Chateau Giscours older wines

Located in the Margaux appellation on the west banks of Bordeaux where exceptional terroir all the great qualities that are needed to produce world class wines Chateau Giscours are among the best wines made there of constant qualities year after year.

The Chateau is over 600 years old and have been thru many bad and also great times under many ownerships and are now maintained as the best in Bordeaux.

I love older wines and I am lucky to have a neighbour that showed up with two bottles the other day for our dinner, the 1974 and the 1978 that was both in great shape and amazingly well stored with all the fruit still there and nice polished tannins with a long lingering finish that stayed there for ever, what a treat this was.

Thanks Viveca.

From the land of Dracula

The land of the famous Vlad Tepes also more known as Count Dracula is a fantastic country with lovely and friendly people in the town of Arad in Romania where I spend the last weekend as a judge for a big cooking competition and food show with many contestants and a lot of visitors even with the temperature way above 40 degrees in the shade.

Iulia and Radu is pulling of great food shows all around in Romania with judges from Iceland, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Russia, Poland, Israel and a Swedish guy, how amazing this event was to meet up with all these lovely and talented people.

To judge a big event like this is not easy task and even harder when consider the heat outside for all of us.

This event have been running now for five years and getting bigger all the time thanks to the effort of the brave few who do their best to pull it off, great going guys and best of luck in the future.

My family on my dads side was originated from Romania and my dads name was Vladan! Where came that from? There must be some strange blood in my veins and not only wine J I guess that all the wine makes me transformed but I know better now.

From Mr Tepes with love and many more pictures on my Facebook.

Mexican wines - Los vinos de Mexico

Wines from Mexico is not that is very common at least not in Sweden, I hade the opportunity to taste some wines today that surprised me a lot.

The wines tested was from the following producers, Vena Cava, Poncelis, Malagon,, Montano Benson, Montefiori and Vinisterra.

All good wines with some for us strange blends of grapes like barbera – syrah – merlot whimsical but it works somehow.

I did not know so much about Mexican wines and winemaking until last week when I have to get in to this and I’m happy to have the chance to taste this wines.

The Mexican industry will grow and you will see more from them in the years to come, that’s for sure.

Who will be the first to bring them in?

Great restaurant moment a long time ago

It is crazy when I think of how long I have been in the food and wine business; I started out in 1979 so you do the calculation J

Over the years I did not regret any of my choices or the paths that I have taken with all the challenges on the way I still love every minute of It.

People always ask me for my favourite food, wine, restaurant and so on and Its hard to tell with so many nice bottles to drink and food to eat

but I do remember the dinner that changed my way as a young chef and did the biggest impact on my personal life.

Restaurant La Petite in Helsingborg still owned by Jean Louise Marchandise http://www.lapetite.se and still the same menu, why change a success!

I was at this day celebrating one of the greatest men in gastronomy and still my old friend Lars Bogren on his 50:th birthday and on the menu I hade the most life changing food

Poached egg in a red wine sauce with brioche on the side and French country butter.

Coq au vin the a real classic.

Crème brulée.

And we hade champagne thru the dinner, a demi sec from Veuve – Clicquot with lots of nice residual sugar, maybe I would choose something different today J

This may not sound as the most amazing dinner but at that time not many restaurant cooked food like this and I was blown away, thanks Jean Louis.

I have so many great stories to tell and will do that in my book (A Secrets from a Sommelier as a working title) just need to find a investor in the project.

Drink and eat well and you will remember that for the rest of your life.