Other news the past 12 months, part 2
Dream Big - Discover California Wines 2019 - Tasting of wines from California, Gamla Riksarkivet, Stockholm (28-04-2019 by Nenad Jelisic and Robert Jonasson)
Dream Big was a tasting where there was the opportunity to taste a large selection of wines from California. In total, there were about 600 wines to taste from 135 producers and of these there were about 40 producers who lacked a Swedish importer. There were a lot of wines from the large and well-known wine districts of Napa Valley and Sonoma County at the tasting. There was also the opportunity to taste wines from lesser known appellations such as Santa Ynez (wine region Central Coast), Lodi (wine region Central Valley) and Paso Robles (wine region Central Coast). Since the tasting time was slightly shorter than usual while the number of wines available to taste was large, a limited amount of the wines was tasted. Of the 159 wines tasted, 51 wines got more than 2,5 NJP, i.e. 32%. It is a very good result compared to tastings from other countries. NJ Wine's expectations were very high, considering that 56% of the wines got more than 2,5 NJP at the 2015 tasting. For that reason, NJ Wines felt a little sting of disappointment over the quality of the wines. Something that distinguishes Dream Big against, for example, the Italian and the French wine tasting day is that many of the producers had their top wines with them. That is something that NJ Wines has been missing for several years at the major tastings in Sweden. The American producers should have a great praise for that.
New wines in regular assortment March 2019 (24-03-2019 by Nenad Jelisic and Robert Jonasson)
NJ Wines has tasted all Systembolaget's new wines in regular assortment March 2019. The wines got the following points (Note that the wines are arranged in alphabetical order and that the wines that have got more than 2,5 NJP, if any, are presented under "Make sure to try these wines, wines that have got at least 3,0 NJP of possible 5,0 NJP"; NV = non-vintage wine; Systembolaget = a government owned chain of all liquor stores in Sweden): 1. Aphros Loureiro, 2017 (12 EUR/14 USD) white dry wine, Portugal, 0,5 NJP, 2. Bagordi, 2017 (8 EUR/10 USD) red dry blend wine, Spain, 0,0 NJP, 3. Beaujolais Villages, Marc Dudet, 2017 (9 EUR/11 USD) red dry wine, France, 0,0 NJP, 4. Birds of Paradise, Garnacha Syrah, 2017 (11 EUR/13 USD) red dry blend wine, Chile, 0,0 NJP, 5. Bolgaré, Syrah Merlot, 2017 (7 EUR/8 USD) red dry blend wine, Bulgaria, 0,5 NJP, 6. CARM, 2015 (9 EUR/11 USD) red dry blend wine, Portugal, 1,0 NJP, 7. Carmen, Premiere, 1850, Syrah, 2018 (8 EUR/9 USD) red dry wine, Chile, 0,5 NJP, 8. Château Mayne Lalande, 2012 (18 EUR/20 USD) red dry blend wine, France, 1,5 NJP, 9. Chateau Ste Michelle, Indian Wells, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2016 (19 EUR/22 USD) red dry blend wine, USA, 1,5 NJP, 10. Chianti, Il Drago el a Fornace, 2017 (9 EUR/11 USD) red dry blend wine, Italy, 0,0 NJP.
New wines in small assortment, October 2018 to January 2019 (08-02-2019 by Robert Jonasson and Nenad Jelisic)
The tasted Systembolaget's new wines in small assortment from October 2018 to January 2019 got the following points (Note that the wines are arranged in alphabetical order; NV = non-vintage wine; Systembolaget = a government owned chain of all liquor stores in Sweden): 1. Arnot-Roberts, Watson Ranch, Chardonnay, 2016 (42 EUR/49 USD) white dry wine, USA, 3,5 NJP, 2. Assyrtiko by Gaia, Wild Ferment, 2017 (19 EUR/23 USD) white dry wine, Greece, 2,5 NJP, 3. Barolo, Tortoniano, Michele Chiarlo, 2013 (19 EUR/23 USD; 375 ml) red dry wine, Italy, 2,5 NJP, 4. Birichino, Mavasia Bianca, 2015 (15 EUR/17 USD) white dry wine, USA, 1,5 NJP, 5. Bourgogne, Rouge, Camille Giroud, 2016 (19 EUR/23 USD) red dry wine, France, 2,5 NJP, 6. Ca' di Pian, Barbera d'Asti, La Spinetta, 2014 (25 EUR/30 USD) red dry wine, Italy, 2,0 NJP, 7. Chablis, Grand Cru Les Bouguerots, Laroche, 2016 (64 EUR/75 USD) white dry wine, France, 3,0 NJP, 8. Chablis, Grand Cru, Réserve de l'Obédience, Les Blanchots, Laroche, 2014 (98 EUR/114 USD) white dry wine, France, 3,5 NJP, 9. Clos de l'Oratoire des Papes, Rouge, Ogier, 2012 (46 EUR/53 USD) red dry blend wine, France, 2,5 NJP, 10. Comtes de Champagne, Grands Crus, Blanc de Blancs, Taittinger, 2007 (117 EUR/137 USD) white dry sparkling wine, France, 4,0 NJP.
You can do better than this, Italian wine day 2018, Grand Hotel, Stockholm (18-01-2019 by Robert Jonasson and Nenad Jelisic)
The Italian wine day was the last major wine tasting of the year. It was held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm the 26th November 2018. Of the 185 tasted wines, 28 wines got more than 2,5 NJP, i.e. 15%, which is beneath any criticism for a such known wine country. It is remarkable considering that only a selection of the most interesting wines was tasted. At the last three years' corresponding tastings, 25 to 28% of the wines got more than 2,5 NJP in rating. Unfortunately, only 7 wines got over 3,0 NJP in rating. Remarkably, only 2 white wines got more than 2,5 NJP in rating. Unfortunately, it was possible to see the same trend at the Italian wine day as at the other trade tastings during this year; the most well-known producers and their prestige wines were missing. In addition, the number of importers and producers were much less than in previous years. This is both a very sad trend and a big difference to how it was only a few years ago. The result could be so much better if we, for example, got to taste wines from Gaia, La Spinetta, Tua Rita, Monteverro, Dal Forno Romano, Le Macchiole and Capannelle or the wines Masseto, Ornellaia and Sassicaia, to name a few. The wines that stuck out in terms of quality and taste were mainly wines from Tuscany and Piedmont. The great positive surprise of the tasting was the wine Trebium Spoletino Secco 2017 (3,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP) from the producer Antonelli San Marco in Umbria. The Italian wine day left NJ Wines with a big question mark; what has happened to the quality of the Italian wines?
