Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

Otto Forsberg

Well basically grapes are the ideal raw material for making alcoholic beverages, since it's possible to make natural wines, i.e. you just crush the grapes without adding anything and letting the nature run its course. Of course one can always add sulfites, yeast nutrients and whatnot, but when it co...

Otto Forsberg

definitely interesting for 3 oz.. but probably not a lot more. No. After that 3 oz you are perfectly fine with the wine and then it's just hands down delicious from that point on. I don't get what is so difficult in pairing with these wines. As long as the wines are not from those hotter, lower-aci...

Otto Forsberg

Well that explains, since that's not Moulin Touchais label, it's their Domaine Touchais label - I've just never noticed the Reserve part in the upper label. I guess it's not really a "reserve wine" per se, just a sort of title for the wine. Moulin Touchais made some labels under the Domaine Touchais...

Otto Forsberg

I've never heard of such bottles. I thought Moulin Touchais makes only one Coteaux du Layon and that's it. Occasionally they've made some wines labeled only as general AOC Anjou, but never had them.

Otto Forsberg

Yes, evidently some citrus element is common in tonic water, though I don't perceive tonic water's aroma (or the scent on this Barbaresco) as citrus. It might be because many tonic waters have other aroma ingredients as well, and the citrus aromas used are usually very mild, so people don't really ...

Otto Forsberg

John, what do you mean by quinine aroma? To my understanding, quinine is a completely odorless compound and hasn't got really any taste of its own, besides the noticeable bitterness. Perhaps that's true, but this smelled like tonic water. Not sure what else is in tonic other than quinine. Lots of t...

Otto Forsberg

John, what do you mean by quinine aroma? To my understanding, quinine is a completely odorless compound and hasn't got really any taste of its own, besides the noticeable bitterness.

Otto Forsberg

Would've guessed a very ripe Syrah - and not a particularly attractive one for such. However, for a Pinot Noir tasting note, that's an express ticket to Nopesville.

Otto Forsberg

I've also heard from one of my acquaintances who farms in Panzano, Chianti Classico that this vintage has been exceptionally good. While 2019 was very warm in most parts of Europe, the hot temperatures never reached CC and their harvest was much later in the autumn than in previous vintages. It real...

Otto Forsberg

For me, some Nikolaihof wines show that idiosyncratic "Nikolaihof funk" - which is at best quite interesting and at worst rather distracting - but certainly not all of them. Some wines have been thoroughly clean, precise and showing wonderful purity of fruit - although in the leaner style typical of...

Otto Forsberg

Gerhard P. wrote: ↑
November 4th, 2019, 12:17 am
For each region a lot of fine producers can be named .... some have been mentioned above, but not nearly most of the best ...

Yet you see no reason to disclose any?

Moreover I have absolutely no idea which ones are available in the US ...

Does it matter if the buyer is in Austria?

Otto Forsberg

Of course raspberries come in various colors. I used to grow some yellow ones because those particular bushes were thornless, and I had some purple ones as well. There are variations that are more orange than yellow. They are both slightly sweeter than the more common red ones. And there are some t...

Otto Forsberg

And here I was excited to read a rant how winemakers overuse French oak, making wines taste more like Cognac than fermented grapes.

People really love that stuff?

Otto Forsberg

Thanks for the notes, Bob, I got very excited about Portuguese wines when we were there this summer, and obviously they are great values. I believe we drank a more aged version of the Encruzado, which was lovely. And the Viuva Gomes is the same as the one known for their Colares, no? Is she/you inc...

Otto Forsberg

Either d or b, in that order. Young Nebbiolo tends to need some air, but often one hour in a decanter or two hours after double-decanting back into a bottle is enough. Seeing how Nervi wines normally take 20-25 years to reach their peak and the best vintages even +50, the idea of drinking a young Ne...

Otto Forsberg

There are articles dating back to at least the 1880s regarding cork's permeability to air. If pressure is applied, air can find its way from one side of a piece of cork to another, but in a wine cellar, there is no such pressure. But there is, or at least must be, since according to the OP, "It's a...

Otto Forsberg

I think (although I have no data) that I may be onto something. Storing bottles upright seems to me to be to be potentially superior. A few supporting points: 1) If the liquid is up against the cork in a wine bottle, the cork is moist. But wouldn't a cork be in a 99% relative humidity environment w...

Otto Forsberg

Markus S wrote: ↑
October 21st, 2019, 10:12 am

Victor Hong wrote: ↑
October 21st, 2019, 9:56 am
Are you talking about wine?
I thought Finish was a dish detergent? Or maybe he's bringing up Otto??

