Special - Last weekend....part 2

So now the 2nd part of the special....getting right to the point:

Me, smelling a special wine
and in the typical French
outfit

The special bottle. Well my dad actually gave me 2 of those, next to some others. However these 2 bottles were very special. The first one I opened up on Christmas last year and shared it with my mother. Je crois au Dieu! (French expression of something phenomenal: I blieve in God) This bottle was awesome. The first impression was overwhelming. The smell was so intensive and also so nice and not too strong, but I was having quite difficulties to taste anything in the beginning. Finally after 2h I tasted something, but also then the alcohol of the wine (14,5%) kicked in. I was having during that time my second glass and had to withdraw....withdraw....withdraw?? "What am I talking about here?" you might think. Yes I had to leave the rest of the wine in the glass and couldn't enjoy it much longer. Why? Well the wine was just too good to be true and also not ready. Okay I might have the feeling you might be now more confused or can't followed me at all. 

So what I am actually talking about? Well its somehow difficult to explain and also because you might have never encountered such kind of wine before. Nor you might face one without guidance or someone who is showing it to you. I am actually talking about a wine that is special. So special that you should buy like 12 bottles and stores it for the next decades, at least one or two decades. 

I would like to explain it to you by asking from another point of view: "What are actually the requirements for a wine that can be stored for many years, decades, if not centuries?" As simple as it might seem here the answer to this particular question it is even more difficult than to find one of these wines. The right balance. The right balance of what? The right balance of tannins, aroma compounds and alcohol percentage. I think you might get now an idea of what I am talking about. So if that is true what I keep writing here than that would actually mean the more tannins, the more aroma compounds and the more alcohol the better and longer I might can stored the bottle and let it develop itself? Yes you are absolutely right! But for only one type of wine. 

To keep now the confusing to a minimum and also the frustration. I am sorry this is a complicated question and let me remind you of one thing I mentioned in my earlier posts: Wine is a mystery and as it is also its making. So to be honest, you will never 100% know what are the ingredients for a wine that can be stored for decades. The problem of all of it is the balance and no one can describe the perfect balance of every compound in the wine to have a special wine. Every wine has different kind of grape(s) and also the percentage of different grapes might differ. Also how much sun did the vintage had? What was the weather conditions. These are just a few things which influence the outcome of the wine.

My Italian coworker checking if
I do a good decanting. Also he
smelled the wine!

Making it short from here on by asking: How do you recognize a special wine? 

1) It should have a lot of tannins - no doubt, the more the better.

2) The aroma compounds should be high and rich. 

3) The alcohol, well that is not such a crucial point. Of course if you have a decent amount you might have less "contamination" problems during the fermentation. 

4) It all depends on the balance of the 3 before mentioned points. 

5) When you open up the bottle it will take much time (at least 1-2h) until you might taste something specific.

6) The smell is overwhelming when opening up the bottle or decanting it. 

7) You buy 12 bottles of wine and taste the first now. The second in 5 years, re-evaluate it and then taste the 3rd after 10 years. You either keep trying to consume the remain one's if you realize you can't store them any longer. Or if you are lucky - you can store them even longer.

Especially point No. 7 is important. Even the most sophisticated wine sommeliers or wine taster might not be able to predict the future of a wine. They might be able to assume that a certain wine is going to be great in decades and also how long you should store it. But still, everything is up to the conditions where and how the wine is stored, if the wine maker did a good job, if nature was grateful and created a piece of outstanding quality and - actually my favor - how lucky you are! 

I hope I made it somehow a little bit more clearer to you. So lets get to the interesting point: "Which wine was I actually opening up?" Curious? Here it is:

Name: Château L'Hospitalet - La Reserve

Vintage: 2009

Region: France - Coteaux Du Langedoc

Mis en bouteille au Château

Proprietaire: Gérard Bertrand 

Grape(s): Syrah - Mourvèdre - Grenache 

Alc: 14,5 %

Shop: Unknown (was a present)

Price: Unknown

Personal rank: 9.1 of 10 points

Color: A deep Bordeaux red

Smell: Very intensive smell, overwhelming. Even while decanting it the fruity smell was - wow - impressive (normally when you decant you rarely have an intensive smell). Even tho there was a lot of alcohol (14,5%) which normally covers the smells I was able to smell cranberries, blackberries, some cherry and elderberry.  

Taste: Within the first 10-15 min no taste at all. Even after 1-2h still not the whole tasting sensation available but what I was able to taste... you have to experience it by yourself.

Tannin(s): A lot of it!

Food: - so far not possible to say, have to wait until its ready to drink (so in 10 years maybe).

Résumé: A wine made for decades. Excellent. To simply put it like me Spanish coworker said: "It's awesome! Amazing and special. You have to taste it!" Well there is nothing more to say from my side. She is absolutely right!  

That's been my last weekend. Very busy and many impression. I really enjoyed it.

Anyway I hope you enjoy reading this and going to get somehow one bottle of this wine and maybe taste it.

À bientôt mes amis!

