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Otto Forsberg

LasseK wrote: ↑January 15th, 2021, 10:56 am But i hear "Amber Wines" is the new hip term

New?

Otto Forsberg

ViniMacerati (using Bobby Stuckey's term for those wines) Sounds like a weird choice for a wine style. It's just Italian for "macerated wines" and it thus doesn't sound that specific, as not only orange wines, but all red wines are macerated wines. Furthermore, I think it's odd to opt for...

Otto Forsberg

Sounds like I need to seek it out. One of my favorite 98s was the Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz! We actually had two Fox Creek wines in that same tasting, one of which was 1998 JSM (the other one was 1999 JSM). Although the wines were relatively youthful for their age (although not as backward as Grange...

Otto Forsberg

Never tasted the 99 but sounds like an Aussie I would enjoy. Started drinking them around 01 vintage. I have not tasted anything over 2008. Anyone have any recs? In our tasting of older Aussie reds, The Dead Arm 1998 was the WotN - and we even had Grange 1990 there as well. Although this was basica...

Otto Forsberg

So I stocked up on the 2015 normales and my cellar is already bulging. I've not yet been able to taste the vintages side-by-side and have no experience to know how they'd compare "at peak", but can anyone attest as to whether the 16's are THAT much better/special than 2015? I have, but th...

Otto Forsberg

There's also a rosé I adore from the Rioja DOCa in Spain: Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva! It's typically aged in barrels and in bottle before being released, so fully developed when arriving on the market. Tondonia GR Rosado is truly a spectacular wine that drinks wonderfully soon after release, but I'...

Otto Forsberg

It would be interesting to 'test' your hypothesis by including both a waxed and foiled bottle and follow them over time. You are most likely correct - but if wax really is permeable as well, my guess is that the difference in oxygen ingress between the two will be minute over a period of years. Che...

Otto Forsberg

I definitely will! After all, I might be strong in my opinions, but I'm always more than happy to change my opinions, if one produces enough facts or examples to prove me wrong. [cheers.gif] Just to avoid any misunderstanding, I never meant to suggest that you were "wrong", quite the cont...

Otto Forsberg

The real question is whether it provides any more 'protection then an aluminum foil - and hownmuch more than without anything at all. It most certainly does. The aluminum foil is just pressed there, it's not sealed airproof. Furthermore, the top is often perforated with two small holes so that it c...

Otto Forsberg

Any "can't miss" bottles I'm forgetting? Disclaimer: I have no idea if any of these wines are available where you live. Rosé des Riceys, definitely. One of the most substantial styles of rosé there is - combined with the acidity and minerality you get from the Champagne terroir. Olivier H...

Otto Forsberg

OK, I understand, and thanks for your reply! Sounds like I probably strayed not just off the beaten path but straight into the thicket :-). As for "probably the greatest white variety in Croatia", should you be interested in re-opening and expanding on that over a couple of "relevant...

Otto Forsberg

Probably the greatest white variety in Croatia. Ha! For what it's worth, I am not really sure too many people in Croatia itself would agree with that. Personally, though, I find your observation very intriguing. Just out of curiosity, what exactly is this probability based on? Personal opinion, of ...

Otto Forsberg

LucyREdwards wrote: ↑January 10th, 2021, 11:50 pm Etienne Calsac's Les Revenants from the Cote de Sezanne is also excellent.

This definitely sounds interesting! I've had some Calsac wines, but not this one. Need to keep my eyes open in case I happened to come across a bottle.

Otto Forsberg

LasseK wrote: ↑January 10th, 2021, 9:41 am The Danish importer, who have known them for a long time, told me they age very well and can easily go for 10+ years.

This. Most Assyrtikos age really well and Hatzidakis is in the top echelon.

Otto Forsberg

Other than that, I see what you mean, just not really sure I would commit on the Alto Piemonte reference. Partly because old-school Alto Piemonte means a number of relatively different things to me, and partly because, despite a handful of shared features, I am generally not such a huge fan of taki...

Otto Forsberg

Funny how perceptions of the same wine can vary quite a bit. I've always felt that Kali Riza is the fruitier, less serious wine, in a manner of speaking. Ramnista, on the other hand, while perhaps not showing as overtly old-school as some other wines from the area right out of the gate, seems to in...

Otto Forsberg

I had my first ever Xinomavro this fall, 2016 Kir-Yianni Ramnista which is 100% Xinomavro. It was served with 3 other Greek wines to pair with a dinner my wife made but this was definitely the star. Having it with so many other wines I didn't get to give it the attention it deserved so went out and...

