January 2021 - Juhfark (Hungary)

 So, being the 3rd Thursday of the month, decided to have a special wine. This one is another Wine Century wine - #223. The Juhfark Grape from Hungary, bought from The WIne Society

Nagy-Somloi Juhfark Kolonics 2018

Juhfark is a VERY rare grape variety. Even Wikipedia only gives it 3 lines.

Nagy-Somloi is the Hungarian region. Kolonics is the producer.

From the Wine Society - £16.

 

From The Wine Society blurb

With a richness and generous full dry flavour similar to good Meursault, this Hungarian white was a wonderful recent discovery for us. Juhfark (which means, literally, 'sheep's tail') is a rare grape now almost exclusive to Somloi in the west of the country, and clearly Kolonics has mastered its secret strength.

Juhfark is a grape native to Hungary and this example has richness and a generous, full and dry palate whilst maintaining fresh acidity. A charming and pure wine with flavours of apple, straw, apricot and a mouthwatering savoury finish.

What did I think?

I rather liked it. As the WS blurb says, it is full bodied, and pretty intensively flavoured

Quality: 9/10.

Value: 7/10 – quite expensive

Would I buy it again? - Maybe, maybe not. Its good, but not £16 good.

Christmas Wine and Wine Century #221/222

 

Christmas and Century Wines.

Well, the terrific wine I had for Christmas was a 2005 Riesling from the Mosel. 

 

Dr Hermann – Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese. Bought from Majestic, about £16 a bottle, Limited stocks, so probably all gone by now.

This is a great wine – classic old riesling, that essence of petrol which you either love or hate. I love it. Sweet, but with some acidity. Full bodied yet light.

I shall be visiting Majestic again shortly to see if they’ve any left.

Quality – 10/10. VFM – 9/10. Would I buy it again? Oh Yes….

Century wines – 2 from Moldova, via the Wine society.

Wine century wines 221, 222

Chateau Vartely – Viorica, White. 13.5% . About £7. No longer listed

 

Dry White Wine produced from viorica grapes, from the south of Moldova. The wine has a golden yellow colour. Aroma: Lemon, Apple, Basil. Taste: Acacia and berries with balanced acidity.

For me this was a good wine - full bodied, lots of flavour and acidity.

Quality – 8/10. VFM – 9/10. Would I buy/drink it again? I wouldnt say no…

Chateau Vartely – Feteasca Regala, White. 13.0% . About £7. No longer listed

 

Dry White Wine produced from Feteasca Regala grapes, from the central areas of Moldova. The wine has a rich straw colour. Aroma: Field flowers and new mown hay. Taste: Gentle, easy and silky

For me this was a pretty ordinary wine - really, not much to say.

Quality – 6/10. VFM – 6/10. Would I buy/drink it again? No - I’d not really bother. It’s fine, but….

More November Wines - WIne Century

 Another 2 wines from the Wine society. 

1. Hasandede 2017 - Turkey. 

This would be wine #219. A dry white wine from the Ankara region in Turkey. £8.50. 

The back label says: "It has notes of mint, laurel, linden, quince, lemon leaves. It has grapefuit and green apple aromas with a fresh and aromatic palate" 

A very ordinary white wine, I'm afraid. Think Ski-Chalet bulk Vin Blanc. 

Not dreadful, but simply not that good. I have had worse, and it wasn't undrinkable, but... 

Quality - 5/10. VFM - 4/10. Would I buy again? No. 

 

2. Roter Veltliner 2019 - Austria.

Wine #220. Roter Veltliner, Familie Mantler "Ried Sandburg" £8.50. This is a very similar, but completely unrelated grape to the Gruner Veltliner. Still a white wine. The problem for this wine, is that it is quite nce, but very similar to the much more familiar Gruner Veltliner, but simply not as good. 

Quality - 7/10. VFM - 7/10. Would I buy again? No. Buy GV instead 

November wines - Wine Century

 2 Recent wines which might be of interest

Bulgarian Misket

The Wine Society £6.95

Tasting Notes:

Misket, from Bulgaria, is nothing to do with the more famous "muscat" but does share similar characteristics. The nose is bursting with aromas of juicy oranges, blossom and roses, which continues on the crisp, refreshing palate, where it is joined by notes of zesty lime.

I have to agree with this – quite similar to a Muscat, but not so in-your-face grapey. A very good wine at the price – I'd give it 8/10 for quality and 9/10 for VFM. Definitely buy again

This was my Wine Century Wine no: 217. I'm working towards 300, but not in a serious manner – it is getting too much like hard work. Far harder to find and procure the obscure varieties! 

