I ordered a six pack of “COLD P….” because of the conotation alone… “Muschi” in German is, you guessed it… images do speak a thousand words. Would I have come up with the idea of mixing wine and cola… would I want to? Since you can make your own similar mix, I wanted to find out if Kalte Muschi was worth the purchase price.

There’s wine in a can, wine in a box, wine in plastic bottles and wine in just about any other container without a hole in it, so why not try this?

See the head-2-head tasting on Wine On The Rocks.

Kalte Muschi

Gambero Rosso’s “Tre Bicchieri” (Three Glasses) world tour has become a highlight in many a wine lover’s calendar and on February 01, 2010 the show will be hitting Munich and held at the BMW Museum.

The event highlights some of Italy’s top wines and many of the producers travel to take part in this coveted event. The Munich venue will be held at the famous BMW Museum, Olympiapark 2, 80809 Munich – doors open for press and industry at 2:00 pm and at 4:00 pm for consumers. The event ends at 7:00 pm.

I will be attending the event and hope to get some of Italy’s finest producers in front of the mic… maybe they’ll have an opinion on who’d win illustrious caged matches!

Another Gambero Rosso event to look out for is the Top Italian Wines Roadshow 2010

Zurich: NOV30 2009
Moscow: DEC02  2009
Copenhagen: JAN 2010
Berlin: JAN20 2010
Paris: FEB16 2010
Brussels: FEB17 2010
London: MAR09 2010
Warsaw: MAR10 2010

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In der Ausgabe 2010 des „Vini d´Italia“ wurden diesmal 391 Drei-Gläser-Prämierungen vergeben. Erfolgreichste Weinregion ist einmal mehr das Piemont mit 84 Spitzenweinen. Platz zwei belegt die Toskana mit 60 Top-Weinen.

Eine einmalige Gelegenheit zur Verkostung eines Großteils dieser italienischen Top-Weine sowie zum informativen Gespräch mit den anwesenden Winzern, Önologen und Experten haben Fachhändler, Gastronome und alle Weininteressierten auch diesmal wieder.

Wann:
Montag, den 1. Februar 2010

ab 14:00 Uhr (für Fachbesucher aus Weinhandel und Gastronomie)
ab 16:00 Uhr (für Publikum). Die Veranstaltung endet um 19:00 Uhr

Wo:
im BMW Museum, Am Olympiapark 2, 80809 München.

Kartenvorverkauf:

für Fachbesucher
Karten zu 35 € über www.gamberorosso.it

für Publikumsbesucher
Karten zu 30 €  bei MünchenTicket sowie an der Tageskasse

The HolyDaze are upon us which also means another year has come and gone… don’t ask me where 2009 went though. They say time flies “when you’re having fun” and “when you get older” – I think it’s a mix of both in my case. I’d like to take this time to thank everyone who took the time to visit my blog and Wine On The Rocks the past months: for your feedback, for your support and just for the plain fact that you’ve kept on keepin’ ON! Wishing you and yours a wonderful and safe holiday season!

Since I don’t see the need in sending out offline cards which only wind up being thrown away weeks after they arrived, I prefer the online version – which you can pick up here –>

As the year came and went, I did some tasting in between… and here’s my top 5 list of personal “full bodied red” favourites in 2009 (the keyword being PERSONAL):

1. Quinta Vale Dona Maria Tinto Douro DOC – 2004 (good international availability for this winery – but ’04 was sold out quite quickly)

Beautifully balanced, fruity, complex, length till Tuesday, the harmony is like a tight wire walk: it looks easy but needs years of experience to get to this level – everything you’d expect in an irresistible wine. Enjoying this wine for the first time with Cristiano Van Zeller leading the tasting, in Douro – wine always tastes better where it grows – made the experience that much more special. Needless to say, this is my 2009 Xmas wine! One more quick note: this wine is crushed barefoot – now how amazing is that. I chose this wine because it just gave me the biggest WOW factor and the fact that, even at EUR 28,00 per bottle, it’s still underpriced in my opinion.

2. Valentini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC – 2001 (good international availability for this winery – premium retail)

There are mythical producers and there are mythical producers – Edoardo Valentini (who passed away in 2006) was definitely one of them and his son, Francesco Paolo, is definitely on his way to following in his father’s footsteps. Not only has drinking a Valentini wine become like a Pagan ritual to me but the respect I have for the Myth and his anti-marketing ethic is almost scary. Valentini’s 2001 is still very young but tasting it now and knowing what’s to come in the following years is definitely something to look forward to. Extraction out the yin-yang; an incredible thing when you do it with extreme attention, the taste of the land, notes of cherry, tabacco and a medley of fine spices. The tannins are still ON but rounding up beautifully. Each one of Valentini’s wines are truly unique. Bad year? No wine. Plain and simple. They have their price but in my opinion, they’re more than worth it.

