My 1st in Finland Birthday Party

The Sacher cake - It was delicious!

Last Saturday, the 25th February, one year ago I arrived finally in Finland. And since then I had an awesome journey into a culture and mentality that caught me from the very first moment and still hasn't lost my fascination! I am very thankful to every special moment I had with my Finnish friends and looking forward to more of these "nights and white days to remember!!!" This is a SPECIAL THANK YOU to all of you, ladies and guys!!! Kiitos paljon for making me feel like home here and integrating me into your culture!!! :) 

Getting the Bday Party ready

So last Saturday I was celebrating with some of my Finnish friends my 1st year staying in Finland. Unfortunately not all of them were able to show up at my party, however I know those who couldn't attend were mentally there! Plus one of my best friends from Germany, Benjamin, showed up for the weekend. It was great to had all you at my party. First my friends and I went to Sauna followed by an evening of funny games, conversations and a lot of laughs and party in Tiger at Kamppi until the very end!

When my friends came they also brought some nice presents along, a Sacher cake and - of course what else? - a bottle of red wine. The interesting fact about the bottle of wine is that this one doesn't contain any sulfite. Sulfite? Sulfite? What isn't that the yellow stuff that you can find near volcanoes, you might ask now. Correct that is sulfite and normally when it comes out of volcanoes it isn't very healthy. But why is it in wine? Good question and the answer is quite simply. Sulfite is used to stop the process of wine fermentation.

The present:
Pura Sangre

Finnish Party Mood ;)

Sulphur has been used for centuries or more than a couple of thousands of years. In older time a small stick of sulphur was lighted before it was thrown into the wine. While it burns the sulphur becomes sulfur dioxide (SO2) which further reacts in the wine with the water molecules (H2O) to sulphurous acid (HSO3-). Okay enough of the chemical things now. However the sulphurous acid will instantly kill all microorganisms (good or bad ones for the wine) and stop the fermentation process. The concentration that is used for the wine is so less that it is NOT IN ANY WAY HARMFUL! So no worries. However the sulfite can be tasted and smelled as a slight - let's say - "fruity" compound in the wine. I am barely able to smell this (only when there is a little bit more used) and sometimes only able to taste it. But of course the sulfite might influence the taste and smell of the wine a bit and might also be able to cover other nice "tastes".

So in this case it raises the question how to stop the fermentation otherwise. Well there are different possibilities. One way is that the concentration of the alcohol within the wine increases to a level that the yeast will die or when the nutritions for the yeast runs out (latter one more rarely). Another way are physical methods like heating up the tank to a certain temperature or cool it down for a longer time. At least when it comes to the "heating" up I am very sceptically and not very much positive that this won't influence the wine... anyway. 

Capt. Kimmo

Now I will looking forward to taste this wine. I don't know where they got it, from Alko or somewhere else and I also won't start looking for it even it is good. I don't actually need or even want to know what my friends invested into this bottle, because for me it's not about the money. For me it's about the act of friendship to come up with such an idea! Thank you so much!   

At the end of this post today I wanna say once more thank you for this Birthday party: Benjamin, Kimmo, Teemu, Tommi, Emma, Vera, Paulina and Anastasia. You made it very special to me! 

Thats it for today. À bientôt mes amis!

- “The wines that one best remembers are not necessarily the finest that one has ever tasted, and the highest quality may fail to delight so much as some far more humble beverage drunk in more favorable surroundings.” - H. Warner Allen

A nice fellow from Argentina - Kaiken

I decided today that I will from time to time present you guys some nice red wines that I tasted. It might be helpful for you to try some red wines by yourself or if you just would like to figure out if that is your kind of wine you like. A slight note here: I prefere tannin rich wines.  I will also try to describe the wine, e.g. how does it takes, what I do taste and also in some cases which kind of food it suits.  

Today a fellow from Argentina

Name: Kaiken

Origin: Argentina

Vintage: 2010

Grape(s): Malbec / Cabernet Sauvignon 

Alcohol: 14,5 %

Price: 9,99 €

Shop: Alko

Personal rank: 5,5 of 10 points (10 points = best!)

Actually I was quite in the mood for experiments and experience when picking up that bottle. It has a huge content of alcohol for a wine (14,5%) which I normally wouldn't have chosen, cause this amount can block / cover the taste and smell buds. So that makes it difficult to taste and also you can't drink too much cause it will get to your head. That was also my prob I, had some difficulties to taste and smell it.

Look: Nice intensive red color. 

Smell: Overwhelming (cause of the alc) but some smell like dark berries. 

Taste: Intensive taste (also a result from the alc), a little like dark chocolate and in certain moments a small bitter note (tannins). Leaves a nice aftertaste which has a slight acid taste (not so nice, but interesting).