Otto Forsberg

B. Buzzini wrote: ↑January 5th, 2021, 12:20 pm Also see the 2014 Château Bouscassé Madiran for $15.

Good price for the wine. Unless we're talking about the magnificent Montus wines of the 1990's, I've always found Bouscassé much more enjoyable than Montus.

EDIT: The older Bouscassé wines are brilliant too!

Otto Forsberg

If I'm buying a Xinomavro, I'd expect it to be pale and a brick hue wouldn't be a problem. However, a dark, concentrated Xinomavro would only raise eyebrows. Allowing for the fact that Xynomavro is indeed generally not exactly the darkest, most thickly coloured wine around, and assuming, naturally,...

Otto Forsberg

I planted Xinomavro in an experimental block in Rutherford in 2017. I got my first barrel in 2019. It is a very slow ripening grape- it was the last thing picked and was only 23 brix. The tannins are huge, and the aromas are peculiar (cherry and orange blossoms like Pinot noir, but also briny olive...

Otto Forsberg

How about the vintage itself then? Now you're all talking about the wineries. How was the vintage itself compared to the ones we have now? If the 2021 growing season would be identical to 1982, how would that compare? Do you think we'd have another legendary vintage?

Otto Forsberg

Can't remember me tasting any herbaceous / underripe flavors or pyrazines in Mencía - and in a warm spot like Bierzo that would actually sound really odd. With Bierzo wines I've had more problems with excessive than sufficient ripeness.

Otto Forsberg

Is this wine that good? I've been passing up cases of this(current vintage maybe 2014?) at Costco for closeout $9??? Now, I could totally be being influenced by that fact, but . . . these more recent vintages I've bought sometimes at Costco, they're good wines and good QPR, but they do seem more ge...

Otto Forsberg

Is this wine that good? I've been passing up cases of this(current vintage maybe 2014?) at Costco for closeout $9??? The 1990's bottles are outstanding. The 2010's wines are just super polished, oaky and somewhat gloopy. Of the Brumont's wines, Montus is much more modern and comes across as rather ...

Otto Forsberg

Dornfelder is one of the later hybrids developed. From what I have gleaned, it was often made in a slightly sweet inviting style, but the dry style is now more prevalent. Dornfelder is known to be almost inky black and was perhaps initially developed more for color than for its flavors. Not sure ho...

Otto Forsberg

I suppose these wines don't have anything in common with the Quinta da Boavista wines from Douro - apart from the name? I can e-mail you the translation of a recent magazine piece covering his wines, along with a handful of tasting notes. They are absolutely your thing - high acid, low alcohol, non...

Otto Forsberg

Viticulture plays a major issue. Jaen's short vegetative cycle has encouraged quantity based approaches, and it is rarely planted in well drained parcels with good sun exposure. That is the useful blending Jaen you describe. Two producers which take a quality based approach to varietal Jaen are Qui...

Otto Forsberg

2007 Schramsberg Vineyards J. Schram - USA, California, North Coast (3.11.2020) A blend of Chardonnay (84%) and Pinot Noir (16%), mainly from Napa and Sonoma. 12,8% alcohol, 12 g/l dosage and 9,7 g/l acidity. Tasted blind. Deep lemon-yellow color. Aromas of yaesty French bread, tart green apples, s...

Otto Forsberg

So, in early November, while the world was holding its breath due to one presidential election, we had a California-themed tasting to take our thoughts from all the craziness yet keep our focus on the US. The theme of the night was Beringer Chardonnay and the wines came from the cellar of a person w...

Otto Forsberg

It is one of the most important red grapes in the Dão, where it is known as Jaen. Though most often blended, there are varietal examples, too. Yes, I actually remembered a bit earlier that Jaen was one of Mencía's synonyms and having tasted a few varietal Portuguese Jaen wines. Never had anything p...

Otto Forsberg

You mention pinot and gamay, I've also heard it being compared with syrah. I love me a good Northern Rhône Syrah, but haven't seen anything Syrah-like in Mencía, be it Rhône Syrah or Australian Shiraz we're comparing it to. The Mencías of Galicia (mainly Ribeira Sacra) are often very Burgundian, ma...

Otto Forsberg

Drank my last Xinomavro last night with lasagne and was to a Mencia tasting just before the new year's eve. It gas been probably more than a month since I've had a good Etna, though. I think that many a Xinomavro can be strikingly Nebbiolo-like, but there are also lots of wines that have a unique ch...

Otto Forsberg

Brian S t o t t e r wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 10:40 am My mistake.

No prob. You weren't entirely wrong - I used to be ITB, but it's many years now. Have worked in a wine shop for many years and a couple in importing.

