MEK’s blog

tasting at home... spot the makeshift spittoon. It's amazing what one can find lying around the house!

 

systematic approach to tasting. amazing to see the differences in appearance - whites are not whites. lemon, gold, lemon green. aromas: honey, petrol, citrus, apricots and yeast. taste: sublime!

grapes: trebbiano, chardonnay, riesling, gewurztraminer.

a simple italian, a new world chardonnay, a dry new zealand riesling, an off-dry alsace riesling, a burgundian chardonnay, a german gewurztraminer...

An entertaining way to talk about wine.

Anecdotes, le nez du vin, great food and excellent company. The credit goes to Dawid Koegelenberg, General Manager of Corrigan’s. He brings theatre, entertainment, and a character and flair to what could otherwise be staid, dull and lifeless.

Battling against the surroundings of a rather listless, dull private room, Dawid was terrific.

Guess the wine in a blackened glass – red or white. An interesting ice-breaker. And teaching us the sense of smell. Four bottles which contain different wine aromas (le nez du vin) – honey, lime, walnut and apricot.

Food and wine matching at Corrigan’s.  It gets the big thumbs-up from me.

Some highlights: Spanish Manzanilla with crispy olive filled with goat’s cheese and spicy harissa. Unctuous. Nutty aromas, firm structure of the sherry stood purposefully alongside the spiciness of the dish.

And the Maury Vintage 2007 (French sherry) was matched superbly with the chocolate fondant and chestnut dessert.

Yummy.

smashing. terrific. wonderful. oooooooooh, jermaine.

 

 

 

 

Wonderful floral aromas. Dry, zesty and a high acidity wine. I detected lovely citrus (grapefruit) notes on the palette. Keep the bottle sealed (screw cap) and it refrigerated well, keeping the aromas and refreshing acidity for 5-6 days.

 

Saw Dogville at the week-end. Absolutely terrific film. Now I can agree with folks when they say Nicole Kidman can act - I was struggling with that concept for years.

Intelligent and daring film - a critique of capitalism from a man who has never stepped on the soils of USA. Lars von Trier, the director, playwright and producer(?).

it's my birthday today. i thought i'd raise a glass of champagne and say "cheers" to my neighbourhood..

 

 

A little piece for Liffey…

A little grape called Semillon, found in St-Emilion and Medoc in the Bordeaux region, along with the Sauvignon Blanc grape.  Aided by noble rot, the Semillon grape turns itself into a wonderful, unctuous, sweet wine called Sauternes. Simply gorgeous. This is grape royalty.

 

 

The flavours of Sauternes are “..marzipan, apricots, mangoes, honey, nuts, toast, honeysuckle…all wrapped up in a creamy, silky, unctuous texture, enthralling and rich…” Oz Clarke

Heaven.

I arrive late to the tasting. It’s across town and it’s rainy - not a taxi in sight.

Noisily I descend the stairs of the blue bird wine cellar. Slurps abound and a quietly spoken gentleman occupies the interests of everyone in the room. I go unnoticed.

It's Australia evening at the cellar. I look for our host.

He was surprisingly well groomed - Italian blazer (for sure), hair immaculate, I could go on ...I thought the tasting notes said he was a cattle farmer's son. My prejudices laid out before you, i was expecting cowboy hat, cotton jeans, spurs and chewing tobacco. Oh, I was so wrong. I later read he was educated in London, worked in the futures securities market, returned home after a period in London and is now a respectable vineyard owner. Not sure he picks the grapes – a very difficult picture to conjure up.

Reschke is a vineyard in the lower part of the south eastern region of Australia called Coonawarra.  

What wonderful little wines. I tasted their entire latest vintage (2004) and was amazed at the quality of wines. As a big Rhone fan, I thought their shiraz was on the nose – peppery, big black fruits and good round textures. There were several interesting cabernet sauvignons too; the only underwhelming wine was the sauvignon blanc.

Unsure about the wine names (empyrean, bos and vitilus) – seems like someone recently passed their latin exam.

Wonderful little vineyard to look out for.

I discovered burrata. Heaven.

It was a great start to the week. My first wine exam at 4:30pm. Then off to spend the night at Le Cafe Anglais. Pure pleasure. Indulgence. And the perfect host.

Tastings of Pinot Noir (from Central Otago, Oregon, Chile, Australia and of course, Burgundy) followed by a wonderful dinner for three. William Lebus of Bibendum was fabulous, entertaining and tolerant. 

We coveted our Pinot Noir dessert wine. A Marmesa Red Harvest Pinot Noir. Terrific.

With a little encouragement our party swiftly moved on. Tempted by Iphöfer Scheurebe Spätlese Trocken 2007 Wirsching. Wonderfully aromatic, a pretty and simple wine, with good acidity that went well with our burrata.

Yummy day and an even better evening.

 

Prompted by Koios to take a look at the bird and the bee. wonderful voice.