The New World tasting at the Weinplatz

I have no idea what do our neighbors think of us, when the next morning after the tasting, I or my husband take out a huge bag full of empty wine bottles and the endless throughing process begins. If only, falling on one another, they wouldn't have rattled so deceitfully, or rattled with a special „tasting wine samples“, rather then „drinking wine bottles“ sound...

I do not know whether Sean (the owner of the Weinplatz wine boutique) has experienced the same moral torments every time after his tastings, but to me tasting wine on some one else's territory is the ocean of positive emotions and no public responsibility :)

So, some words about the New World tasting in the Weinplatz:

Torrontes

Michel Torino

Region: Cafayate Argentina

Grape variety: Torrontes Riojano

Immersing your nose into this floral intensity you get immediately attacked by the rose petals, orange blossom and some spices. Torrontes is a truly "native" Argentinian grape, its closest relative, criolla chica, most probably was brought to the country by missionaries and eventually became a national treasure. It gives really aromatic wines - floral-spicy, exotic.

Pinot Grigio

Murphy-Goode

Region: Sonoma, Napa Valley, USA

Grape variety: Pinot Grigio

Pinot Grigio is often called "white pinot noir" (which, if you think about it in terms of the words' etymology, sounds a bit bizarre), as well as "rulander" and "Alsatian Tokay." Its historic homeland, rebellious Burgundy of the 12th century, not only knew how to fight for the throne, but also how to creat a fashion for wine. Over time, the popularity of Pinot Gris spread over neighboring territories of the Old World: from Alsace and Switzerland to Germany and Italy, where it changed its name for Pinot Grigio.

After the phylloxera invasion, Pinot Gris has been replaced by a hybrid (Pinot Gris + American vine), which, unfortunately, didn't feel well on the Burgundian soil. But in Alsace, Germany and Italy, it felt much better and was able to revive.

This variety expresses differently depending on the geography of its production: dry, light bodied, crispy wine with some citrus touch in Italy. In Alsace and Oregon, it becomes more intense, enriched by floral aromas, and the pear, melon palate. Californian Pinot Grigio is lighter than grassy samples from Oregon and is much more similar to the Italian version.

Sauvignon Blanc

Producer: Sliding Hill

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand

Grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc in California occupies an area of ​​15 thousand acres and is the third most popular variety. It is sometimes called "Fumé Blanc" here, in Robert Mondavi's way, who appeals to its origins - the Loire Valley, where Sauvignon is the dominant variety and where in most cases it is known under this particular name.

One of the most popular varieties of wine, sauvignon, known for its steel, slightly Aggressive acidity, aromas of green, unripe gooseberry, asparagus, black currant and tomato leaves.

Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, particularly in the Marlborough region more modernized classic, tropical fruit, more intense, more daring than the traditional "herbal" instances. Here are incredibly bright sound gooseberry, tropical fruit and freshly cut grass.

Pinotage

Producer - Swartland

Western Cape, SAR

Grape variety - Pinotage

The story of its birth refers to 1925 when Isaac Abraham Perold, Professor of the Stellenbosch University, crosses two French varieties - Pinot Noir (fruity character) and Cinsault (structure, tannins, power) in attempt to create a South African signature grape. The attempt has been followed by sucess - the world met Pinotage.

It's a dark purple colored wine, tannic, with some slightly bitter notes, followed by blueberry, cherry, tobacco and earthy aromas.

Carmenere

Region - Calchagua Valley, Chile

Producer - Crucero

Grape variety - Carmenere

Cuvee reserva

Chilean Bordeaux Blend

Carmenere was a very popular variety in Bordeaux, valued by the winemakers for its rich color and powerful character. It was often used as in blends as it gave depth and structure to the wine.

Tannic, full-bodied wine, blueberry and blackberry on the nose, with some coffee and tobacco hints.

Two Carls, „dangerous“ slope and the lunch with Friedrich Hasselbach in Weingut Gunderloch

Did you ever lay your eyes on the random passer by and invent a story that is behind this person? Indulging your freedom of imagination, have you plucked scraps of names from the depths of your memory, cutting, pasting and attaching them in your own mode, perhaps, even choosing names for a couple of characters and having assorted the whole artistic conception in your conscience, washed away the unborn literary masterpiece in the sink along with the bolognese remnants on the plates after dinner? Laziness, laziness, laziness is a ruthless killer of so many masterpieces.