3. Baltieri Amarone della Valpolicella Sortilegio DOC – 2005 (limited international availability – contact winery: www.baltieri.it)

I truly love meeting producers of fine wine, especially when you feel the soul of their work in your glass and it expresses their personality. Andrea Baltieri was one of these people: he’s managed to bottle his understated and humble, yet elegant and complex manner. Once meeting him, you would honestly think that he picked every grape individually, put it on a silk cushion, carried it to the press and gave it a little pep talk before starting the crush – great people really do make great wine. Andrea’s Amarone is so so silky with the perfect amount of freshness. It screams elegance and complexity but isn’t in your face about it. When it comes to meditation wines – this example is surely worthy of the title. Baltieri’s Recioto della Valpolicella… don’t get me started – mmmmmmmm!

4. Querciabella Chianti Classico DOCG – 2006 (good international availability for this winery)

This winery has been making fine reds since the early 70′s and the C.C. 2006 is no exception. Biodynamically produced, fruity/spicy with just the right amount of funk, elegance, complexity, nicely rounded tannins and mucho bang for the buck make this wine a true hit in my books. I love wines which you can drink everyday (price wise) but can also serve on a special occasion without thinking “are my guests going to think I’m being a cheap prick”? Great allrounder. I’ve gone through 6-7 cases of this wine in 2009 as I often use it in my wine seminars – definitely a participant favourite!!

5. Chateu Cos d’Estournel – St. Estèphe – Deuxième Cru Classé 1997 (good international availability for this winery)

Becoming a sommelier, I’ve noticed over the years, has some disadvantages as well as advantages:

Disadvantage: people stop buying you wine because they think it’s never good enough!
Advantage: when someone does buy you a bottle of wine you can be sure it’s a pretty good one!

This example can definitely be logged in the ADVANTAGE file. I received this bottle from a good friend and after drinking it together, we became even better friends. I love left-bank Bordeaux and examples such as the 1997 Cos d’Estournel is exactly why. The wine, just shy of its teens, developed with such an elegance regardless of its heartiness – I can only imagine how “green” it was 10 years ago – and there is still good things to come. The bouquet was so attractive that I had trouble getting my schnozz out of the glass, some wines really are a pity to drink: it was like pixies dancing and leaving a fresh scent of wild berries and spices in their wake. The palate didn’t dissapoint one bit either – full bodied YYEESSSNEESSS – that’s all I could think when drinking it – YYYEEESSSS! C’est tout mes amis :-)

Wishing you all the best in 2010!! And of course, keep on keepin’ ON!

Now we all know it’s not right to judge a book by its cover, or a wine by its label for that matter… BUT these freaking labels defintely do their job: make you want to drink what’s in the bottle. In this case, I’m gathering it’s Liquid Pitbull!

Whoever Luchador wines hired to design these didn’t go wrong… these Aussies rock and I love them that much more for it. In today’s day and age it’s harder and harder to differentiate on the shelf so great design surely helps regardless of what’s in the bottle. But I have to admit, I’m an aesthetic sucker so I’d definitely give them a try based solely on the labels.

Are they screaming FRUIT EXPLOSION, MEGA EXTRACTION, ANTI DOPING COMITTEE, and OAK OUT THE YINYANG? OUI Monsieur!
Do I care? Non Monsieur.

Too bad I haven’t been able to find them here in Germany!! HELP!

Inferno

Gato Loco

El Diamante

Temblor

The description on the importer’s site (The Grateful Palate) was muj originale:

Big and burly with a meaty, beefy nature, this wine is like a classic Barossa Shiraz with a steroid injection. Four different Luchador characters appear randomly on the front labels. We are introducing 4 new characters with the 2008 vintage:

Luchador “Inferno” loves crab cocktail, tangerines and Baked Alaska. His favorite scent is Heiress. Prefers Roumier to Rousseau.

Luchador “El Diamante” rubs spicy peppers in his eyes and has had five wives. The hammerhead is his favorite shark and he loves spooning.

Luchador “Temblor” is proud to have been Client #10, is addicted to dumplings, and belongs to the Rosicrucian Order. He hates leprechauns and biting his cheek.

Luchador “Gato Loco” is a world-famous orchid collector. He owns four iPods and believes vinyl is for weenies. He never buys water or women.

Like the Wine On The Rocks project wasn’t already enough.
After working so freaking hard on the new WOTR site I figured it was time I have my own blog as well – I’m starting to enjoy this – what are a few sleepless nights here or there… herzlich Willkommen :-)

I’ll be covering a variety of trivial things from my many brain leaks, things I find, things I’ve tasted, things I’ve seen and just felt the need to capture for the moment, places I’ve visited, did I mention things I’ve tasted? The kinda thing bloggers do.

Keep on keepin’ ON!