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European Wines

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By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Today's Advent wine takes us on a journey to Greece! I don't think I've done a Greek wine yet, how unusual of me. Most definitely time to rectify that. And, because I love an unusual grape, I'm getting two for the price of one post today! Advent day 13 Gonidakis Potamisios, 2021 Gonidakis Family Vineyards is one of Greece's many island wineries. Not from the famous Santorini, but one of the often overlooked Cycladic islands, Kynthos. Owner Kostas Gonidakis focuses on Cycladic grape varieties, several of which seem to be exclusive to his vineyards. Almost certainly I got this from Greece and Grapes, my favorite wine shopping website in Greece. Since I've

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I've had this wine for about a year and finally pulled it out. A gift from Austria from a friend who knows of my love for all the Muscats of the world. With no indication on the label to give me any idea as to its sweetness level, I really had no idea what to expect.  But, sweet or dry, I thought something as aromatic as Gelber Muskateller (more well-known as Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) would do well with Indian food. I made a feast using recipes from my friend Kay's Punjab cookbook and crossed my fingers. Advent Day 8 Winzerhof Kridlo Sierndorfer Schatz Gelber Muskateller, 2019 When I opened the

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Today's Advent wine comes from Bazaltkő Pincészet in Hungary and features a favorite grape of mine: Kéknyelű. Found primarily in Badacsony, it's an old grape that fell out of popularity but has been making a comeback in the region. Kéknyelű is late-ripening, low-yielding, plagued with poor fruit set, and requires a lot of work in the vineyard. Especially since it needs another variety to pollinate as it has only female flowers. This would be part of the reason it fell out of favor. It's also why it's known locally as the gentleman’s grape’ (on the assumption only someone of affluence could afford to bother with it). Advent Day 3 Bazaltkő Pincészet Kéknyelű,

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  Yes, I've set myself with this wine a day for Advent challenge (which I already regret) but today is also #CabFranc Day! So, I thought it would be a perfect day to talk about this Romanian Cabernet Franc that I received as a gift. Advent Day 2 Crama Ferdi Cuvee Francisc, 2021 As the name indicates, this Crama Ferdi wine is a cuvee, not a 100% Cabernet Franc. In this case, the blend includes Cabernet Franc and Merlot aged for 14 months in oak.  Initially, the wine showed vanilla and stewed fruit aromas then slowly unfolded to reveal spice and cola notes. Very smooth on the palace with almost no discernable tannin

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Sparkling Wine, Sweet Wine, Wine Reviews

  This month, the #ItalianFWT group is exploring the wines of Piemonte and/or Valle d'Aosta. Culinary Cam will be hosting a Twitter (I refuse to call it X), on Saturday, November 4 at 8am Pacific/11am EST/6pm Istanbul. You can read her invitation to the event here.  Lacking any wine from the Valle d'Aosta, I chose a wine from Piemonte. I have several on hand at the moment but my overwhelming love for anything bubbly trumped all the other wines, and so I had to choose a Brachetto. Brachetto the grape and the wine Brachetto is both a grape and a wine, both of which hail from Piemonte. The berries are dense and firm

By 0European Wines, Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, Wine Reviews

  Deanna of Wineivor has invited the #ItalianFWT group to explore the Vento and the Wines of Romance this month! As Deanna pointed out in her invite, the Vento is well-known for its wines, among them Prosecco, Valpolicella, Soave, Bardolino, and Amarone. I chose to focus on Prosecco. Not just because I love bubbles (which of course I do!) but because of the memories associated with it.  In October 2019, I took my mother to Italy, her first trip there. We went to Rome because if you're Catholic you go to Rome, and we went to Venice. At every meal or stop to rest (she not being super mobile), I

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  A family winery located in the Balaton Uplands Laposa Birtok has a beautifully romantic story. In 1978, József Laposa and Eleonóra Barabás met on a train traveling through Balaton. It must have been love at first sight because the couple married later that same year. Coincidentally, both happened to come from wine families and the marriage joined the Laposa family barrel maker with the Barabás family winemaker. The couple received a small wine press house in the Balaton Uplands as a wedding gift and from there built their winery. Today in the hands of their children, Laposa Birtok focuses mainly on white wines. They work with traditional, local grape varieties typical

By 0European Wines, Rose Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Some time ago, I posted about a couple different Moschofilero wines I'd had, which you can find here. Then, at the urging of my friend Anna Maria of Unravelling Wine, I hunted down a Bosniakis Moschofilero.  Given how wide-spread Moschofilero is in the Peloponnese, especially in Mantineia where the Mantineia PDO wines must contain minimum 85% Moschofilero; none of us should feel shocked about the wide range of wine quality. While almost always at least enjoyable, Moschofilero can give rather insipid wines.  While it resembles the Traminer and Muscat grapes in aroma profile, it does not belong to either grape family. In fact, two opposing theories debate Moschofilero's background. One

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  Cindy of Grape Experiences has invited the #ItalianFWT group to explore the wines, food, and history of Friuli and/or Trentino-Alto Adige this month. Join us today Saturday, September 2 on twitter for our discussion at 11 AM EST! These are both regions of Italy that I would love to explore but haven't yet been able to visit. Until then, I can but explore them through the occasional bottle of wine that drops into my hands! For this month, I chose to focus on the Alto Adige side of things with a bottle of Schiava.  Trentino-Alto Adige [caption id="attachment_19430" align="alignright" width="330"] Schiava - illustration from Wikipedia[/caption] Trentino-Alto Adige is Italy's northernmost wine region,

By 0European Wines, Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, Wine Reviews

  Even though I finally made it to Slovenia a few years ago, I barely got a taste of the wine! Despite the fact that taste wine was mostly all I did for the few days I was there! So when I had the chance to make a big wine order from the US, Slovenian wine was one of the things I looked for. Not only did I find some, I was thrilled that what I found was sparkling! This wine had a crazy journey. From Slovenia to the US to Turkey with how many stops and what kind of conditions along the way. I felt a little trepidatious about