Tannin(s): A lot.

Food: Good choice for goat cheese and Camembert (high fat require, cause of the high alc), also nice for meat like beef. 

Cooking: Well suitable for Coq au vin.

Résumé: A nice wine with interesting features. Definitely worth a try. 5,5 point out of 10 because it tastes good, but also not more points cause of too much alc covering the taste. 

Hope you got some idea about the wine and might be interested to try it!

À bientôt mes amis! 

Wine accessories - The three musketeers: The carafe

As I promised last week, today I am gonna present you the 2nd person of the (three) four musketeers: PORTHOS, the wine carafe.

Actually the wine carafe is one of the most expensive equipments, especially when you just recently started to get into wine. But why is a good wine carafe important? What do I get from it? And why should I go for one? These are definitely the questions when you face the prices for a carafe (50 - 75 € average price for a carafe which is "okay". And up to 200 € for a excellent one.) But what are the differences between the different carafe types? 

A glass carafe for
young wines

Okay, lets start first with the question for what a carafe is good for? A carafe is important to provide the wine with air. The air, as I mentioned somewhere shortly in one of my post before, is important for the development of the aromas and the tannins within the wine. So basically the carafe is providing space for the wine so that wine has a huge surface to obtain a lot of air in a short time (wine people say that the wine "breaths"). This is particular important if you have a young wine which needs to develop itself. On the contrary older wine needs a carafe which creates a smaller surface for the wine; a more narrowed one, since the wine had already time to develop itself. So not so much air for an old one like for a younger wine. 

Another reason for having a carafe is that you can get ride of the deposit (if the wine contains some; can be the case for young as well as for old wines). Mentioning these major things so far, someone might ask why not going for another vessel? Something that is cheaper and as well made out of glass? Honestly I do agree with that, it is possible and also not a bad idea. I even think for a wine beginner that might be a considerable option. Especially if you keep thinking of the price. But if you don't fear the price and also wanna go for it 100% right, then of course you will need one - sooner or later! - Also one point for me to go for a carafe is the nice outlook when having good company and good food. It gives in my personal point of view the certain touch for the moment. 

A crystal glass carafe for
young wines; made by Peugeot

So if you go for a carafe what is actually the reason for the price difference?? It is simply the glass and also if you got a designer carafe. Latter ones are from my point not always the best choice, since you basically pay just for the design and the brand of the designer. Plus some designs... et ben... comment je peux dire?... Some designs I have the feeling they were letting their kids drawing... very creative but logic? Then again I am atm in the World Design Capital 2012 (Helsinki) and I must say some designs are really awesome! So I guess there are pros and cons. 

The glass plays a crucial role. So far there are normal glass, crystal glass, and plumb crystal glass. All these different glass types differs in their structure (if you have look under the electron microscope... who doesn't have it at home?) and also the physical ability of thermo conducting. Both points play a role in the wine development. I cannot tell much about the differences in details, since I am having simply a lack of knowledge at this point. However from my experience I can tell you: The best of these ones is plumb crystal glass. The wine tastes much better and also develop itself in another way than with all the other glass. Second best is crystal glass. But these glass are less frequently asked for and also a little more difficult to produce, therefore they are more expensive.   

So I hope know you got a bigger and better idea about wine carafe. That's it for this week. See you next week again!  À bientôt mes amis!

PS: A tip at the end: When decanting the wine, please be careful and try to avoid making too many bubbles. I have been told to do so but never really understood why. I assume that if you want to have a continues well develop aroma in the whole wine you have to do that. Otherwise when you are making a lot of bubbles the wine  maybe will have later a broad spectrum of different tastes. This might influence the whole tasting feeling in not such a positive way. And also now you got your answer from the last post - why you shouldn't shake the red wine!

- “Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.” Shakespeare - 

Wine accessories - The three musketeers: The Corkscrew

Yeah finally again some more time for a new post! I know I told you guys that I would post twice a week, well reality again showed me that with my current work load I am not able to do so. So I set my mind up to 100% post once a week at least! I don't wanna let you wait too long for new stuff..

The four musketeers: Athos, Porthos,
Aramis and D'Artagnan

So new chapter, new topic. We are starting with 'wine accessories' which includes dozens of equipments. Some of them are necessary to have, other useful, good-looking or just making your life easier. Starting with what I call: The three musketeers. These are the corkscrew (Athos), the wine carafe (Porthos) and the wine glass (Aramis). (Okay D'Artagnan is the bottle of wine, of course what else? There can't be only three musketeers. They are always four!) You need these four companions to ensure a good time! 

Today I am gonna start with one you will need now and forever: ATHOS....äh...pardon I meant ....THE CORKSCREW. 'How else are you opening the bottle?' you might ask. Well there are other "possibilities" which I will talk about later in this post. 