Special - Last weekend....part 1

Salut mes amis! Finally a new post on my blog. Guys I am having at the moment a bunch of work piles on my desk and its getting not any less but just even more! Ahhhh....!!! So I am having quite a hard time to write a new post even tho I really wish to do so. Anyway ... bref let's get to the point: What happened last weekend?

The Korean dishes
(c) Choi

Well last weekend, the Friday, I was invited with some other colleges to have dinner at my boss's place. Also a college from South Korea (Choi) was invited. He was going to stay until end of next week and was going to work with my colleges and me intensively. Of course if you work so hard together you also need time to relax and build-up relations (friendship wise). Therefore my boss invited us. We all were having a great time on Friday and some wines which I was unfortunately not able to describe and making pictures of all, naturally when you are in good company you definitely won't ever do this. So well what was on the menu? 

Anselmann - 2010 - white wine
(c) Choi

Actually....I am sorry but I really don't remember the names of the dishes. On the menu were Koran dishes, made by my boss's wife, and WOW they were delicious!!!! There was Koran-made beef, fried king shrimps, fired octopus rings, kimchi/gimchi (that are vegetables which are fermented, you can have them in different taste strength, depending on how long you have fermented them. I tried the short-time as well as the long-time fermented one. Absolutely delicious, in the beginning unusual, but after the second bite, yum!), a special onion(?) soup, but also other dishes like: chicken wings and spare ribs. Pffff (French sound for a full stomach)...it was a feast for soul and body!!! If you have so much good food on the table and plus made by a really great cook (Chapeau!) you definitely need some wines along. We all had a great time and maybe one more drink too much, but anyway thats what happen sometimes and its important to enjoy these moments when they come. 

Moi and some colleges
(c) Choi

The wines we had along the dinner were different ones from white to red. There was a Trapiche  (not mentioned here before, but soon I will write about), a red wine from Argentina, with a lot of tannins but excellent for the food. Also Anselmann (will write about this one sooner or later), a white wine (Riesling = grape) from Germany. Quite dry but just perfect for the kimchi. The others I don't remember 100% anymore, but I do remember the poster so I will go and check them out in the next time. But I do remember we had 3 red and 4 white wines (we were more than 10 people).

However one of my personal highlights on this particular evening was actually what my college Choi said: That his girlfriend and he like my blog very much and started to taste and try different red wines since then! I thought great, now I am also a little bit famous in Korea! I was really happy yo hear that! Thanks Choi and at this part also a warmly welcome and hello to his girlfriend! I am happy to hear that you both enjoy reading my blog. (Okay now here must be some advertisement...so if you two have other friends in Korea who would like to try wines please let them know about my blog!.. enough advertisement). 

Coq au vin in
a Le Creuset cooking pot

During all this good food and wines of course you talk about a lot of stuff. Actually I must say I was so stunned and surprised about the fact that my boss's wife was cooking with Le Creuset cookware (http://cookware.lecreuset.com/). I do have one for myself. They are hellish expensive, but so worth the price. If you cook often and wanna have a perfect distribution of the heat and also a cookware that has a life-time! warranty than this is the cookware you were looking for! Of course its French... however you can also use it for other things than cooking, e.g. like storing in the fridge. Apart of the fact that they are hellish expensive they are also quite heavy, because they are made out of enamel iron. This point actually made me realizing why everyone has so much respect towards their granny. If they lift these pots up like feathers... well a body builder must be a piece of joke compared to them..... Anyway I am drifting apart from what I wanted to tell you. While I was so surprised I started saying that I am impressed that she has a Le Creuset and bla bla bla. Not very interesting for you guys I know but listen what happened afterwards. After some time with good food and drinks, my college and me were always mentioning how good the food is and so, my boss's wife suddenly said that I must be also a good cook... boum... thanks for the compliment. Well long story quite short I ended up promising to cook for my colleges the next Sunday (I also had promised them this a long time ago, so best time to do so). 

So after a short Friday/Saturday night and a long Saturday...OMG....I was having a "slight" hangover and cleaned-up my place and made everything ready for Sunday. I was ready to cook on Sunday.

Apple cake
(Gateau aux pommes)

Quiche de fromage

What was on the menu? Mhm very good stuff:  Coq-au vin with fried potatoes provincial style, Quiche au fromage and as dessert an apple cake! Yum-yum!

The French evening at my place

I was having very much fun while cooking and also baking, however it also toke me quite long to finish it. I had 6h until the guests arrived and a strict schedule and I made it 10 mins before they arrived! Ohlalala...I was exhausted. But it was worth. We all had a second blast on this weekend and some wine and drinks. A Chinese college brought some Chinese liqueur along, which was smelling well lets put it exotic and quite strong (53%).
However there was also another highlight on this evening. I opened up a special bottle. In France when you are having friends over and a good time, sometimes you open up something very special. Because you don't wanna drink it alone, you wanna share it friends and let them enjoy also it. So did I. I was opening a bottle which my dad has given me as a Christmas present. .....

But more tomorrow. It's getting late and I have to rest a little bit. So tomorrow I will continue.
Hope you stay with me. A demain mes amis!