Nevertheless, nothing ITB related now. I go to a lot of tastings I pay for myself - or then I arrange them myself.

Otto Forsberg

Brian S t o t t e r wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 9:12 am Thanks! Didn't realize you were ITB.

Where did you get that? I'm in IT, not ITB.

Otto Forsberg

Markus S wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 7:11 am You ARE a human tasting machine!

Well, not always so sure about the human part.

Otto Forsberg

What Württemberg reds do you typically buy? Just curious what I may want to look out for once tariffs are gone and if the German import/distribution market improves in the U.S. in the next few years. I'd say Weingut Heid and Dautel are in the top echelon when it comes to the Württemberg wines. I ha...

Otto Forsberg

I agree. Great wines. I guess Chapoutier bought out a good local producer or went into a partnership with a top regional expert. I can't find anything on the 'net. You don't have to search for the whole 'net - all you need to do is to go to the Chapoutier website. There you can read that Chapoutier...

Otto Forsberg

Thanks, Otto. How about Chapoutier? How would you rate them? It's surprisingly good, given that a) Chapoutier is a producer located in Rhône, not in Roussillon; b) I'm not the biggest fan of Chapoutier wines. At least the wine I've tasted (2012 Rimage) was surprisingly dry, spicy and bitter for a B...

Otto Forsberg

I’m a bit late to this thread, but as a “younger” drinker who has been v interested in wine for >10 years but only recently had the space and means to buy and hold more than 10 bottles of anything at a time, I am kind of glad that I wasn’t able to do so early in my wine explorations. I still like t...

Otto Forsberg

I have little experience of these wines, so don't shoot me, but even Chapoutier Banyuls tastes nice to me. pileon Would you say they have any resemblance to Vintage Port at all or would you say they are a totally different catagory? Well, they're both red and fortified and usually tend to carry vin...

Otto Forsberg

Fair enough and understandable. I meant pure white brandy I looked into this and found this piece from Wikipedia: "In the European Union, there are regulations that require products labelled as brandy, except "grain brandy", to be produced exclusively from the distillation or redisti...

Otto Forsberg

Correct - the high note of pure distilled spirit, which I believe is grape brandy Indeed. However, at least I associate the term "brandy" with oak-aged grape-based spirits, so if a wine is showing a "brandy" character, it normally translates to having an aroma of, say, Cognac or...

Otto Forsberg

Brandy component? Do you mean the spirit that is used to fortify the wine or something else? I've never had any brandy-like qualities in a Banyuls myself. Love the stuff - and the same goes to the other fortified wines of Roussillon as well.

Otto Forsberg

Put me down as an unabashed Allemand fan-boy. Had my first experience back when Cornas as a whole was considered French hillbilly juice. Years ago my friend Kevin and I popped into Willi's Wine Bar in Paris. Saw that they had Allemand on the list. Asked the girl behind the bar which wines they had ...

Otto Forsberg

In addition to DeeVine K&L has a great riesling selection. I took the liberty of selecting some German wines for you. https://www.klwines.com/Basket/Index 5 dry and 3 sweet Unfortunately no older bottles. Look for an older JB Becker, a producer that has lots of library wines, or search around a...

Otto Forsberg

What time-period are the wines you are drinking from? My experience with them was mostly in the 1980s. Did not like the wines at all. Did not buy more. So you talk about a producer based on a handful of experiences that are almost 40 years old? Oh wow! [thumbs-up.gif] For the record, I do think J. ...

Otto Forsberg

I've never understood why cask strength would be a problem. Sure, most cask strength spirits - especially those on the higher end of the scale - tend to be almost undrinkably hot, but I invariably tone them down myself with a dash of cool water. However, with the cask strength bottles I can choose m...

Otto Forsberg

Since the last year was so very atypical, I went for the most atypical sparkling wine I had in my cellar for our celebratory new year's fizz. We had De Bortoli Woodfired Sparkling Shiraz. That was as far from a classic Champagne as possible. A bit too sweet (at whopping 18 g/l dosage) and a bit too ...

Otto Forsberg

I guess my cellar's core strength is the complete lack of it. At just 10%, Piedmont (including both red and white) is by far the largest category, followed by Burgundy including Beaujolais (8,5%), German Riesling (7%), Northern Rhône (6,5%) and Champagne (5,5%). The remaining +60% is composed of ver...

Otto Forsberg

I tend not to like wines in a real oxidative style, like Koehler-Ruprecht traditionally made in Germany. I have not believed that my dislike of the wines of KR made the wines bad, but rather represented a personal preference. It sounds you have just had bad bottles of Koehler-Ruprecht. They are not...

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