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Alexander van Dülmen

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Italy

H. Lun, Lagrein, 2013

H. Lun, Lagrein, 2013, Alto Adige Red-wine from Italy

3,5 points  

Lagrein is an autochthone sort of grape of Alto Adige which gives this red-wine its name. Sometimes you can find some rosé out of Lagrein, too.

Although I do not know too much about the vinery H. Lun but it seems this belongs since not too long time to another winemaker of Alto Adige: Cantina Girlan. However, as I don’t like to spread out wrong information I will focus only on this wine. I know the Lagrein of H. Lun pretty long. It was introduced to me more than ten years ago the first time by Heide Pellmann who ran a small wine-store in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg called “Nix wie Wein”. She always has some nice but really also affordable wines which was perhaps this sympathetic lady’s biggest talent. In general a Lagrein cannot be some top wine due to the grape and its rather simple quality. At least I never made such an experience. However a Lagrein has its typical and individual character. I like it because it really differs from a lot of other tasting experiences and due its rather modest approach it can be in certain moments particularly pleasant.

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Hisa Franko, Restaurant & Hotel, Staro Selo

Hisa Franko, Restaurant & Hotel, Staro Selo (close to Kobarid), Slovenia

7 points 

It was on the recommendation of my friend Gasper Gabrijelcic that I visited Hisa Franko, the restaurant of one of the top, top chefs in Slovenia, Ana Roš, and her husband Valter Kramar, a unique sommelier. Since this restaurant isn’t just around the corner but located in a very beautiful valley in the South-eastern Slovenian alps, it is very reasonable that they offer ca 10 rooms for staying overnight – or for several nights.

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3

La Braccesca, 2005, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

La Braccesca, 2005, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Antinori Agricola, Red-wine from Italy

4 points

WP_20150417_001La Braccesca isn’t something unique as I would usually prefer to write about. It is a huge vinery and owed by the prominent nobel family Antinori which is one of the most dominant wine producers in Italy. Still there are two good reasons to write about this wine!  First and as simple as it is: the wine is good, and second it is a good example that even big producers, their experience and probably passion of winemaking can have a positive influence as this wine belongs to the rather inexpensive ones among many other good but too expensive wines from Montepulciano. Of course all depends to trends and fashions but Montepulciano is a conservative and so traditional wine area which didn’t change winemaking too much except prices which are experience an unreasonable growth in my point of view. We cannot drink wine for more than € 20 or more every day and even this price level is already much too much for some good friends of mine. Perhaps we shouldn’t drink wine everyday anyhow, my doctor would probably say.

Continue reading “La Braccesca, 2005, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano” →

1

Movia, Veliko, 2006

Movia, Veliko Rdece, 2006, suho rdece kakovostno vino ZGP, Brda, Red-wine from Slovenia

6 points

One of the probably most underestimated or let’s say undiscovered wine country in Europe is Slovenia. The most northern country of so-called Former Yugoslavia has three very different wine areas among some real small others:  Podravje (in a triangle of Austria and Hungary), Posavje (toward south-east and Croatia) and Primoska which borders to Italy and Istria / Croatia as well. Although there are certainly interesting and even much less known wines from the first two areas the best known one is Primoska. Probably all internationally recognized wine makers of Slovenia are out of this region which lays in southern foothills of Slovenian alps along long valleys towards the Adriatic sea. Some of the wine growing areas are connected directly with Italian areas Friuli but also Venetia.

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5

Alivio Barbaresco, Risvera 1998, Le Rocce Dei Barbari

Alivio Barbaresco, Risvera 1998, Le Rocce Dei Barbari, Piedmont, Red-wine from Italy

2 points

Many years ago I once went to Piedmont and into the center of Barbaresco area – the village of Barbaresco. This was still in a time I didn’t know too much about wines and in particular wine makers of Piedmont except the typical subjects as GAJA. Walking through this wine village I simply ended at the winery Le Rocche dei Barbari. I like the style of the testing room and the host – a son of the winemaker – had some time to serve me through wines. Among others at that time their best was a Barbaresco Risverva 1998. It was already eight if not even nine years old, matured really very many years in barrique. The whole presentation was pretty charming, a nice mixture of farm and modern wine selling.

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Nibbio Morellino 2013, Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim

Nibbio Morellino 2013, Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim, red wine from Tuscany, Italy

4 points

Another wine from the previously-mentioned degustation packet from the German newspaper  Süddeutsche Zeitung (https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/marcques-del-hueco-rioja-2012/) is probably a special edition of a Morellino from the winery Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim. Buchheim isn’t an Italian name, although the wine comes from Tuscany. If you “google” the name of the winery you understand quickly that this Buchheim is a German dentist from Seeshaupt – on the Bavarian lake Starnberger See. If you know the Starnberger See, then the association immediately creates an image of rich guys with a collection of Porsches and other symbols of opulence. This Mr. Buchheim seams to have invested his money into something much better – although I have no idea what kind of car he drives. He invested in his own winery. Compliments!

