On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from - Hungarian Renaissance Tasting – October 23, 2007

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

On Tuesday it was off for lunch and a formal tasting of some Hungarian wine.  Hungary is best known for its’ Aszu wines:  sweet dessert wines that can range in sugar content from 60 grams per liter all the way to 180 grams per liter; after that it’s Esszencia which can range from 180-800 grams … that’s a lot of sweetness – some Esszencia can be as thick as syrup but the aromas and flavours that come out are outstandingly beautiful.  These wines come from a region called Tokaj; you may have even seen Tokaji  on a label of those cute 500ml bottles – the “i” just signifies “from the region of” – so Tokaj is the region and ‘i’ is just the indicator.  These wines are all made from local grapes, Furmint making up 60% of the grown varieties in the area, with Harslevelu making up another 30 … that leaves only 10% for grapes such as Sarga Muskotaly, Zeta, Koverszolo and others.  Very few plantings of more well-known vinefera grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah are planted – and if they are it’s for private home-winemaking use only.  Don’t try to tackle those local grapes names on your own, had they not put them up on the overhead at the front of the room I wouldn’t have ever understood them as grape varieties or even as real words, let alone known how to spell them.  It was like they were speaking a foreign language (which they were).

Hungary is all about white wines ... (Read more)

Report from - Stem Wine Group Tasting - October 22, 2007

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

I stopped into the Stem tasting after the Port tasting (earlier that day) even though I was pretty Old World wined out (that and some bad blue cheese that was just not sitting right).  Stem’s portfolio is about ¾ Old World (Europe) with 90% of that coming from Italy with a little Spain and Greece thrown in for variety.  The other quarter is split fairly evenly between Australia and the U.S. (California).  Also much of the Stem list is well above my usual “like to purchase” mark of $20.  During my brief tasting I found a few wines as good buys, a few pricey-tasties and a wine for $22.95 that over-delivered compared with its price.

Good Buys …(Read more)

For more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.