BALKAN IN MY HEART.

Douro wine made by Negreiros

You all know that I have been struggling to find some Portuguese wines that I like, It is a task let me tell you, to help me out on this my friend the wine producer Mario Negreiros send me some bottles of his stunning and delicious wines.

The wines are all foot pressed (is that the expression? ) with great colour, nice mature fruit, well integrated tannins with a twist of very nice oak, a lovely wine that I can strongly recommend, and of course the reserva stand out a little bit more.

Nearly 10 hectares of the vineyard produce around 50 tons of grapes per year in the Douro from which only 10 to 15 tons are used for the Negreiros wine. The large majority is still traded for Port wine production; only the very best grapes make it in to this IWSC Silver Medal winning wine, making it very special indeed!

Nice job Mario

Flor del Montgó Old Vines Garnacha (nr 90418) 69 kr

 Detta vin på druvan Garnacha (Grenache) är från området Carinena som ligger strax utanför Zaragoza i provinsen Aragonien i norra Spanien.

Skörden på över 40 år gamla stockar har skett för hand i slutet på oktober med ett uttag på 25 hl/hektar, vinmakaren till detta vin är den unge Dansken David Tofterup som började på vineriet under 2002 och är idag ansvarig för Montgo collection med fokus på viner från Yecla. Jag ser fram mot fler viner från denna producent.

Doften är ungdomligt mycket fruktig och full av härliga röda bär med viss kryddighet

Smaken är medelfyllig med väldigt mjuka tanniner och massor av härlig bärig smak, lätt kryddad av fat och örter, kort med god eftersmak.

Hur kan man göra ett så här bra vin för 69 kr?

“There is an explosion of creativity and energy; I predict that Spanish wines will become the darling of

wine consumers throughout the civilized world”.

Robert Parker Jr. The Wine Advocate issue 152

Cederberg Five Generation Cab

South Africa’s most uniquely situated wine farm falls within the pristine environs of the Cederberg Wilderness Area, which lies in the Cape Floral Kingdom. Here, among spectacular rock formations you will find the highest altitude vineyards in the Cape. The cold climate and remote location, with its pure mountain air and water, ensures that the vines are virus free. This results in award-winning wines which show an exceptional purity of fruit.

The farm has been in the Nieuwoudt family for five generations and David Nieuwoudt currently makes the wines.

Five Generation Cabernet Sauvignon Is a Cape classic and leads the pack in the Cederberg range.

The production is Limited to 3400 bottles, handcrafted, classically styled 2008, made to mature (peak around 2014 – 2016 though already delicious. 
18 months of maturation in new French oak has intensified the rich aromas of blackcurrant and cassis, layered with decadent dark chocolate, minerality, herbs and cherry tobacco velvety finish leaves one wanting more.

Another wine that always amazes me in the range is the Bukettraube and I will come back to this.

Well done David.

Should we Eat Shark's Fin?

Singer-songwriter Chet Lam is an advocate of green living and marine conservation. Here, he challenges young people to reject the tradition of shark's fin soup at Chinese banquets Oh, the ultimate hypocritical luxury, the famous-turned infamous dish found at all Chinese wedding banquets.

The fin itself is indeed tasteless; it is the chicken soup that gives the dish its flavor. I know you know that. It's one of the most prestigious offerings for guests at a Chinese banquet. I know you know that too. What you might not have noticed, or wanted to confront yet, is that people will still choose to eat it or offer it at a ridiculously high market price just to have 'face', the most mysterious attribute in Chinese culture. In other words, eating it is like blindfolding our minds, demonstrating our ignorance - how much 'face' could we have by doing that?

We, the younger generation, can be liberal, forward thinking, making our own decisions based on our own judgment every day. Yet, when something is tied to tradition, our ground is so shaken that we want to play safe, to please our parents and relatives. We argue that if there's no shark's fin soup offered at a wedding, the host family might be thought of as cheap.

I saw an anti-shark's fin ad from Singapore years ago. There was this nicely dressed newly-wed couple standing among the tables, smiling so sweetly to the camera, while slaughtered finless sharks were plied on the floor, all bloody and brutal. That says it all. That's the cost of shallow love. It's greed. Pure greed. It's worse than being cheap.

Some Hello Kitty-loving girls might find the finning of sharks a bit too cruel and decide not to have the dish any more. Stopping all of mankind's violence against one group of creatures because they are 'too cute' is very superficial thinking. Well, if that kind of mentality could stop shark massacres in one fell swoop, so be it. But the truth be told, it's actually not about the killing of creatures for food, clothing, byproducts or whatever. It's about unnecessary killing based on greed. It's about our ability to learn to have a sustainable world that we can enjoy for generations to come.

Something to think about

Today for the first time I hade more readers from the USA then from Sweden,
It gives me so much plesure when I see where all my reades comes from, really different countrys like Peru, Azerbadjan, Nepal, Japan, Fidji and so on.
Thank you guys for supporting my blog and Im happy that you are following me and please do contact me if you have any suggestions of subjects for me to think of.

Much plesure....

DUMANGIN CHAMPAGNE IS VERY COOL

I met up with my friend Gilles at champagne DUMANGIN a wile ago at his winey to taste his wines and to see what hi is up to, Gilles produce great champagne that even Sir McCartney used to his wedding last week, how cool is that for Gilles!

DUMANGIN also makes some special delicatessen products that all contains his champagne,

I love his duck liver with some champagne jelly on top.yummy

I like the inventions that he is making regarding bottles layout,( he do a special series of bottles for the famous Christian Audigier) ice buckets and other promotional things, the new wooden bucket that holds tree special bottles is just great and looks fantastic and I’m looking forward to what this marketing wizard will do in the future.

Go Gilles