A basic corkscrew
(c) Wikipedia, user KMJ

If you are going to buy a corkscrew please be aware that there are a lot of different models available. The classical and basic one, a wing corkscrew, a sommelier knife and so on and on... Technically all these corkscrews tend to simply open up the wine bottle, but with different kinds of physical forces. Depending on your skills and your muscle power you might should chose the one that suits you best - or you just like best. 

So how do they work? The basic requires strength at all and is for beginners not quite easy to handle. You have to hold with one hand the bottle while tearing the corkscrew with the other. If you don't have a grip like the invincible HULK I rather not suggest you to do so. Either the bottle will break in your hand (if your are HULK) or it might slip and you will throw it somewhere. In both cases the bottle will be useless and all the cost for cleaning will exceed the enjoyment of having a glass of wine.

Now how to do with this one? There are two tricks how you can deal with it. First you put the bottle on the table and you put your hand around the bottle's neck and then pull the corkscrew upwards. This will safely guarantee that the bottle won't be crushed. However sometimes the bottle can overbalance while doing so. So another trick is to put the bottle between your legs and tightly push it together while pulling the cork out (a suggestions from my side, do it slowly with this one).  

A winged corkscrew
(c) Wikipedia, user KMJ

If you are afraid of not being capable of doing it correct with the basic one, then you should either considering to go for a wing corkscrew. There you simply have to hold the bottle when opening. It requires less strength than the basic one and also not too much skills. By pushing down the two wings you will lever the cork out.

A sommeliers knife
(c) Wikipedia, user KMJ

If you now think that is too easy or not challenging enough, then go for the sommeliers knife. Its also using the lever technique with a little bit more strength and still needing some skill to hold the bottle while opening. To be honest I am also using the sommeliers knife (a variation in design of it). I especially like the fact that you have the small knife for cutting the cap that is surrounding the cork. You can also do it with the corkscrew thorny end, however if you wanna have a clear cut in this cap and not looking like you tried to teared it away then go for a normal knife. I also put some pictures how to hold the bottle while cutting the cap, this should give you an idea of how to do it. Plus it looks a little bit more professional doing so...

Holding and cutting the
cap with the thorny
end of a corkscrew

Coming back to a situation when you don't have ATHOS....et mince... the corkscrew at hand. Yeah well there are other possibility how to open it the bottle... et ben...pff... I honestly didn't want to mention this: how to open a bottle without a corkscrew.. then again thinking of opening a bottle without having a corkscrew and not knowing how to open it up will result in 99% in a proper catastrophe: the bottle will be destroyed...  ... ... ... ... ... ... pff... ... ... ben pourquoi pas?.... okay I convinced myself to tell you how. Just do me a favor if someone ask you where you learned that, don't think about mentioning me...

How to open without a corkscrew (PLEASE BEAR IN MIND BEING CAREFUL WHILE OPENING UP THE BOTTLE AND PREFERABLY DON'T DO IT WHEN YOU ARE NOT SURE YOU CAN DO IT! I am taking NO RESPONSIBILITY when you are hurting yourself or causing any kind of damage while doing so).

Holding and cutting the
cap with the small knife
of a sommeliers knife

1) Using a sneaker or sport shoe. You put the shoe around the bottle's bottom and hardly hit the shoe's bottom with the bottle against something (the wall, a table, the ground). While doing so the pressure inside will slowly push the cork out. That is working very well as long as you have a natural or pressed cork. With the plastic ones... good luck while not breaking the bottle.

2) Pushing the cork into the bottle. This is particular very difficult as you have to use a lot of force at same time while being careful not to stain yourself when doing so (especially when it's red wine). Again this is working well with a natural cork one... good luck again with the plastic ones. One more reason why I don't like plastic corks...

I tried those two tricks by myself as well. They worked out. However I wasn't very satisfied with the end result. Especially 1) is not well suited for red wine. You shake the wine so that is a NO GO! You should never shake wine. Why? I will come back to this when talking about PORTHOS, the wine carafe.

So the take home message for today: You need to have a corkscrew and it is very important to figure out which one you are going for!

Et bien mes amis thats it for today. I hope you will read next week again my blog! À bientôt! 

Oh là that reminds me I wanted to put a special:

BON VOYAGE! For a Finnish friend of mine here! She is going to life now in France! I wasn't able to attend yesterday at her Farewell Party so I couldn't say to here have a great time! So please I hope you read this, Bon Voyage ma belle, take care and enjoy every moment! Say hello to France from me!!! We (I) will miss you here in Finland. But Finland's lose is France greatest win(e)! :)

- “Wine in moderation: Good for the body, great for the soul.” Jim Trezise -