The wine of the month, 2018, part 3 of 3
See the wine of the month 2017 See the wine of the month 2018 See the wine of the month 2019 See the wine of the month 2020 See the wine of the month 2021 See the wine of the month 2022 See the wine of the month 2023 See the wine of the month 2024
See the wine of the month 2018, part 1 of 3 See the wine of the month 2018, part 2 of 3 See the wine of the month 2018, part 3 of 3
April 2018: Greywacke, Chardonnay, 2014 (23 EUR/28 USD in Sweden) white dry wine, Marlborough, New Zealand, 4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (01-04-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
NJ Wines tasted Greywacke Chardonnay 2014 for the first time at the winetasting Flavours of New Zealand in January this year. The wine really stood out and was undoubtedly the best white wine at the tasting. After tasting the wine once more at home, it is only to be noted that the impressions from the winetasting consist. This is nothing less than a fantastic wine. The aroma is exceptional and brings my mind to a much more expensive wine from Puligny- Montrachet in Burgundy. It is complex with the character of roasted oak barrels, minerals, nuts, browned butter, citrus fruit and peach. The flavor is concentrated, rich and at the same time elegant. The wine is balanced, and the flavor reflects the aromas where browned butter, nuts, citrus fruit and peach are found again. The wine is dry, has a high acidity and a medium long aftertaste. If the flavor had been slightly longer, the wine would have gotten an even higher score. The wine should be served at 12°C to 13°C in order to the aroma and the flavor will immediately get the opportunity to really blossom full in the glass. Serve it in glass with a larger cup, such as Riedel Vinum Montrachet/Chardonnay, Orrefors Difference Fruit, Zalto Denk Art Burgundy or similar. Greywacke Chardonnay 2014 is a lovely wine to drink to foods like, for example, oven-fried salmon fillet with lobster sauce and pressed potatoes or fried chicken fillet with sherry sauce and potato wedges or simply enjoyed it by itself. It can be aged for another 2 to 3 years. The grapes for the wine are hand-harvested at a high degree of maturity. Thereafter, the grapes are pressed in whole clusters and spontaneously fermented. Then the wine is aged in 228 litres oak barrels (20% new) for 18 months. The grapes for this wine come from several vineyards around Marlborough. Mainly, the grapes come from vineyards in Brancott Valley and Fairhall.
March 2018: Biecher, Riesling, Réserve, 2016 (9 EUR/11 USD in Sweden) white dry wine, France, 3,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP (03-03-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
After pretty many years of the absence, it is finally here, a really good Riesling-wine from Alsace. A Riesling wine with a really good and well-balanced acidity as well as good minerality. The wine’s aroma is characterized by a clear aroma of petroleum (do not worry so smells predominant majority of really good Riesling-wines). The wine’s aroma also contains elements of white flowers, green apples, green pears, peach and honey. The taste is fresh, mineral with elements of green apples, green pears, honey, lemon, grapefruit and minerals. Biecher Riesling Réserve 2016 can be drank as a brilliant refreshing aperitif or with butter fried cod fillet with white wine sauce and boiled potatoes (preferably fresh ones) or with seafood salad or with peeled shrimps with crème fraiche mixed with finely chopped red onion and caviar and freshly baked baguettes with a little butter in the middle. The wine should be drunk at 8 to 10°C from Riesling glasses as Difference Crisp from Orrefors or Veritas from Riedel or Esprit from Peugeot or Atelier from Luigi Bormioli. The winery for this wine and the producer's other wines is located in the small village of Saint-Hippolyte in Alsace. Jean Biecher’s Alsace wines are known to be very classic and typical of origin in style and that they truly reflect the unique of the Alsace region. The same goes for Biecher Riesling Réserve 2016. The soils in the vineyards for the wine consists of limestone and silicon mixed soil. The grapes are handpicked and selected in field, then they are pressed and then they are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. After that, the wine is aged, for a few months before bottling, in the same stainless steel tanks in which it had been yeasted.