But some people, such as the German playwright Carl Zuckmayer, didn't spend time on washing up, maybe hasn't even dined at all, what a waste! When the passion takes you by surprise, who cares about routine, take a quill and write. And that's, actually, what he has done. Saw a girl, fell in love, proposed, has been refused, got disappointing, got angry, wrote a play. 'And the girl? What happened to the girl?' - you might ask. And I'll answer you: 'She got married to a respectable banker by profession and winemaker by vocation (also Carl, but another one, from the Gunderloch family), gave birth to children, and they lived happily after until... Until the revenge of the rejected playwright, has overtaken them with the play 'The Happy Vineyard' in which Carl Gunderloch was described as a drunkard and adultery inclined man with all the ensuing consequences in the form of illegitimate children. The scandal and the fifty or, maybe, even the hundred shades of hatred and contempt from Gunderloch family served as an excellent advertisement for the Zukmayer's play (the balming effect it produced on his heart wound was a bonus) and only roused interest towards theatrical performances, bringing all possible success to the play.

And that's how strange life is, every cloud has a silver lining or 'there's no such thing as bad publicity', in spite of the moral damage to the owners (grandmother and grandfather of the current owner of Weingut Gunderloch – Agnes Hasselbach) the play made the winery famous.That is to say, I don't mean, that the wines that are shipped all over the world with the Gunderloch name on their proudly protruding chest (well, surely, if the 'bottle' according to the official terminology has the 'neck', why wouldn't it have a 'chest' as well) sought any additional advertisement or fame. Being as gorgeous as they are, they could make anyone else famous by association, but, you see, there are not so many wineries in the world that could boast this 'kinship' with classical literature. Not a 'second cousin twice removed' kind of relation, but as direct as one could be. Through two generations. Here you go.

  

How do I know all this? Have learned it on my way from the winery to the cellar, the kind of cellar where the wine has been kept for centuries, from Friedrich Hasselbach, winemaker of Weingut Gunderloch and husband of Agnes Hasselbah, whose grandmother ... Well, you know already.

After a short tour to the production site (it is a bit bizarre to use those words in relation to an intimate family business with a hundred years of history) we went to see the vineyards. The 'Roter Hang', a unique slope of the Reinhessen, from which some of the most famous German Rieslings and one of the most famous white wines in the world proceed, is beautiful, obstinate and dangerous. Beautiful, because it offers a remarkably beautiful view of the Rhine. Obstinate, because despite the 21st century's technological progress and all this blah, blah, blah, the cultivating process remains as hard as it was centuries ago. Why is it dangerous? 'This is, perhaps, a question to the tractor's driver, who's been crossing himself each time he had to drive down the narrow path of the hill...up to 50 times a day' - says Friedrich Hasselbach.

Well, if the vine should suffer in order to give a good wine (and it suffers a lot... to get to the water through the red shale, is difficult even if you are a human with a set of garden tools, not a fragile plant!), so the winemakers have to go through the trials on their way to awards and praise by Decanter, Wine Advocate and other wine gurus. 'Yes, in the old days, everything on the vineyard has been done manually, we went up and down, up and down the slope, countless times a day. But it's not the the most difficult thing'- says Friedrich as we stay at the foot of the hill -'the main difficulty is to avoid botrytis, which is the regular companion of the humidity that comes from the river and the fogs. It is the main enemy of dry Rieslings if you want to follow the organic trends'.

The day before we arrived to the winery, it has been visited by the photographer from Wine Spectator, the magazine, which has awarded different vintages of Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg TBA with the highest 100 points in 1992, 1996 and 2001. Sitting in the tasting room I contemplate another wine magazine's - the Decanter awards hanging on the wall and realize perfectly well that everything that could have been said about these wines already is already said and written two hundred thousand times. Therefore, I will not bore you with long descriptions, just will name the wines that we have tasted:

1. Nierstein 2013 – Peach and lime strike you first, followed by mineral notes. Dry, mineral and spicy

2. Pettenthal 2012 – elegant, opening up with exotic fruits aromas, spicy-mineral on the palate with well balanced acidity.

3. Nackenheim 2013 – apples, lots of apples in the aroma, touched with citrus and herbal hints. Very mineral and intense on the palate.