Wine ChroniclesBetween Narince and Nerello Mascalese?
Posted on March 4, 2018
Judging at #MundusVini – and a Georgian wine focus
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
March 4 2018
It was an intense three-day period of tasting at the Mundus Vini wine competition. I discovered new grapes and made new friends, and it was fun to see many old friends and fellow judges in my fourth year at this event. As ever, I found myself in an eclectic international panel of tasters led by Anne Meglioli, who runs a publishing house for oenologically themed books that can be quite technical. Anne has years of experience tasting and assessing wines, and she was also a great president for our group, which included an Armenian, a Norwegian, a Swiss and two French tasters as well as me – a Greek-American.
Tasting at #MundusVini 2018. Our panel, from left to right: Pierre Thomas of Switzerland (Lausanne), Artem Parseghyan of Armenia, Michel Blanc of France (Châteauneuf du Pape), me, Anne Meglioli of France (although she is based in Bologna, Italy) and Tor Frostmo of Norway.
This 22nd edition of the Mundus Vini Grand International Wine Award had been going on already before I arrived, having been expanded to six days of tasting. Due to time constraints, I could take part only from Friday 23 February through to Sunday 25 February.
As you can see in the tables below, more wine than ever was submitted to the wine competition in 2018. Most wines submitted – 1,730 – came from Italy, followed by some 1,370 from Spain, 760 or so from France, and many others.
My first day included tasting several still wines described as “Blanc de Noirs” with up to 45 grams per liter of residual sugar, prompting the questions “Who made these wines and why?”. ?
While our panel evaluated common styles of wines, from Grenache-dominated Côte du Rhones and Viognier, to Merlot driven Bordeaux and Italian Primitivo, we also had first-ever experiences with dry Narince-based white wine. The grape is grown in Anatolia, Turkey. Another novelty was the somewhat boring experience trying a crossing of Chardonnay and Chasselas dubbed Doral and used to make some whites in Switzerland. I would not write home about the one we tried, but others could be tasty enough. I just have not tried them yet. Read More
Lunchtime finesse
Posted on March 3, 2018
Restaurant Review: La Casserole
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
Not really amazing, but worth the detour
Posted on February 23, 2018
Restaurant Review: Au Moulin de la Wantzenau
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
22 February 2018
For the second time in three years (this is, perhaps, too infrequent), I enjoyed a fine meal at Au Moulin in the Wantzenau: about a 15 minute drive outside Strasbourg.
It is not a Michelin rated restaurant, but excels in many respects.
Dining with two work colleagues, we enjoyed a good dinner with a bottle of Champagne and a fine Burgundy for only €100 each: taxes and service included.
The service was friendly and professional.
Another reason I chose to go here? People in the know have told me several times about friendly (restaurant) wine prices. In our case, we enjoyed a predictably fine Pol Roger NV Brut for €54: a good restaurant price. Read More
Grand tasting in Bordeaux: More 2015s in bottle
Posted on February 18, 2018
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
18 February 2018
Connoisseurs continue to drive up prices for the famous Bordeaux brands, whether in Asia or Europe, the Americas or Australia.
Of course prices of elite brands for certain vintages have dropped off a bit since a heyday of a couple of years ago, but the Liv-ex chart below for a vintage of 1996 Château Palmer – to take but one, random example – is indicative of the general trend for the top Bordeaux brands.
Savvy consumers (and drinkers as opposed to investors) understand that winemaking has improved over the last 10-15 years for many brands, and not just the elites. It is more important than ever before to seek out wines of fine quality… and lower price.
You can find a Bordeaux that costs, say, $250 per bottle and another that costs $40. It is more than likely that the $250 bottle of wine will be of higher quality. But over 6 times higher? That is not (nearly) as likely. The difference is even more dramatic for bottles in the $25 range. Of course the quality of the $250 bottle is better, but not necessarily 10 times better.
In the past few years, I have enjoyed reporting on such $30 category wines – and even wines for less. The Bordeaux 2015 vintage, as recently bottled, offers many fine price-quality ratios, as we have discovered with cru bourgeois wines, which I reported on earlier in these pages. Read More
Valentines Day Pity
Posted on February 14, 2018
Palate shame and pain in a blind tasting
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
14 February 2018
Today is a day of love. I could use some humble pie.
A dear friend gathered some people over to his place the other evening for his birthday party and – as he had done two years ago – he organized a blind tasting of four bubblies.
He wanted to see how well a mass market Champagne could fare against a more upscale product – and this time added two non Champagnes in the mix.
He divided the guests into groups of four or five people who would take notes on each of the four wines served, which had been popped and poured before us (but all wrapped in aluminum foil).
The first two wines were evaluated. We then broke for some food. Then the next two wines.
Some people know that I write this wine blog. They were concerned that the group I was in would have an unfair advantage.
They had no need to be ?… Read More
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