Cork Poppers Taste German, Austrian, Hungarian Wines

Before we go into this "jolly" post, I want to mention that I know this isn't always a happy season for those who have experienced loss. My article on Modern Creative Life, "Making Merry When the Heart Is Heavy," was just published, offering some strategies with dealing with the holidays when it's just hard to get out of bed. If you fall into that category (and remember, that  loss doesn't have to be recent), I send light and love to you and hope you'll find something useful there.
 
Cork Poppers and holidays go together like a hand in a glove! And this season, we were celebrating the wines of Austria, Germany and Hungary -- places our hosts, Roger and Meredith, had visited on a cruise last summer.

As always we began with wine and snacks. Rick made bread; Pat, Dick and Cheryl brought cheese and crackers. And we were off!

Our first wine was Soellner Toni Gruner Veitliner, an Austrian wine.

It was served very cold and I loved the crisp clean flavor. It used organic handpicked grapes and yest. "I could drink a lot of this really fast," I said, to which our wine guru Dick replied, "It's 11.6% alcohol so don't drink it too fast!" Cost: $15.

Next was an eastern Austrian wine called Hopler Gruner Velitner.2015 by Christof Hoepler, who describes himself as a "Winemaker for Normal Wine People."

Cheryl, our resident wine drinker, liked this better than the first, while I was bigger on the first one. Perhaps it was because it hadn't been adequately chilled. It had a spicy, peppery vibe and was fruity but not sweet. $15.99.

Third on the list was Leny Moser Blaufranklach, a 2013 red wine. This was another wine from Austria, hailing from close to the Hungarian border. It is thought that Blaufrankisch wine was first drunk by Germanic tribes in the middle ages.

One thing you should know about German reds -- the climate doesn't really offer the full-bodied reds that you will find in Bordeaux or in South America. It is far more likely that a German red will be more like a lighter-bodied Pinot Noir. So, if you like Pinot Noir, chances are a German red might be worth a try. If you are more of a Cabernet Sauvignon drinker, you might find it a bit light.

Pat, who brought this one, said "I don't like it. I don't even think I'd like it with a cheeseburger." Most of the rest of us seemed to think it was just fine, especially at $12.99.

Just in case you think all we do is drink wine until we're in a stupor, relax! (That only happened once, and not to all of us!) I know I mentioned the really good treats we enjoy during the tasting including Rick's bread, crackers and cheese! But I want to remind you it's really important to eat while tasting -- and to drink a lot of water as well. You don't see them here but we all have our water bottles close at hand!

So, with that in our tummies, we were on to Bull's Blood 2013 by Egri Bakiver, a Hungarian wine. The word Bikaver means bull's blood. There are legends about the name. In 1552 a fortress was under attack  and under seige. The legend has it that the defenders were outnumbered and so to give themselves courage, drank large amounts of the local red wine. Of course it spilled all over them. As they ran toward the attackers, the enemy thought the locals had been drinking bull's blood and fled in terror.

(Don't you love a good legend?!) This was clearly the best story! I wrote "This is very nice, peppery." Roger thought it tasted musty. A note was made that it should be opened an hour before serving. Cost: $9.99

Our fifth wine was a Koster-Eolf Weingut 2011 Spatburgunder (basically Pinot Noir).

Barb, who brought it said it had a "skunky nose" and Dick called it "a dirty diaper." I wrote, "I'll stick with Bull's Blood." While Pat said, "It's better than mine!" However Rick noted that it "behaves well in the glass," meaning that the "legs" of the wine dipped appropriately. Cost: $14.99

My wine was next. It was called Affentaler Spatburgunder. and it clearly won the best bottle competition. (There was more demand for the bottle than the wine!) We agreed that it tasted like a merlot, a fruity light red.

Affental is called the Valley of the Monkeys -- we don't know if there are any monkeys there, though. The bottle is a bit of a cult collectors thing and the company also makes a Riesling. The vintners of the area have been cultivating Pinot Noir (Spatburnder) since 1250.

I thought it was pretty mellow and Barb and Mike indicated that they really liked it. Rick thought it a bit sweet and said it was like "drinking kool-aid." Mike agreed they were all a little sweet but I didn't find this too much so. $14.99.

Our Christmas Cork Poppers always finds us doing a gift exchange and this year it was white elephant time.

The thing about white elephants -- as you age, you start having some really decent stuff you want to unload because you are downsizing, so everyone ended up with some good gifts!

And of course, there was some trading going on!

After the exchange, we moved into Meredith and Roger's dining room for a delicious dinner!

Meredith sets a beautiful table and there was a lot of Christmas joy with holiday crackers and paper crowns.

Finally, some photos of our wacky group (missing Anne and Clayton).  The photo of me with Barb is actually me with my fifth cousin! Someday I'll talk about the genealogy I'm doing but one of the things I discovered quite by accident is that my longtime friend Barb is really my fifth cousin, going through my grandfather's lineage!

