Back to Mother City

Today's the day!! Our this year winter/summer holiday is really on the doorstep now. The bags are packed and I can't wait to drive to the airport. BA will bring us via London Heathrow to Cape Town in about 11 hours time.

From Halbturns minus 1 degree to Stellenboschs forecasted 32 tomorrow and 34 on Tuesday ... oh my gosh I love summer ... especially in winter ;-)

Plans for this holiday include Cape Town with it's innummerable restaurants, table mountain, Cape Point, Jo's bakery (just for the gorgeous coffee), sipping a nice SB realxing at the pool (we try to find the best poolside wine of the vintage) and (of course) "some" wineries.

I do not know if we have a fast enough internet connection to upload some pics but we will definitely visit the former "The Nose" now "Chenin" in the Cape Quarter to chat via Skype and upload a new blog post. Stay tuned!!

Merry Christmas

Once more "The Franz Schneider Wine Experience" blog is going to change it's direction ... actually it is a step back to where I've started this blog.

Main focus of the "The Franz Schneider Wine Experience" will be my travels in the wine world (I'am heading South again ... South Africa I'coming again !!) and all the works done during the year at Artisan Wines.

The Artisan Wines section will be labeled with "artisan wines" and will include some video clips too, starting with "Pruning the vines" in January. All clips will also be found at www.artisanwines.at.

My tasting notes will shift to the other blog "wines of the month".

Another new feature will be a recipe blog written by Ulli. Some delicous delights and regional food paired with our Artisan Wines will be published at "The herbs and I" soon.

As today is the 24th of December I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011. I am looking forward to more wine adventures and challenges. If you are in Burgenland some time do not hesitate to pop in for a glass (or two).

Franz

P.S. You may stay in contact via Facebook and Twitter too ;-)

Harvest and EWBC 2010 Vienna

Took a little while for this post but on the other hand .. harvest is finished.

This year was an unusually cold and wet one here in Austria. Cool Spring temperatures shifted the flowering about 2 weeks backwards with a heat spike just in the flowering week followed by torrential rain. As everybody knows that pretty bad for the fruit set. Sensitive varieties like Saint Laurent, Muskat, Chard and Pinot Blanc responded with close to 30 to 40 percent less yield. This crazy weather continued over the summer and brought us perfumed grapes due to high differences in day-night-temps, low sugar contents, high acidity and loads of canopy work in the vineyards resulting in an elegant but small harvest at Artisan Wines.

Our reds are currently untasteable due to the fact of ongoing Malolactic Fermentation ... everything keeps it's raspberry yoghurt touch on the nose .. but this will vanish as soon as the MLF is finished and the diacetyl is transformed afterwards.

The whites were racked off this week and are now waiting for lower outside temps for stabilization purposes.

Last night some 80 attendees of this years European Wine Blogger Conference (#EWBC) gathered at the Badeschiff for the Kick-off dinner. Important fact: Everyone was allowed to bring the own wines which resulted in a happy radom tasting of Schilcher Sturm, Grand vins de Bourgogne, Riojas and Artisan Wines.

The 3-course-meal started with fingerfood (very nice and spicy !!).

First course was a tartar of salmon trout, Viennese potatoe salad and field salad.

Main course: Braised shoulder of lamb, Swede oriental style.

Desert: Créme caramel, tonka bean and citrus food.

All in all well made but rather small portions. One can find certainly better restaurant nearby!

Anyway interesting people, glasses full of nice wine and exiting converstation made this a gorgeous evening. I can not wait to join the others for todays first conference day!!

Recent tastings ..

I had some stunning wines in our last monthly tastings which I would like to share with you. Some were wines one can find in any better wine shop, others were really rare single bottles.

Wines were tasted blind ...

Saint Laurent tasting - May 25th 2010

1. Schneider Sankt Laurent Reserve 2007 - delicious - €18

deep crimson red with purple reflections, fruitforward, berry flavors, rather young, bit oaky, hints of vanilla and spices, nice acid and tannin structure, lingering, very nice wine in it´s youth, will last, potential.

2. Hillinger Sankt Laurent 2006 - good/very good - €19,99

bit more translucent as 1, quite young color, purple, stinks a little bit, total red berry fruit upfront on the nose, pure sour cherry with more air, foreign may Spain or Italy, nice and round on the palate, bit shorter than 1, but with Trinkfluss.

3. Gernot Heinrich Sankt Laurent 2007 - very good - €17,99

rather young in color, purple reflections, ruby red, slight watery rim, cherry flavors upfront, mild and round tannin structure, nice and easydrinking stuff.