February 2018: Korrell, Beerenauslese, 2013 (15 EUR/19 USD in Sweden; 375 ml) white sweet blend wine, Nahe, Germany, 3,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP (04-02-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
Nahe is a wine region that is usually associated with all types of wines mainly made on the Riesling grape. This wine, however, is something completely different; a sweet wine from Nahe produced with a blend of 50% Pinot Blanc and 50% Pinot Gris. The aroma of the wine is seductive, dried tropical fruits, citrus and honey. The wine is very well balanced with a good balance between sweetness and acidity. The flavor is concentrated, complex and refreshing. As soon as the first sip of the wine enters the mouth, one meets by an explosion of flavors. Sweet ripe mango, pineapple, dried fruits and honey are caressing the taste buds. The wine's high acidity (9 g/l) makes the wine, despite a sugar content of 181 g/l, almost refreshing. Korrell Beerenauslese 2013 should be drunk with blue mold cheeses or with butter fried toast with goose liver topped with fig marmalade or with lemon meringue pie or with elder meringue pie. The wine should be drunk at 8 to 10°C from Riedel Vinum Sauvignon Blanc, Spiegelau Authentis, Orrefors Difference Crisp or similar type of glass. Weingut Korrell Johanneshof is family-owned winery that is based in the village of Bosenheim. The grapes for the wine comes from Korrell's own vineyards. The soil in the vineyards for the wine consists of limestone with chalk. The grapes are handpicked and selected in field, then they are pressed and then they are fermented in the temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. After that, the wine is aged in used 500 litres oak barrels for 6 months before bottling. Korrell Beerenauslese is only produced when the climatic conditions are right. Finally, Korrell Beerenauslese 2013 is the best sweet wine from Nahe that NJ Wines have tasted so far. Hats off to Weingut Korrell Johanneshof and even to Systembolaget. The Systembolaget has really succeeded with their purchase of sweet wines in the ordinary assortment in recent months.
January 2018: Churchill's, Late Bottled Vintage, 2012 (18 EUR/22 USD in Sweden) port wine, Porto, Portugal, 4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (06-01-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
What I like with this wonderful port wine is its incredible balance between its high sweetness, acidity and tannins as well as its very long sweet, nutty and cocoa rich aftertaste. Raisins, cocoa rich dark chocolate, figs, candied cherries, sweet spices and white pepper clearly emerges in the aroma. Sweet spices, cocoa rich dark chocolate, walnuts, figs, sweet dark cherries, black pepper, blueberry jam and roasted almonds clearly emerges in the flavour. What impresses most with this port wine is that it comes from a not so good vintage. During 2012, no rain came when it should and when it arrived it arrived too late. Churchill (the producer) did not stress with the harvest and took advantage of the late arrival of the rain to the maximum. This wine's production process is as follows: the grapes are harvested by hand, after the harvest, the grapes are delivered to the winery, destemmed and placed in the low stone tanks (lagares) where they are treaded by mechanized feet, then the must is fermented together with the skins in the stone tanks until it has an alcohol strength of 6 to 8% when it is fortified to 19 to 21% with 77% grape spirit. Then the wine is aged in large oak barrels 4 years before it is released on the market. With Late Bottled Vintage, it is meant that the port wine comes from a single vintage and that has been aged in oak barrels between 4 and 6 years. Churchill's Late Bottled Vintage 2012 can be aged between 7 and 10 years. The aging will only make it more complex and irresistible to drink. Do not worry about the sediment of the wine in the second to last or the last glass. The sediment only shows that the producer has not filtered the wine at all. The wine will brilliantly fit with a lot of different cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano, Gorgonzola, Stilton, Camembert, Västerbotten and Castello Blue. Or with cherry pie (not too sweet) or blueberry pie (not too sweet) or cocoa rich dark chocolate. Or just enjoy it without any food. I recommend that you start to drink this wonderful port wine at 8°C (unlike what most of wine websites and the manufacturer itself recommend), and let it slowly grows in the glass while you drink it. If you can drink the wine from Riedel Vinum Port or Orrefors Difference Sweet or Orrefors Elixir.