 

German Dunkelfelder. Toni Jost, Cuvee D, Dunkelfelder/Spatburgunder

Vineum, Boppard. Approx 10Euro.

Wine Century Wine no: 218.

Dunkelfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. It was created by German viticulturalist Gustav Adolf Froelich (1847-1912).[1] He probably crossed Färbertraube (a teinturier) with Blauer Portugieser.[2] The variety, initially called Froelich V 4-4, did not receive any attention for several decades until work was continued on it at Geisenheim grape breeding institute in the 1930s. It was named Dunkelfelder (dunkel = dark) by ampelographer Helmut Becker, due to its unclear parentage and its dark colour. Dunkelfelder received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in 1980.[1]

In 2006, there were 372 hectares (920 acres) of Dunkelfelder in Germany, with an approximately constant trend.[3] Plantings of Dunkelfelder are primarily found in Ahr, Baden, Nahe, Palatinate and Rheinhessen.[1]

This is very deep red/purple wine, but light and not tannic. Certainly a bit different

I'd give it 8/10 for quality and 8/10 for VFM. Definitely buy again

 

German WInes from Boppard, Middle Rhine

In mid-August, I was able to get away for a few days to Boppard in Germany, to meet some old friends. Boppard is at the centre of the Mittel-Rhein wine region so I took the opportunity to buy some wine while I was there. There is a shop called Vineum Boppard which sells and ships wine to all across the EU, and ships 18 bottles for 15Euro, so about 80p/bottle.

The shop also acts as a kind of a wine bar; you can sit outside on the square and taste 3 wines for 5 Euros, from a very large range. This also means that they have plenty of wine open to taste when you are buying too.

Their website is www.vineum.com

One of the big problems with German wine is that it is very difficult to get the good stuff in the UK; the bad old days of Blue Nun, Liebfraumilch and Black Tower all but destroyed the UK German wine sales. In Germany, in Boppard, however, there was a massive range of great local wines all at less than 10Euro a bottle, which you just cannot get in the UK.

So, I bought 18 bottles for shipping, about 8 different wines, all tried in the shop. Mostly white, a rose, and a red.

So, once it turned up – about 10 days later, I took the opportunity to have some fellow wine society members round to check out 4 of them.

Wine 1

Weingut August Perl. Bopparder Hamm, Feuerlay, Hochgewachs. Riesling 2019. Trocken. 12.5%

**8.01 Euro

A classic light, Rhine Riesling. An easy drinking Riesling, dominated by citrus fruits, 8/10

 

Wine 2

Weingut Heilig Grab. Bopparder Hamm, , Hochgewachs. Riesling 2018. Trocken 11.5%

**7.65 Euro

Some spritz in this one, a little more age than Wine 1, which actually takes the fine edge off it. Otherwise very similar.7/10

Wine 3

Weingut Lorenz. Bopparder Hamm, Riesling Spatlese 2017. Feinherb 11.0%

**8.91 Euro

This one is a little older, nearly 3 years in the bottle. Feiherb is much the same as Halb-Trocken, but without the precise legal definition for acidity and residual sugar. Has a maturity to it. It felt a bit flat directly after the 2 Trockens, but returning to it later, was much more rounded and just nicer. 8/10

 

Wine 4

Weingut Konigshof. Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay, Riesling Auslese 2016. 9.0%

**15.21

The best of the 4. This is a classic sweet Riesling, with a great balance of sweetness, fruit, acidity. Almost perfect.9/10

** All prices were after 10% discount, without shipping. We got 10% off for 18 bottles, then the shipping was 15 Euro, so it all balanced out pretty much

 

The Rule of 6

 Sadly, while we were hopeful of being able to start something (up to 30 people in a large hall perhaps), the new "Rule of 6" has completely put a wet blanket over everything we might have been able to do. 

So back to a waiting game.

Lockdown WIne #9 - Grauer Burgunder from Lidl

This weeks lockdown wine comes from Robert W in the wine society

Grauer Burgunder from Lidl bin end £3.99, was originally £8. Also known as Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio. Grown primarily in Baden and the Pfalz.

On the nose stone fruit light apricot and apple, also on the palate. To the eye a goldy pink colour. A semi dry refreshing wine at 13.5%. Accompanied our roast belly pork Jersey Royals, carrots and roast parsnips.

Cut through the fat of the belly pork and cleansed the palate nicely.

Even got thumbs up from Christine who prefers red wines.