Respect yourself, Respect your taste buds!

Is wine consumption today based only on the impression imprinted in our minds based on the advertisements and words of salesperson in the wine stores these days? Or do we really bother to taste the wine and drink it based on our own liking?

Do you find yourself swallowing that overpowering tannin that's actually too much to your liking? If you did, it's probably time to rethink about it!

Giving recognition to the wine critics and giving all due respect to the old classification of wine, wines from the famous Chateaus today may not guarantee satisfaction to your taste buds today. Face it, subjectivity prevails in all individuals. And not forgetting that wines are suppose to be lovely and treating! So if you find a wine torturing your taste buds, abandon it even if your friends or thousand others out there love it.

You may wanna taste it after all the good reviews, but if it doesn't suit you, there really isn't much to feel ashamed of! Afterall, it's your taste buds you're trying to please, not any one else's!

P.S Image obtained from - http://www.thebestkeptsecret.ca/

A pain worthwhile~

You shower your vines with love and constant care over the months, but it is when the most long awaited period arrives, when you and your works steps into the final stage, that your heart ache to see your vines go through the period of thirst. You are tempted to shower them with water, but only to be held back by the cruelty of reality and for the best of results at the end of the race.

You even pray hard no rain comes in to intercept in this struggle. You smile with mixed feelings when the sun rises everyday. You walk to your beloved cluster of grapes with a heart full of love, but only to find yourself not able to give them their very needs.

You run your fingers over the vines, hoping somehow they will understand and continue to saturate and bring out the ultimate sweetness from deep within them. And when the time comes for them to take the sugar and acidity test, you smile with relieve that all hardship has paid off. The harvest takes place, and you know with the final batch of lovely grapes being cut off from the stem, it is a time of reward - for both you and the grapes for you may finally unleash all your love and provide them with some quenching water!

P.S: It's been such a long time since I last posted and share here...hope this small little post will help water this blog and bring some sweetness to it once again.
Picture attached taken from : http://www.pcimagenetwork.com/wine/wine11.html

Open a bottle with Red hot tongs and cold water?

Saw this video in Decanter.com and was truly amazed! Thought you guys might find it interesting too...so here's the video. Get ready to be awed! =)

From Decanter.com: Luis Hurtado de Amézaga of Marques de Riscal uses red-hot tongs and cold water to open a bottle of 1900 Marques de Riscal, Christie's King Street, London 18 June 2008

P.S hope you guys enjoyed the video. For more information on the exact post on Decanter.com, click on the link above. *Cheers*

Some German wine for you?

A loyal reader of this blog might have learnt mostly about reds and hear very little about whites mentioned in my winelov3r blog. Same goes to the country France being mentioned more then any other. Shall we deviate from the norm and peep in a little more to another world of wine...Germany.

A country that sees itself holding a mixture of reputation in the world of wine is perhaps a good way of introducing Germany. To date, while the first impression that was imprinted in my mind about German wine is delicious white wine...specifically Riesling...you bet many out there also carry the impression of this as a place where cheap and low-quality mass produced wines are made from.

But putting that upper and lower status associated with German wines aside, I would prefer to appreciate more of the main characteristics of the wine itself. Hmmm..close your eyes and taste a German wine and you might start to notice that most of the time your mouth will be covered by a layer of dryness. And that's so true because most of the wines sold in Germany tend to be dry, especially in the case when your foot is in a restaurant. But let not the dryness deprive or blind you of the many wonderful sweet wines that were born from this wonder land as well. In fact, the sweetness of some German whites that I've tried felt so pure and crisp. Not the type that will make one sick cos' of its sweetness..and one that brings me to the land it originates - one of refreshness and head-to-toe indulgence. But of course that is if you manage to grab hold of a nice one..as mentioned cheap and low quality ones do exist as well, so I wish you luck!

Coming back to German wines, one would definitely see less of reds, one main reason being the climate in German. If you've read one of my very first few posts, you might still remember how the surroundings affect our very beloved grape babies. And so is the case for the growing of the darker members of the grape family in Germany. But definitely there is no doubt that more and more dark and richer reds such as Spätburgunder (or else better know as Pinot Noir by us) are popping out from Germany these days. To be fair, they seriously worth some try (though I'd still go for my reds from France anytime=p).

Another point worth taking notice is that German wines tend to have a higher level of acidity in them, and 2 attributing factors underlie this characteristic. These being the fact that firstly the grapes that are selected (eg. Riesling) tend to contain high acidity levels even when there are at a high ripeness level. Secondly, we might want to thank the northerly climate which causes the lower ripeness.

A little understanding might help one when you enjoy a sip of the German wine. Why? Because for every sip, you consume not just the physical taste but also a romantic and long journey that this wine carries with it. And so while Gewürztraminer makes my taste buds shun away from it with the very first sip, that sip that I tried made my emotions seep a little closer to the lands of Germany, to feel yet another influence it brought with it. And with the wonderful Riesling, it brings yet another different understanding as to why many others out there respect it so much. In that sip of Riesling, I felt the wonder.

So are you ready for some German wine tonight? Do remember however, that as you take a sip, close your eyes and enjoy the acidity and uniqueness of her, and leave the status of high or low away for a minute. Experience with your very own judgment. That to me, is unique. *cheers*

P.S : The above information has been gathered from :
- Personal wine tasting lessons
- Wikipedia

German wine tasting

Went to a wine tasting session at a German restaurant named Magma this evening, thought it would be nice to share some details on the wine tasted. There are as follows :

The first one to come:
- 2006 Langenlonsheimer Riesling, Q.b.A., Semi Dry
Alc. 12.5% vol, acidity 7.1g/l, residual sugar 7.0 g/l
Sweet, exotic yellow fruit aroma with mineral note
Price per btl: SGD 38.00
(I quite like the sweetness and chrisp feel of this white..)

The second one to come..also a white:
- 2006, Langenlonsheimer Koenigsschild, Gewuerztraminer, Selection, Semi Dry
Alc. 13.0% vol, acidity 5.0 g/l, residual sugar 8.9 g/l
Price per btl: SGD 55.00
(Didn't really like Gewuerztraminer due to the bitter finish though...)

The third one, finally a red!!:
- 2004 Blauer Spaetburgunder (Pinot Nior), dry
Alc. 13.5% vol, acidity 5.4 g/l, residual sugar 1.4 g/l
A fresh, soft wine with fine cherry aroma
Price per btl: SGD 40.00
(Very smooth and soft red, comfortable for leisure drinking for me =))

The final one..a dessert wine!!woohoo~:
- 1999 Langenlonsheimer Loehrer berg, Scheurebe, TBA, dessert, 0.5 l
Alc. 7.0% vol, acidity 10.1 g/l, residual sugar 287.4 g/l
Price per btl: SGD 145.00
(Yes you read it right..nearly 150 bucks..but the taste is worth every cent! Very sweet and viscous..I lurrrveee it!!)

FYI: all the above wines are actually from the Nahe region. To be more specific, they are all from the Wilhelm Schweinhardt winery, which happens to be one of the largest in the Nahe region. Hope you guys love the wine if you happen to try them *cheers*