twitter account

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regards from the sommeliere

Fine de Cognac & Thé

  
For the end of the year, the cold end of the year, Hennessy teamed up with the tea house maison de Thé Théodor and designer Mathieu Lehanneur for the creation of cocktails Fine de Cognac & Tea – including exclusive accessories for a limited edition.

Hennessy Cognac has developed a new concept around Fine de Cognac and tea, in collaboration with Thé Théodor and Mathieu Lehanneur.

The concept comes with four seasonal recipes for cocktails. Designer Mathieu Lehanneur created a whole tea set for this limeted edition.

The price of a Hennessy Fine de Cognac with cocktails recepies « Fine de Cognac & Thé » will be at 45 euros, and the carafe decanter limited edition with an infuseur by Mathieu Lehanneur will have a price tag of 250 euros, including a tea infuser.

HAUT COUTURE THEODOR TEA

There is one tea in the whole world that continue to amaze me for its flavours and highest possible quality and that is THEODOR blended in France by the sheer genius Mr  Guillaume Leleu who started to blend his teas in a historic antique creamery from the 1800 at the place de Trocadero in the heart of Paris in 2002 .

His passion for tea and flawless flavours took him around the world to source the best quality he could find and he blend all the teas by hand in the small village of Bonnieres s/Seine outside Paris with only natural ingredients that are all produced of sustainable methods and ethic ecological raw materials, THEODOR is also the only tea that the whole range is kosher certified to prove the highest standard possible.

Mr Leleu constantly give us surprising flavours like, tomato, bell pepper, lemon, black pepper, cinnamon and so on.
The THEODOR teas can be ordered for the Scandinavian market by Unic Atmosphere www.unictaste.se
My favourite is the J.E. Milky Oolong a black tea from China of highest quality.

Dragan Unic

Very bad Champagne

When visiting champagne I always try to taste and visit houses that are new to me and this time I was heeding for the Maison Canard – Duchene in the small village of Ludes all exited and ready to for some serious tasting, what a mistake that was!

The glitzy entrance and visiting area have nothing to do with this champagne that was all very uninteresting and fabricated without any soul and quality that I was expecting, so we actually walked out of there with a bitter taste, this is an seriously bad champagne that I will refuse to drink in the near future, and I love champagne.

It’s inside the bottle that counts