Châteauneuf du Papes 2006 by Armand Dartois

We drunk this special French wine at a dinner with friends and chose it among many other fabulous wines in the wine collection of our host. I have to confess the choice was difficult, but this stylish bottle stand out. The other thing was my likeness to french wines.

The Châteauneuf du Papes by Armand Dartois, vintage 2006 is one of the best vintages of this wine. It comes from the southern Rhone region in France. The younger generation in Châteauneuf du Pape has taken seriously the farming in the vineyards. There are more organic and biodynamically run vineyards here than in any other appellation of France.

The sweet spot for drinking Châteauneuf du Papes is usually the first 5-6 years after the vintage. The has a long lasting finish and strong nose of berries and wild fruit, which makes the wine a pleasure for the senses. Very well balanced and very drinkable. The tannins was a bit too much, but overall - a great choice and a recommendation.

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.

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.

Agiorgitiko Boutari 2006

The chance sent me to Greece this Christmas and I had the chance to taste a real Greek wine of a variety I have never heard before: Agiorgitiko from the Nemea, Peloponnese region. Mantinia Winery,

I do not have a lot of experience with Greek wines, but after drinking this one (which is actually an ordinary one, not very expensive) I am definitely a fan from now on. The wine had a rich, aromatic smell and very sweet taste of fruits and vanilla. It went very well with the lovely dinner in the taverna. The colour was deep red, but the bottle was encrypted only in Greek letters, so I had a real difficulty in reading the name of the wine.

I became curious about the winery Boutari, so I looked it up in Google. On the company website http://www.boutari.gr, I found that it is actually one of the biggest wine companies in Greece with a history of more than 130 years and over 40 labels and several wineries in Greece and South of France. It has won numerous awards throughout the years and I will definitely try some other labels too.


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Mavrud Asenovgrad 2006

The consecutive Bulgarian wine in my list. This one, however, is different - it is really Bulgarian, because it is Mavrud variety, which is typical Bulgarian.

The Mavrud from the Asenovgrad region was actually very nice. I loved it. The wine has a typical depth for this type of variety. It is a little heavy, but lovely for a dinner with friends and a good meal. On the label of the wine itself it says that it goes very good with red meat. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend you a good food with it, because I am a vegetarian, but I think anyone who wants to taste a piece of Bulgaria, should try this variety. Asenovgrad region is a must try!

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