Press

It´s always a bit strange if you find yourself on the news ... but funny as well, as people approach you on the street and say "whoo ... I´ve heard about you on the radio!!"

Österreich hat ersten Wein-Diplomingenieur - oesterreich.ORF.at

Frohe Weihnachten/Boun Natale/Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010 with loads of new exiting wines.

Cheers Franz

Falstaff Winners tasting notes

I got the opportunity to taste the three Falstaff winners yesterday and with two Blaufränkisch among them one has to note that there is a shift in the trend with high end Austrian red wines. Wine critics and journalists are pushing the common (wine) interest strongly in the Blaufränkisch direction. Arguments like „Austrias red wine profile can only be sharpened with single vartietal wines“ is in someway ridiculous if one thinks just about Bordeaux ... blends all over (with some exceptions). But as the wine media is highly influential on the wine industry in every country there will be more single varietal top wines coming up pretty soon. If that´s all for the better future will show.

Find my tasting notes of the three winner wines and some others below: (all prices count for Wein&Co.)

1.Chablis 2007 from Simonnet-Febvre - ok - €15,99

pale yellow hue, distinctive phenolic compounds covering the fruit completely on the nose, lacks acid backbone, a rather dull and unentertaining wine.

2. Blaufränkisch Reihburg 2007 from Weingut Uwe Schiefer - delicious - €46,45

middle red hue, purple reflections, dark berry fruit, bit underwood, tar-like earthyness, licorice, very good acid and tannin structure, sour cherries, lingering.

3. Blaufränkisch Perwolff 2007 from Weingut Krutzler 2007 - very good/delicious - €52,50

middle red hue with a purple rim, still quite young color, fruitfoward berry flavors on the nose, good structure, quite pronounced acid structure, lingering.

4. Reve de Jeunesse 2007 from Weingut Pöckl - extraordinary - €64,13

deep dark red hue, black core, hints of anisseed, Cassis and chocolate flavors on the nose, smooth but very powerful tannin structure, multilayered, reveals more and more after several hours in the decanter, mocha, dried plums, licorice, extremely lingering. Will greatly improve with further cellaring.

5. Blaufränkisch Spiegel 2007 from Weingut Paul Achs - delicious - €51,08

dark red hue, purple reflections, watery rim, powerfull dark fruit and spices on the nose, chocolate and mocha, smooth tannin structure but with the typical BF acid backbone, lingering, after the same time in the decanter like all other wines flavors fading away - maybe to little free SO2!

Falstaff Winners 2009

Find the Falstaff winners 2009 at Falstaff-Sieger: Der mit dem Perwolff tanzt | kurier.at

© Kurier

Pinot Noirs all over the world

Last months tasting club theme was Pinot Noir all over the world. As one can suppose all wines were really gorgeous, well structured and first of all purely elegant.

1. Vosne Rommanée 1er Cru 2004 from Domaine René Engel - delicious - €50

bright brick red with orange reflexions, slightly watery edge, elegant berry fruit, smokey peppery spice, bit licorice on the nose, very spicy on the palate with gorgeous length, very good balance of tannins and acid, gets better and better with more O2, lingering and multilayered.

2. Pinot Noir 2004 from Quartz Reef - very good - €37

bit darker brick red as 1, hints of cassis, fruit forward style, spices on the nose, fresh fruity and good acid structure on the palate, bit strawberry, good length, forrest fruits, raspberry, with more O2 the wine lingers more and more on the palate, nice complexity of tannin and acid structure.

3. Pinot Noir "P" from Weinhof Fritsch 2002 - very good - €24

smooth flavors, spices but not overly prominent, very good balance and length, fruit forward palate, very smooth on the palate.

4. Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard Sonoma 2002 from Littorai - (very good) - €78

bright red, orange-brownish reflexions, small watery rim, bit short, maybe a cork taint ... cork taint verified by the other tasters.

5. Großkarlbacher Burgweg Spätburgunder 2001 from Weingut Knipser - very good/delicious - €25

very light red with orange-brown shades, very spicy and super typical Pinot perfume, extremely good structural balance of tannins and acid, forest fruits, bit underwood, very good length and loads of spices on the palate.

6. Pinot Noir Grand Select 2004 from Weingut Wieninger - delicious/extraordinary - €37

fair crimson color with changeable purple-orange reflexions, super fruity, black and raspberries, loads of spices, wet forest floor, black pepper and licorice, just traceable hints of aniseed, extremely well balanced, genius length. (my favorite!!)