My ears are burning.

Otto Forsberg

The fact that the documents from the 1500s are the earliest references he could find is not dispositive, nor does it mean that the name can't be related to Ellenico. And since Homer referred to the Greeks as Hellenes, and the name for the country is Hellas, I don't know how he can say that the word...

Otto Forsberg

And as far as being too modern, that's just weird to me. The grape came from what is now Turkey sometime around 600 BC. The Italians called it "Ellenico", which means it was Hellenic. So it's been around for a long time. That sounds interesting. Do you have any sources? Because to my understanding ...

Otto Forsberg

I still find many Feudi di San Gregorio wines a bit too modern for my taste - although it has been a few years since I've last tasted them. And some of their top wines feel like they can actually turn quite great if just given enough time. Guastaferro makes some of the most impressive Taurasi wines ...

Otto Forsberg

Otto, who would be more qualified than Mr. French to help us pronounce something in French? Actually I find his description fairly accurate even though hearing the word pronounced after his description would help bring home his point. Cheers. -Jim Oh, but I did not say a single word about whether t...

Otto Forsberg

I thought nebbiolo of the south was nerello mascalese. Actually, to me, Aglianico is much closer to Nebbiolo than Nerello Mascalese. They do have somewhat different aromatics when they are young and Aglianico often produces more sturdy and concentrated wines, but not always - many Radici Riservas b...

Otto Forsberg

Todd F r e n c h wrote: ↑
October 17th, 2019, 10:58 am
it's more of a throat utterance than a letter

As a linguist, I find this sentence rather nonsensical.

Otto Forsberg

The Serralunga spends a year in Allier barriques , then a year in large Allier oak casks . The single-vineyard bottlings appear to be barrique-free now. Righty! I remembered the Fontanafredda Barolo and Barbaresco wines being quite modern in the 2000's (and they were, I had some 2006's and 2007's I...

Otto Forsberg

The basic Barolo Serralunga has a pretty good dose of oak on it (12 months in small French barrels). I wasn't crazy about the '13, but some people like that. Haven't tasted many recent vintages, though. Is it? To my understanding, Fontanafredda has started to return back to the traditionalist roots...

Otto Forsberg

I think refering to fruit flavours/aromas as primary non-fruit ones in young wines as secondary and flavors/aromas that appear as the wine ages as tertiary makes it a lot simpler. But that's just my opinion. Simpler, as in simply guessing? What's the point in pretending we know which compounds come...

Otto Forsberg

Secondary is a stage of development; the distinction based on characteristics from the "winemaking" is just silly. That's WSET for you though; a parade of simplistic nonsense tasked at dumbing down the wonderful world of wine - breaking it into bite-sized chunks for immediate cognitive consumption....

Otto Forsberg

Are you fluent in reading Japanese or do you have somebody with you who can? Otherwise it can be quite painful trying to differentiate one sake bottle from another. Some great sake breweries are: Okura Honke Terada Honke Akishika Kidoizumi Chikumanishiki Kawatsuru Fukuchiyo Shuzo Of course you migh...

Otto Forsberg

I am very happy with Otokoyama and Kubota. There is a craze about Juyondai these days but I yet to try one. Have you read this article? https://blog.wblakegray.com/2019/07/the-real-story-of-juyondai-mysterious.html Apparently the Juyondai hype train is mostly based on nothing. It is not an artisana...

Otto Forsberg

Are you fluent in reading Japanese or do you have somebody with you who can? Otherwise it can be quite painful trying to differentiate one sake bottle from another. Some great sake breweries are: Okura Honke Terada Honke Akishika Kidoizumi Chikumanishiki Kawatsuru Fukuchiyo Shuzo Of course you might...

Otto Forsberg

That would be a second/third stage of developement rather than a secondary/tertiary characteristic. Ok but in a TN are people not talking about stages of development? If I say I get red fruit, earth and hints of oak. But with 12 years this wine is definitely showing secondary characteristics. Do u ...

Otto Forsberg

Otto, you've very helpfully fleshed out the "definitions" for me. By giving practical examples of grapes/wines along with referencing some of the chemical compounds responsible for tastes/aromas, you may have managed to dent my dense brain. Cheers, -Jim I hope you can manage with this kind of cereb...

