Yarden Gewurztraminer

Yarden Gewurztraminer

Yarden Gewurztraminer? Yes. There's something spellbinding about Krakow and it's old Jewish quarter. It was here on a warm summer's evening that I got my first taste of Kosher Gewurztraminer and of gefilte fish.

I look spellbound there dont I? Gazing off into the distance romanticising about my very own wine bar in Krakow?

Well, the camera tells dirty lies, cos I'm actually watching a stray cat eating the fish I threw at it not moments before. Ahhhh memories. Gefilte fish is, hands down, the most vile, strangely textured food item to ever pass my lips but the wine was a wonderful surprise.

Now, I don't know about you but whenever I take a weekend break or holiday I use it as a chance to feed my wine addiction. It's not just me, all serious winos do this. We will talk to our partners and romantically suggest "The Dordogne" so we can slope off to Bordeaux, or "Tuscany" to visit Chianti, I even managed to convince one partner that Frankfurt was lovely at this time of year only to find ourselves boating down the Rhine and into the Assmanhausen 100 year wine festival! Look how that turned out, I had no idea. However, I hadn't realised that Krakow would provide the same opportunity.

The Polish interest in wine, and especially Italian wine is growing fast and while I was there the central square of Krakow (Rynek Glowny) had been turned into a fairground for a Hungarian Wine event and of course, in the Jewish quarter every restaurant and bar was offering Kosher wines. I don't see the Poles giving up their flavoured vodkas anytime soon but the tide is turning and they're even knocking out some decent wine themselves. If I could set up a wine bar anywhere, I'd choose Krakow. Dreams....

There's been a revolution in Israeli wines and in no small part thanks to Golan Heights (the crew behind Yarden). Israel now produces fantastic QPR wines but not simply Gewurztraminer but also the usual suspects, international reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot and, more surprisingly, Sangiovese and Gamay! Whites include Chardonnay, Muscat, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and even sweet whites and blanc de blancs sparklers. Israel can bring such a variety of grapes to fine expression due to its range of climatic conditions and Israel itself is getting into wine in a big way. There is a national committee for the promotion of Israeli wines within Israel and a movement to push the country's indigenous grapes. I'm afraid I can't list them, because I don't know them, I have quite enough to contend with in the world of Italian indigenous grapes but if you know them, feel free to post a comment!

Does this wine taste like the Gewurztraminers we all know and love? Actually, Yes. Like most of you, my experience of Gewurztraminer is limited to Alsace and Germany with the odd US, Italian, New Zealand and Aussie bottle thrown in here and there making it terribly difficult to say what an Israeli, Galilee Region Gewurztraminer should taste like. However, if this is what it should taste like, I'm in.

Yarden Gewurztraminer 2007 - BUY - £12.79

Golden yellow in colour. The wine is aromatically gorgeous and offers up many typical Gewurztraminer notes including lychee, almonds and flowers but also a an unexpected showing of peach blossom. The wine has a detectable sweetness on the palate, is rich but with firm acidity, rounded, mid to full bodied. This is a real find and only let down by a slightly clipped finish. However, if you keep drinking then you don't notice ;) 89 Points

Where can I buy this wine?

Europeans - Winectar - €13

Americans - Gordons - $16.99

Brits - Yayin V'Simcha - £12.79

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Favourite Kosher wine? Favourite Israeli Wine? Best place you managed to convince your girlfriend or boyfriend to go pretending it was for them... when secretly it was for the vino?

Prager Gruner Veltliner

Prager Gruner Veltliner

Prager Gruner Veltliner goes with everything. Or to be more precise Prager Gruner Veltiner Achleiten Smaragd 2007 goes with everything. From the bitter Olly Murs to the sweet Joe McElderry through a pepperoni pizza via butter popcorn and during the marmite-esque foulness that we call Twiglets, this bottle of wine tasted delicious throughout and even seemed to compliment this array of Saturday night junk.

Don't get it twisted though, Gruner Veltliner is a serious grape and Prager a top producer that deserve to be enjoyed alongside light meats/white fish. However, if you hate food and wine matching and just want an easygoing, delicious and fruity white then Gruner is your buddy. GV is the most versatile wine in the land for food and wine matching.

So who are Prager?

Prager are among the top producers of Gruner Veltliner in Austria. Prager's Gruner Veltliner wines are produced in the Wachau area of Austria, which, together with Kamptal and Kremstal are considered the best regions to grow Austria's most famous grape. Franz Prager, was a trailblazer in Wachau helping to establish the area as a top region for dry whites. Gruner Veltliner is traditionally considered a wine that is best drunk young, although the new cheifs at Prager, daughter of Franz, Isle and her husband Toni Bodenstein are trying to push the envelope on an aged Groovy.