          


           

There is nothing we enjoy more than trying different wines. Even those who aren't big into wine enjoy our tastings because they are filled with fun. If you're interested in wine, check out the link to Cork Poppers at the menu on the top of the page!

Cheers!

Cork Poppers Taste German Wines

When our guide to the grape, Dick, decided that the spring Cork Poppers gathering would be tasting Austrian and German wines, I was a little apprehensive. I like dry wine and prefer red. The only German wine I'd ever had was sweet and not my thing.

But I love it when I was surprised and I was indeed as on a steamy hot Sunday, coming fresh from staffing the art festival, I got to sip chilled whites that were complex, fruity, (sometimes sweet), and in general, delicious.

I caught up to the group with a good sized (and eagerly awaited) taste of what would be my favorite of the day -- Domane Wachau 2007 Reisling, Terrassen Federspeil, from Austria.

At $21, it's more than I would normally spend for a bottle of wine. That said, it was delicious!

Then it was on to the German wines. Dick said he had trouble finding as much information on the German wines as he generally does about those from other countries, but I learned quite a bit.

For example, there are two primary wine regions -- Rhine and Mosel. Wines from the Rhine come in brown bottles; from Mosel, in green bottles. Most of what we had was from Mosel.

At $6.50 a bottle, Clayton called the Karl Heins Piesporter Michelsberg 2009 "great for the relatives." He must not like his relatives as much as I like mine, because I'm not sure I'd even serve it up to them. Too sweet for me.

(I learned at this point that sweet wine hasn't fermented nearly so long as the dryer versions, so you can get things with the same grapes and have a totally different flavor.

Our third wine was Nobel House 2008 Riesling, by winemaker Dr. Pauly Bergweiler. Another Mosel wine, this was peppery, not too sweet, not sour -- but it was also "just there."

I found it light but bland. I can't remember which of our tasters called it "good for breakfast," but many of us agreed it would be something fine to add to a punch where the wine is overridden by everything else you throw in. At $14, not worth it from my point of view.

Around here we learned that until 1805, the Mosel region was owned by the Catholic church. But then Napoleon sold it off to finance the war. My history is weak, but I never knew Napoleon had enough power over Germany to be able to sell off the land. Learn something new every day.

Number 4 was Urban Reisling 2010, Nik. Weis Selection, again from Mosel. At $11, this peppery wine with a floral aroma was pretty tasty. Rick called it "Best so far" and liked it better than the one to folllow.

I loved the elegant, simple label.

Door number 5 was a Piesporter Riesling -- Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2007. Remember, I didn't like the Piesporter earlier -- no one did. But this was quite nice. It wasn't my favorite and at $19, I probably wouldn't buy it. My notes said, "I like this OK."

(Meredith and Roger, on the other hand, called it "Vanilla pudding gone bad."

Dick, rick, Claton and I all liked Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese 1997. (I called it "not at all bad.")

But it had really mixed reviews. It smelled great. I mean, GREAT. Or, as Cheryl said, "This doesn't smell like cat urine." Roger said, "This is terrible" and Barb said "This tastes like goldfish water." (Which leads me to ask....)

At $19.50 I wouldn't buy a bottle to sample unless you have a nice wine budget. The reviews were too mixed.

One of my favorites was the last white, Dr. Loosen 2007 Blue Slate Riesling Kabinett. I have expensive tastes -- it was $22.50.

I found this one peppery, spicy, a tad sweet but also tart and not too sweet. It wasn't cloying. Cheryl, who doesn't much care for wine, loves this one. Dick said this is a top quality, light, semi-dry and given that his wife Cheryl loved it, was worth the price! I just wrote "Yumborama."

We had one red -- a Reinhessen 2008 Dornfelder Rotwein (well named). I'm a red wine fan and wrote "decidedly disappointing, this is NOT doing it for me."

At $10.50, it's reasonable. but there are so many better reds for that price or less, particularly from South America. I'd opt for one of those.

Dick pointed out that Germany isn't noted for its reds -- it is far too north to get the grapes right, with a latitude equivalent to Newfoundland. In fact, Germany is the northernmost country in which grapevines can grow, he said.

Other facts -- Germany produces 2-3 percent of the world's wine; they are better known for beer. About 80 percent of the vines are on hilly slopes and have to be handpicked.

Here's another fact -- with German wines, 85 is the number to remember. It produces 85 percent white wine and if a wine is labels "Riesling," for example, 85 percent of the grapes must be of that variety. Most use 100 percent of the particular grape. German wines are also lower in alcohol than French -- 8-11% compared to 11-13%.

Of course, our group always eats! This week was no exception with Chicken divan, a wonderful veggie cheese dish and potato salad by Rick.

Pat's table was gorgeous. I loved how she put the menu on our favors -- truffles -- by attaching a "back" to the box and writing it there.

A very good tasting. Now, if we ever get anymore hot summer nights, a cool white might be just the thing -- and I'll have some favorites!

(Note: Over at my book blog, Chopsticks and String, a delightful wee book about Paris -- this may become my favorite guide book!)