Wein Galerie Rotling 2008

The Rotling variety is a mixture of white and red grapes or their mash prior to fermentation. Although the colour is similar to rosé, it is actually quite different from it.

The wine is half dry and is coming from the Franken region in Germany. The bottle has an unusual round shape which dates back to the 16th century. It is called the Bocksbeutel and may be used only for the Franken wines.

And finally, maybe I should say something for the wine itself! To be honest I didn't like it much. It is not white, but not red either. The taste is too sweet and the finishing was actually absent. Maybe I should give it a try with a more expensive representative of the Rotling.

Riesling Classic 2008

Finally, it's white wine in my list and it's German! And more suprisingly, despite the price of 2,5o Euro from the supermarket the wine is simply gorgeous! The price is no suprise though, for where I bought it from - Würzburg. This wonderful city, where I happened to be this week because of work engagements, turned out to be one of the most famous wine cities in Germany The city is

surrounded by vineyards on the hills and in the city center you can stop by and taste a local wine (ususally offered in small circlular bottles) in one of the those cute wine shops or restaurant. The most glorious monument in the city is the Marienberg castle, which is situated on a hill and surrounded by vineyards. On the top of the hill, we visited a very well kept museum of art & history of the region. It is definately worth going there as a tourist and spend more time. More info can be found on Wikipedia, of course.

The most popular white variety in the region is the Riesling. It is a new vatiety, highly aromatic especially of apple and peach. I felt exactly this taste in my mouth after drinking a glass. Reading in Google, however, I found that the Riesling, also know as "the other white wine" (I really don't knoiw why!?) varies from sweet to half dry (Halbtrocken) and very dry (Trocken). Very drinkable and very pleasant taste.

Riscal Tempranillo 2006

Last weekend we had a small bottle of the Spanish Riscal in a Japanese restaurant (in the accompanying picture you can see the wonderful desert we had from green tea biscuits).

The wine itself had a dark colour and very deep, harmonious taste. Tempranillo variety is smooth and tannic. I also loved the finishing and it went very well with our Japanese dinner.The wine is from the Castilla y Leon region in Spain and costs about 15 Euro. I have to say it is a very good value for money for the quality and definitely goes into my favourites.

Todoroff Gallery Merlot 2007

Todoroff is the first boutique cellar in Bulgaria and used to be my favourite for many years. Unfortunately, in the recent yeas I think the taste has changed a little and the cellar's leading position has been taken by others. Nevertheless, the Merlot listed here remains among my favourites and Todorff cellar is a respected and well know brand in the industry. They also have a splendid spa hotel near the town of Plovdiv (Bulgaria), which charmed me with exceptional art collection, style and great service when visiting last year.

The wine's colour is dark ruby red. I particularly liked the strong aroma and balanced taste of spice, dry fruits and a tinge of oak. The wine leaves a memorable finishing in the mouth. All Todoroff Gallery wines have been left to get old for about three years in "Barrique" type of oak barrels, so that's where the oak taste comes from. There is also another selection of young wines called Todoroff Boutique. More information about this top Bulgarian winery you can find on their website.

We had the wine with a light dinner in a typical and famous restaurant in Sofia: "Pod lipite". The dinner was pleasant and the wine made the food even more delicious. A recommendation.

Dulong Grand Vin de Bordeaux 2006

This French wine is great smooth red, pretty dry and with a soft floral hint. I liked its soft taste and wonderful fruity touches. I have given this bottle as a present to my sister and I only tasted a small glass, but I have to say I was charmed.

The Dulong winery is a family business which run for 5 generations. It is from the famous Bordeaux region in France, whcih produces the following varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbek. The colourful combination of all these varieties makes the wines from this region very deep and tasteful. As the winemakers there say, each Bordeaux wine has its own personality. More information on Bordeaux wines you can find here.

The Bordeaux wines with Merlot go very well with spicy Asian or Oriental cuisine, because the smoothness of the wines balances the fire of the spice.

A recommendation for a lovely dinner.

Junior Merlot and Tempranillo 2008

As the name states, the following wine from the Katarzyna estate is young, vintage 2008. It seems that in Bansko Katarzyna wines are very popular, because they offer them in every restaurant there.

The wine from the Merlot and Temprabillo varieties is

very light and fruity taste, very well balanced and harmonuis. I did loved it. It goes very well with almost any food and shoud be served a little bit chilled. We had it with a white cheese, honey and walnuts appetiser, which was such a great and tasty combination that it made the taste of the wine even better and lasting.

The second picture is an amazing dish we had in the Bansko restaurant with the wine. It is white Bulgarian cheese, honey and walnuts. The salty&sweet taste was a great combination and was really breathtaking.

Mezzek White Soil Mavrud 2008

Although I am not a fan of Mavrud wine, it is actually the most appropriate one for a dinner in a typical Bulgarian restaurant. We had this wine in one of my favourite places in Bansko ski resort - the Motikata restaurant. The food in those restaurants is so amazing that a heavy and tipsy wine like this actually goes quite well.

The mavrud is from the famous Karazyna estate and more precisely from the White Soil Vineyard which is situated in the Turkish and Greek borders of Bulgaria. There is a whole range of varieties from this vineyard and hopefully one by one I shall try them all.

In the taste I could feel a heavy scent of fruits and tabacoo. The colour was dark red, ruby and rch. Not a bad choice of wine for the evening in a cold, cold winter (was -25 degrees out there, I am not joking :).