Prager are dedicated to two grapes actually and are just as famous for their Riesling as their Gruner Veltliner. Both varieties share a clarity of fruit and richness of texture in the hands of Prager and they are one of the most reliable producers year in year out.

Top Wines from Prager

Weissenkirchen Achleiten Riesling Smaragd

Wiessenkirchen Klaus Riesling Smaragd

Wiessenkirchen Achleiten Gruner Veltliner Smaragd

For those of you who have yet to try a Gruner Veltliner, like any variety, they can run the gamut of quality. These are served as jug wines in Austria and can be, at their lowest price/highest yield end, nice, fresh, peppery young wines.

While at the Prager end the wines can be massively complex and throw out all kinds of subtle aromas and flavours including citrus, lime, rhubarb, flint, white flowers but often keeping that peppery palate.

Traditionally Gruner is not thought to be particularly aromatic however this Prager effort was blowing our nasal passages from the uncork and with some pretty intriguing notes too.

Prager Grüner Veltliner Achleiten Smaragd 2007 - BUY - £26

A rich hay colour. Aromatically very forward with mixed and interesting notes including lime rind, rhubarb, white pepper and wet stones. The palate is full bodied, rounded and with fairly low acidity still avoids "flabby", the fruit is excellent on the midpalate and the finish is acceptable. Think tropical smoothie mixed watered down with cordial lime juice, same texture too. Fine balance, 13.5% alcohol never an issue. 91 Points

Where can I buy this wine?

Europeans - Vinothek - €24

American - Hart David Hart - $39

Brits - AG Wines - £26

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Do you have a wine that seems to go with all food? Do you like the Groovy?

Wine90's Wine of the Year

Wine90's Wine of the Year

If you're a member of any of the major wine message boards you've seen the habitual "wine of the year" threads that populate them at this time of year. Partly inspired by the need to bash Wine Spectator's Annual Top 100 but also because these topics seem to embrace a human need; the need to categorise, file and rank experience. This phenomena is clearly visible in the countless retelling of the year shows that dominate the TV listings around this time (Sports Personality of the Year, Comedy Awards, Music, etc). The desire to recount the year is no less prevalent amongst us wine drinkers.

This "Wine of the Year" choice is a very personal matter. For some, their wine of the year will be connected to a special memory, an anniversary, a birth, a date with a new love or the wine they celebrated their first birdie (or in my case even making par) with. My choice for wine of the year is similarly sentimental but unconnected to events in my personal life.

For me a great wine, a truly great wine, is more than just a flavour, colour or an aroma, more even than a composite of all three. The wine has to feel well made and that is altogether a more difficult thing to assess. Sure the fruit has to be of the highest quality for a memorable finish but as with all great wines the key is balance and to achieve the perfect balance the skills of the winemaker coupled with the perfect year and the quality of the fruit must come together in perfect harmony.

When this happens, you have a truly great wine and for me there was only one contender in my tasting year - Romano Del Forno's Amarone della Valpolicella 1996.

Not even inside the traditional Classico area, Dal Forno is still unquestionably the King of Amarone. No other Amarone producer manages to pull off such mouthwatering ripeness of fruit. The new oak employed, the ripe fruit and the skill in creating balance by the winemakers allows Dal Forno to stand alone at the top of Amarone production and, as you can imagine, such attention to detail does not come cheap for the consumer. Dal Forno's Amarone della Valpolicella estate is minuscule, at 8 hectares there are only around 1000 cases produced annually meaning even the most recent vintage will set you back £200 a bottle.

1996 isn't really considered one of the top years for Amarone yet this wine, just about coming into it's drinking window, shows fantastically well. The colour just starting to tinge lighter at the rim and the complex bouquet beginning to show telltale signs of maturity the Amarone hasn't even reached your lips and you're on tenterhooks, grinning and looking around for a friend to say "hey, hey, just put your nose in this".

As an aside, I also did this last week when (wine that shall remain nameless) had a nose exactly, and I mean bang on the money exactly, like Cif (Jif for everyone over 30).

Although the wine doesn't actually have a 350 day finish, I sampled this wine in January of 2009 and despite countless competitors it is a wine I can recount with pinpoint clarity, an experience I will always remember and my 2009 wine of the year. If anyone wishes to test that theory I am available for more Dal Forno tastings any time any place.

Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Vapolicella 1996 - BUY - £350

A thick lush dark purple and only just fading lighter on the rim. This nose is killer. Rushing notes of blueberry, blackcurrant, vanilla and a creamy coffee. If you've experienced the Italian confectionary "pocket coffee" there are a few packets of these mixed into the blend it would seem. The palate is the real joy, full bodied, huge structure, fruit forward, perfect balance, tannins caressing and the real showmanship in this wine? 17.5% alcohol resting perfectly within the structure and never overtaking or leaving a hot finish. 98 Points

I don't know if you'll be more shocked at the £350 pricing, the 17.5% alcohol or the 98 Points, fact is, this wine is what it's all about, that it happens to be Italian? What can I say?

Where can I buy this Wine?

Europeans - Arvi - €396

Americans - Vinfolio - $599

Brits - Arvi - £350

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G'wan then, what is your wine of the year?

Up the Dry Creek without a paddle

Up the Dry Creek without a paddle

The world of Californian Wines is large, varied and daunting and even with my Official AVA maps and guides I still find myself lost in a sea of Valleys, Coasts and Creeks. There are a handful of wine bloggers out there who really do know their Oakville from their Oak Knoll and High Valley from their Hames Valley and all this week they've been offering guidance to the Italian Wine Blogger in return for tips on my equally confusing but endlessly rewarding chosen subject for 10; Italian vino.

So it was with great pleasure that I accepted an invitation to go along to the official Wine Institute of California's first Social Media event in Hoxton on Thursday to get a taste of the different varieties coming out of California that are available in the UK. Speaking with the organisers it seems there are real problems getting the Brits to drink mid range Californian wine but no problem at all enticing them with 3 for 10 Blossom Hill/Gallo wines.

It's frankly impossible to generalise when it comes to Californian wines. The area is huge and 4th only to Italy, France and Spain in terms of growing area, has a massively changeable climate north to south, coast to mountains also making vintage generalisations nigh on impossible and the grapes grown change like the dickens!

There is half as much Chenin coming out of California as there was five years ago and Pinot Grigio vines have sprung up 480% in the same time. Pinot Noir and Syrah are being newly planted and traditional Zinfandel vines are being torn up. However the stalwarts we come to associate with California continue to prosper and, even with this small 12 wine sample from Thursday night we can see that wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc continue to flourish and real quality can be found in the mid priced range.

If you like tasting notes... you're gonna love this! *flexes fingers* - Here we go! Remember folks, like always, if I am passing a wine it is only because I personally wouldn't buy it again for my own personal consumption, a party or a friend, it doesn't mean you will not like it. If you like, sweet apple notes and nettle finishes then you'll love the first wine. The Beringer burning banana plantation Chardonnay I gave just 84 points to yet I requested a bottle to take home because I knew my flatmate would love it. Always read the tasting notes. If your palate is actually identical to mine then... kudos!

Loredona Monterey County Pinot Grigio 2007 - PASS - £9
Sits straw yellow. A fresh, clean, crisp wine with a sweet green apple nose. On the palate good acidity with a distinctive nettle like bitter finish but refreshing. 86 Points

Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc 2006 - PASS - £9
A straw yellow colour and aromatic from 12 inches! Exaggerated notes of pineapple, fig and melon, very tropical and "starburst-esque". A mid bodied wine with a fruit forward flavour profile that left my tongue tingling on the finish, not in an acid way, in a sharp pointy needles way. Basic fruit explosion but good fun. 86 Points

Beringer Vineyards Founder's Estate Chardonnay 2007 - BORDERLINE - £9
vibrant mid straw yellow and a nose of a burning banana plantation makes this wine distinctive for $11. Luscious mouth feel and solid fruit on the palate with apricots and papaya in play. An extreme wine both on the nose and in the mouth, a case of knowing when you've been tango'd. 84 Points

Bonterra Vineyards Viognier 2007 - BUY - £10
Mid straw yellow. A really intriguing wine on the nose producing notes that make for a strange mix. Peach and lime intermingle along a tropical sugary theme with the lime flavours coming to the fore on the palate, strong finish, strong acidity making this wine a real QPR doozy. 89 Points

Hahn Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 - BUY - £10
A deep dark ruby red and thick in the glass. Aromatically obvious Cabernet Sauvignon with blackberries, a touch of graphite and a little smoky. Velvet texture and solid tannincs, fine balance, well done. 88 Points.

Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 - BUY - £15
Light ruby red with orange hues. Notes of bacon and cherry unfold quickly and on the palate the wine has a good balance with fine tannins. Good actually. 86 Points

And the Star of the Show... amazingly a wine I have written about already on the Wine90 blog. Only 3 Californian wines have ever shown up here and low and behold, my favourite mid priced, UK available, Californian Red was sat on the table. The EOS Petite-Sirah.