4. Artisan Wines Halbturn Red 2008 - very good/delicous - €19

very good color depth, purple reflections, anisseed, cocolate and mocca flavors, berry flavors, silky texture, rather young, very good balance in tannin and acid, leathery spices adding complexity, lingering.

5. Paul Achs Sankt Laurent 2008 - good - €15,41

quite transparent color, stinks, opens up with more air, purple, fruity, cherry flavors, rather lighter easy drinking style, good Trinkfluss, would be a nice pool side wine, if wine is a bit chilled.

6. Pöckl Sankt Laurent Classique 2007 - very good - €16,50

deep ruby red, good color depth, bit restrained, will need some time, still young, cherry flavors and good acid structure, rather lean but elegant, bit herbaceous, slight hints of rosemary.

7. Zantho Sankt Laurent 2008 - good/very good - €8,99

good ruby red color, purple rim but orange reflections, bit restrained, bit sharp on the nose, sweet cherry nose, good acid structure, lingering, with good fruit flavors on the palate.

8. Grassl Sankt Laurent Reserve 2007 - very good - €23,75

dark red hue, purple reflections, bit overripe flavors upfront, dried fruits, lingering, good balance in acid and tannin structure, roasted oak with more air but very pleasant.

9. Umathum Sankt Laurent vom Stein 2006 - very good/delicious - €44,99

ruby red color, bit dusty, needs more air, seems to be foreign, animalisitc, good acid structure, lingering, elegant.

Ulli´s birthday wines were just French (by chance;-)

Michel Arnould Grand Cru Brut - very good/delicious

golden yellow hue with red reflections, very consistent collier and fine mousseux, brioche and bready notes upfront, some subtle grapefruit undertones, flinty, very good length, (100% Pinot Noir).

Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2007 - extraordinary

middle yellow hue with some green reflections, white blossoms, oak still prominent, no exotic flavors at all, super length, so very young, will last, opens up with more O2, complex multilayered white blossom flavors on the palate, extremely lingering.

Our birthday dinner (with 5 different raw milk cheeses):

Champage tasting - Blanc de Blancs

Last year a group o fwine lovers from different fields of the industry started to meet regulary to taste wine. The special thing about this tasting is that no one (expect for the host) knows the theme. Just with this kind of blind tasting experience one is able to train his senses without being influenced by bottles, names, regions, brands and all these other normally important things if one chooses a bottle of wine with most funny results. In the recent month we were not able to pic upthe topic exepct for two time. Pinot Noir all over the world and the last tasting Champagne - Blanc the Blancs.

1. Extra Brut Pierre Peters Grand Cru - good/very good - €34

schäumt stark beim Einschenken, intensiv sprudelnde Perlage, gute Perlenkranz, helles goldgelb, hefig-germ, teigig, intensiv am Gaumen, gute Länge, mit mehr O2 verändert sich der Wein, zunehmend elegant.

2. Veuve Fourny & Fils Premier Cru - good - €32

schöner Perlenkranz, bleibt viel länger bestehen als bei 1, etwas schwächer sprudelnde Perlage, frisch fruchtig, Zitrusaromatik, etwas rustikaler am Gaumen, sehr viel CO2 spürbar, etwas kurz,

3. Blanc de quatre blanc Quattuor Drappier IV - delicious - €69

Perlenkranz nur sehr kurz beständig, intensive Perlage, feinkettig,sehr intensiv brotige Nase, Brioche, Zimt und Gewürze, vielschichtig, super Länge, mit mehr O2 Zitrusnoten, Orangenmarmelade in der Nase,

4. Launois Grand Cru - good - €16,65

Perlenkranz sehr kurz beständig, goldgelb, flüssige Bitterschokolade, Mandel, gereift, zum Teil oxidativ, Alterston am Gaumen dominierend, distinctive, polarisierend.

5. Guy Cadel 2002 Grande Cuvee - very good - €40

fast kein Perlenkranz, Perlage gut fein, helles gelb, rötlicher Schimmer, intensiv, reife Noten, ganz feine Honignote, Bienenwachs, Barriquenoten im Abgang, komplex, verändert sich mit der Luft, kräftig gebaut,

6. Legras & Haas 2002 - ok - €46

nur kurzer Perlenkranz, leicht böcksrig, helles gelb, etwas Zitrus, Aranzini, Länge ok, Perlage gleich weg, relativ dünn, etwas Gerbstoff