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Cosimo Taurino A 64, 2003, Salento

Cosimo Taurino A 64, 2003, Salento, Puglia, red wine from Italy

4,5 points

Sometimes there are moments when you are tired and exhausted. You look for something that will make you happy because you want to treat yourself. The very best wines of the world aren’t suitable for these moments, since you shouldn’t really drink expensive or extraordinary wine when you’re so fatigued. Outstanding wines are elegant and should be enjoyed at the right time, perhaps along with some very good food as well as, probably, with some friends. Cosimo Taurino is the perfect wine for what I’ve described above, it is only for you: it is rich, heavy, pretty voluminous and has quite a bit of alcohol (14,5%!).

WP_20150307_001 WP_20150307_002  WP_20150307_004

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Hotel La Sommitá, Ostuni, Puglia, Italy

Hotel La Sommitá, Hotel in Ostuni, Puglia in Italy

7 points for hotel

6 points for restaurant

This is a really beautiful small hotel in Puglia (www.lasommita.it). It is located at the top of the historic center of Ostuni, a very beautiful little town between Brindisi and Bari. Because of its unique location, you find yourself in the middle of a vital old town but at the same time shielded from any noise but also from the southern Italian heat (if you’re there in summer). A small garden surrounded by high old walls offers an oasis of silence which at night acts as the outdoor part of hotel’s restaurant.

From the top of the building or from atop some of the walls, you can see the lowlands between Ostuni and the Adriatic Sea. During hot summers there is always a mild and refreshing breeze, while in spring or autumn it gets unexpectedly chilly at times.

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Grignano, Chianti Rufina, 2010

Grignano, Chianti Rufina, 2010, Tuscany, 2010, Red wine from Italy

3,5 points

Even though this wine is already four to five years old, surprisingly you don’t really taste the aging. There isn’t maturity or richness and dry fruitiness you usually experience when you open a “red” from Toscana. It is rather fresh, still very young, somehow a bit sour but pretty full of its own character. You may like it or you may not, but this wine doesn’t deliver any kind of Mediterranean flair like sun, heat, dry earth or straw. With my limits of tasting I guess – in the case I would have to taste the wine blindly – I would even tend toward some flavors I associate with nebbiolo. Nebbiolo is a grape of Piedmont. If you translate Nebbiolio into German something like “nebelig” would be a reasonable translation. “Nebelig” means foggy or misty.

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Poggia delle Faine, 2006

Poggia delle Faine, 2006, Red wine from Italy

2 point

This wine is a remarkable example of good marketing! It was ca. € 9 per bottle, although I don’t think you can still get it. The wine ranked on many wine testing charts within Top 5 and 1. Many magazines, wine testers and of course websites presented this wine as something very special. Based on this assumption I also bought some bottles.

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Arco Antico, Pizzaria, San Marco di Locorotondo

Arco Antico, Pizzaria, San Marco di Locorotondo, Pulia, Italy

1497581_302969813223190_7948449430752086154_nToday my son Balthasar shares his memories of his “best pizza of the world”:

We were on holidays in Apulia, Italy when we normally ate dinner. The food of our sensational hotel “Il Palmento” was decent. But there was even a better place to have dinner. Only 5 minutes walking from our hotel, there was a restaurant – called Arco Antio – with what I think is the best pizza in the world. I remember dark small streets towards a small light, the restaurant. I remember cars from the parking place on a flint ground. The light wasn’t bright at all. But still you could see my dad with his red-sunburned head. ^^

Behind the kitchen inside of the trulli building, there were the eating tables inside of the not very bright but relaxing light. Even when it is your first time there, the waiters and the cooks treat you like you are there every day. I remember, when my sister and I always asked our parents for 50 cents for a bouncing ball. I also remember watching the pizza maker making pizzas. Continue reading “Arco Antico, Pizzaria, San Marco di Locorotondo” →

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Riserva Mazon, 2008, Pinot Nero, Blauburgunder, J. Hofstätter

Riserva Mazon, 2008, Pinot Nero, Blauburgunder, J. Hofstätter, red wine from Alto Adige, Italy

5 points

In 2005, fortunately, we had a business meeting in Venice: an enchanting place for business, but even captivating for good food and wine. As long as you don’t have to pay for it ……

For dinner we went to a rather medium place because we didn’t want to spend too much money (Venice is really overly expensive). We found a very nice location. The wine menu was full of wines from area around Venice, Piedmont, Friuli and of course Toscana. One of the “cheapest” wines – today we would say “affordable” – was a Pinot Nero of the Südtirol winemaker Josef Hofstätter. I ordered it – and much to my surprise, the waiter really appreciated this choice. Obviously, not many costumers would have had the idea to order a wine of the “German” part of Italy – and I would love to know how this marvelous wine ended up on this menu. 2005 was about the time that I started to have both more money and more interest in wine – and for me this Pinot Nero was an amazing discovery. You can buy it directly from them via Internet or phone, But the best you can do is to drive there to enjoy this beautiful piece of earth among huge alpine mountains, apple tree groves and rows and rows of grape vines: Tramin.

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