EOS Paso Robles Petite Sirah 2005 - BUY - £10
Deep purple in the glass and right off the bat you are hit with a blockbuster nose of cherries, spices and pepper. On the palate the wine is thick and jammy with a lustrous mouthfeel, flavourful and smooth with acres of blackcurrant in the mid palate. 14% alcohol held with absolute style, nothing harsh or hot in the finish which goes on and on with notes of chocolate. Not really complex just simply delicious. 90 Points

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Why is it that mid range Californian wines haven't really made it over the Atlantic? Or do you think they have? Also, please leave any tips for great Californian wines for me to check out to help expand my knowledge? Or, that are simply dee-lische?

Chianti Classico 2006

Chianti Classico 2006

2006 was a superb year for Chianti and Tuscany in general. For once, Tuscany could revel in it's 55 Tre Bicchiere awards while the usually undisputed King of Italian wine making regions, Piedmont, had to settle for a paltry 52. Within Italy sales of Chianti are on the rise and internationally there is growing demand for Chianti Classico which is now world renowned for offering fantastic QPR and has shed it's straw covered/tourist image. It's hard to generalise a vintage across an area as wide as Chianti but these wines are of high alcohol, good acidity and with a fine tannic structure so should age beautifully.

2006 is thought to be the second best Chianti Classico vintage in the last 15 years, coming two years after the best vintage, 2004. As is often the case when you have a great vintage, the second brilliant vintage in quick succession can offer great opportunities for those looking to invest in wine. It is often forgotten that the mighty Sangiovese, even outside of Brunello di Montalcino is capable of ageing and any one of the four wines in this review will be drinking beautifully in 2016 and some even possibly up to 2030.

Reliable and Excellent Producers of Chianti Classico
There are some producers who can be relied upon year in year out with their Chianti Classico wines being among the best of the vintage, however, I can't guarantee any of these wines will be excellent in any given vintage, I'm not Matt Skinner. These are four of my favourites from 2006 that you should be able to easily locate.

• Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia £20-25
• Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Castello di Brolio - £15-20
• Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo - £25-35
• Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva - £12-16

The top two wines here are among my personal top five wines of the year and I'm not just talking about Chianti, or Tuscany, or Italy, I'm talking unbeatable value, two of the best wine bargains of the year anywhere. Capiche?

You may notice a glaring omission from this list, Castello di Ama. While there is no denying that both the Bellavista and Casuccia bottlings are extraordinary I can't recommend these wines as great value both retailing around the £100 mark.

Fattoria di Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia 2006 - BUY - £25
A deep brooding ruby red the wine takes a while to express itself on the nose however when it does the bouquet has sumptuous notes, spice and earthy with blackberries and cherries mingling with floral tones too. This is a full bodied Chianti that is fresh with strong acidity, drying tannins and a great structure for ageing potential. Powerful and vibrant give this wine some respect and another five years at least. 94 Points

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Castello di Brolio 2006 - BUY - £15
Almost purple in colour this wine is stunningly aromatic and typically Chianti Classico. Dried fruits, spices, cherries and chocolate on the nose. The wine is mid-full bodied, tannic and with a bitter finish. This wine won the best Italian wine of the year with Wine Spectator magazine and so the price has gone up since my video review you can see here. 89 Points

Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo 2006 - BUY - £30
A deep purple wine and full bodied, this Chianti Classico takes hours and hours to open up and really should be cellared for a further 10 years to get close to its best expression. However, today the wine is bringing a sour cherry, tobacco and chocolate nose if decanted for several hours. On the palate the wine is high on both tannins and acidity and the structure and power here is immense. Some red fruits on the palate but mostly earth and just dense. One of those wines where drinking today is pleasurable but not a patch on having a little patience, it's gonna be a monster! 94 Points

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2006 - BUY - £14
The lightest of the four, a medium ruby red and also the least dense this Chianti Classico is made in a smooth style and is medium bodied. On the nose the wine has classic sour cherry, some vanilla but also a heap of earth too. The wine can be drunk today but will improve, is smooth in style with the typical high acidity and great fruits on the palate. A touch watery and clipped on the finish. 89 Points

Where can I buy this wine? (the lowest price available - just click the link on the country)
Felsina - USA - EUROPE - UK
Barone Ricasoli - USA - EUROPE - UK
Fontodi - USA - EUROPE - UK
Castello di Volpaia - USA - EUROPE - UK

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Chianti Classico recommendations, stories, tales of woe, all things Chianti Classico! Where did you have your first Chianti? Food match-ups?