- “The table has its pleasures and wine makes for a cheerful life.” Ecclesiastes 9:6 -

A nice fellow from France - Gérard Bertrand - Réserve Spéciale

Oui mes amis I promised to write at least once a week. Well now I am again a little bit late with my post, pardon. However I will make it upcoming weekend up to you with a special post from my last weekend. Just so much information for now, I have been cooking for 6h and also some wines were involved into it - but that was just the Sunday! Friday was also great. Look forward to it! 

Anyway for now a new wine comment: Today a fellow from France. 

When picking this one I wanted something new for me personal. I remember that I once tried a Pinot Noir wine and well didn't had so much good experience with it. To change this I tried this one and was positive surprised. 

Name: Gérard Bertrand - Réserve Spéciale

Origin: France, Sud de France, Chateau L'Hospitalet

Vintage: 2010

Grape(s): Pinot Noir - Grenache

Alcohol: 13,5 %

Price: 10,98 €

Shop: Alko

Personal rank: 6.0 of 10 points (10 points = best!)

Color: The wine has a nice deep dark Bordeaux red. When you are pouring it into the glass it has a slight carmine red.

Smell: Very fruity, a little bit of lavender and cherries.

Taste: It has a black currant taste and also a slight acid taste (might be the cherry) which is really good in supporting the "Grenache" taste.

Tannin(s): A lot.

Food: This wine is excellent for fatty food (e.g. cheeses like Roquefort or sheep cheeses which also have an intense taste). However, the taste is well balanced that it would also be suitable to a salmon meal or could be tried for "red fish meat". 

Résumé: Even tho the wine has 13,5% I must say that I am impressed that it is not influencing the taste and the smell too strong.  In my opinion this is actually a result of the very well done job by the wine maker. The aroma compounds and the tannins are well balanced. Therefore the alcohol is not overwhelming. I am glad that I tried it cause it removed my previous not so good experience about Pinot Noir. 

So if you are interested in trying something new which is a good wine I can only say you should try this one. Also the price is okay. So 6 points.

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 glass(es)

So time again to continue with the "Wine accessories". After having spent some time on Athos (the corkscrew) and Porthos (the wine carafe) we will no focused on the last one: ARAMIS - the wine glass -.

Havasu Falls
(c) Wikipedia,
User: Moondigger

The glass itself has in many ways the same - lets call it - responsibility like the carafe: to provide the wine with the right amount of aeration and while doing so supporting the wine development. So this brings us actually to a very wide range of different kind of glasses. Why? Well there are actually for nearly every kind of wine and wine type (e.g. red wine, white wine, Bordeaux, Pinot noir and so on) a variety of different kind of glasses. They differ most in the size of the glass, their shape and also in the diameter.....Wait! What? Shape - okay... but diameter? Yeah I was also first confused but then also fascinated by this.

The shape is important for how the air is getting into the wine and also how well you can smell it. Imagine yourself the edge of a mountain where a waterfall is running down. The same can be applied to the shape of a glass. Actually the way how the air is "falling" into the glass contributes to the wine development. So there is a difference if the air is rumbling into the wine or if it drops/runs smoothly into it. If you now have a closer look onto the shape of a glass again... of what does this shape might also remind you of? Any idea? Think of that in which Santa Claus is always pushing himself trough? A chimney! I can see you might don't clearly understand it. Well when you have chimney the air normally will go upwards. So if you now combine the waterfall with the chimney system you might start to realize it where I wanna go.... So this... let say it a little bit more professional... this "exchange system" (air is getting in and develop the wine, while the developed aroma - volatile - compounds get upwards) is definitely fascinating. 

Two basic - classic - wine
glasses. Both can be used
either for red and for white
wine. 

Now to the diameter. Well the diameter of the glass restricts the maximum amount of air getting into the wine. Again this is similar to the carafe effect. You now see my fascination about glasses. However I would like to point out here, that it doesn't really matter if you have for every wine the right glass. The only two glasses you should have is a "basic" glass for red and and one for white wines. The difference between those two is easy - in most cases there is no! Sometimes there can be a difference in the diameter and also if the glass is more narrow or more bulky. Bulky is more for red wines, while more narrowed one's are preferred for white ones. But technically spoken in the beginning you will simply just need one glass. Personally I have currently one only type of glass and I think I will stick to it the next years. Having a look on all other kind of glass...pff....bref...mince alors, they are just too expensive! 

And speaking of the glass structure (normal glass, crystal glass, plumb crystal glass). Well I still stick to the normal glass. Since I already have a plumb crystal carafe I think that will do most of the job for the wine development so that I can save some money on the wine glass itself and still might be able to enjoy the taste nearly to the fullest!  

Okay thats been it for today! Hope you enjoyed reading it. À bientôt mes amis! 

PS: I recently had a talk with an elder gentleman from Israel, we started talking about some things and ended up talking about wine glasses. He told me that in former times people used to drink wine from silver cups. Because the silver didn't oxidized the wine and therefore supported the taste. I tought that was quite interesting. And I have to read more about this fact. Indeed it might be true, I think - if I am not mistaken - the silver has a higher redox potential and that can be the reason why it protects the wine form oxidizing - okay enough of the chemical bla bla -. Short I think that is possible and I have to check it. 

 "My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle." Henny Youngman

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 -