Otto Forsberg

Primary - all the characteristics coming from the vineyard and grape (fruit, floral, herbaceous) Secondary - all the characteristics coming from the wine making process (oak, malo, lees contact, etc) Tertiary - all the characteristics coming from maturation. (graphite, mushroom, forest floor) This ...

Otto Forsberg

Haven't tried it myself, but a friend of mine who has a sizeable collection of Musar going back for decades says that he hasn't been fond of those late release back vintages. According to him, there might be something in the process of refilling and recorking the bottles that affects the wines negat...

Otto Forsberg

Your dinner looks remarkably similar to breakfast! That might be just the setting! Apart from the drinks and the sausage, there were no same foodstuffs in the evening. The omelette was the only warm dish in the morning, while almost all dishes were warm over the dinner. What was the saperavi like? ...

Otto Forsberg

John Danza wrote: ↑
October 6th, 2019, 10:51 pm
Uh, whatever.

Uh, ok.

Otto Forsberg

TomHill wrote: ↑
October 5th, 2019, 11:08 am

Jim Stewart wrote: ↑
October 5th, 2019, 10:22 am
Tom, have you been talking to Otto?
No, Jim...but I follow Otto religiously and learn a lot from him.
Tom

I am humbled to hear that.

Otto Forsberg

Day 5 - Lagodekhi. For this day we had no other plans than just to hike to the Rocho waterfall located in the hills of Caucasus mountains, within the Lagodekhi natural park. For breakfast our Russian hosts filled our table with a generous set of potato salad, omelette, tkemali (sour plum sauce), fru...

Otto Forsberg

The characteristic element in both Vin Jaunes and biologically aged Sherries is acetaldehyde, not acetone.

I'm not saying this wine didn't have "acetone" aromatics (VA, ethyl acetate), but you seem to be talking of another thing.

Otto Forsberg

1999 is the most recent vintage that I'm confident is a great vintage. There might be other contenders, like 2010, but the ones I've had have been too young to know for sure. If you love the '99, keep in mind that the price will go up drastically over the next few years. 06 is great, but not sure i...

Otto Forsberg

Because you have to put limits somewhere, but Riesling - and other high-acid varieties - can be notoriously difficult to work with. For example Riesling can be so high in acidity that the yeast struggles to even kick off the fermentation, let alone keep it going. If a wine that tastes dry, but doesn...

Otto Forsberg

Mich@el Ch@ng wrote: ↑
October 4th, 2019, 11:55 pm
Wtf

Exceptionally well put.

Otto Forsberg

What I could find was that there was approx 9 g/l of residual sugar in the 2017 vintage of Vin Winning Drache Riesling, but also 8,9 g/l acidity, which easily offsets most if not all sugary sweetness. Considering 10 g/l is the limit for semi-dry whites, it's quite far-fetched to call that wine "swee...

Otto Forsberg

Musar 2004 has never been a particularly memorable vintage to me, and I've had it several times. 1999, 2003 and 2005, on the other hand, are all great vintages that are drinking beautifully now and will continue to develop for at least a decade or so, keeping well for even longer.

Otto Forsberg

I do agree that Gantenbein Chardonnay is pretty extraordinary for a Chardonnay almost no-one has ever heard of. I had the vintage 2014 a year ago, it was quite something. 2014 Gantenbein Chardonnay - Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Bündner Herrschaft, Fläsch (3.12.2018) Gantenbein is considered on...

Otto Forsberg

Can't remember having many $30+ Pinot Noirs that have been worse than that Mondavi Pinot. But then again, a) I haven't tasted that 2017, only many previous vintages; b) we don't get many Cali Pinots here, so that keep most of the overpriced, overripe monster Pinots out from the market. I've certainl...

Otto Forsberg

Although young, my impression of the 2016 Tignanello is that it is (possibly) the best ever. Below is my CT note. I gave the wine a score of 98 points, and I am quite stingy. A true tour de force, Antinori's 2016 version of Tignanello is perhaps its best ever. An opaque ruby blend of 80% Sangiovese...

Otto Forsberg

While we're on tasty Piemontese whites, don't forget the Favorita grape. Sorry I have no specific suggestions for producers or bottlings. As for Otto, he's one of my favorite troublemakers with a taste for amazing off-the-beaten path wines. I miss hanging with you! The feeling is mutual! I really d...

Otto Forsberg

Your post came at either the perfect or the worst time for me - I've just started getting into the world of interesting Italian white wines and now I have another on my list to seek out. Would love to hear your timorasso recommendations. I've seen them occasionally in the langhe, but haven't spent ...

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