Red wine freshness and red wine warmth from the Portugeuse Douro Valley
2009 Excomungado
Quinta de Vale de Pios
€ 6,90
Yes, that name does mean excommunicated in Portuguese and is clear proof that not only German Jungwinzer like Christian Stahl of Winzerhof Stahl in Auernhofen/Franken who called his dry 2009 Scheurebe „[rauschgift]“ (an ugly German word for dope, literally intoxication poison), can come up with unusual and startling wines names. However, the important thing about both these wines is the combination of a seriously delicious and stylistically innovative taste with a daring name. In this case it refers to how the wine has been excommunicated from oak. I’m convinced that a majority of red wines matured in oak, regardless of country/region of origin, would taste better if they had less aroma and flavour from oak barrels. Sometimes, when I bump into one negative example after another (which happens quite often), it seems as if all reds are drastically over-oaked. This makes it wonderfully refreshing to encounter a red that deliberately sidesteps the oak mine field by relying entirely on maturation in stainless steel tanks. In my book stainless steel tanks are a great technology with an undeserved bad image due to so many thin wines being made in them, and because the current obsession with amphora and so-called vins naturels. This is a joyful wine bursting with all kinds of red berry and herbal aromas, tasting lighter, more delightful and envigorating than I imagined a red wine with 13,5% could taste. However, it is also light years removed from thin Beaujolais-Ersatz. To me it says DRINK ME!
€6,90 from
Rosário & Prange
Hermeskeiler Platz 2
50935 Köln
Tel.: 0221 / 96 43 49 88
Email: rosario-prange@web.de
TWO WEEKS SHOOTING THE SECOND SERIES OF WEINWUNDER DEUTSCHLAND force me to take a pause. In Mid-October Episode 5 of The [yellow tail] Saga will follow!
Hello Stuart,
Congratulations to “Weinwunder Deutschland”. It is a really great series, the interesting stories are really traceable (I visited > 50 % of the vineyards, which were featured in theses series, and found the same things), the music fits perfectly, and your interviews and comments show expert knowledge and strong realism. I agree with your motto: “why shall I pay all the junk like castles…”. To my opinion it is better to pay for the hard work of the winemaker than for marketing gimmicks and for a Chateau. If you plan a third series of Weinwunder Deutschland, I have an idea for a new part: “World Class in one Generation”. Pawis was a good example, and there are others like Klaus Keller, Markus Molitor (started with < 2 ha, was 20 years later at 38 ha), etc. Another interesting theme are the large wine producers with innovative ideas, like Divino, Winzer Sommerach, Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss, and others. They deliver very good examples for quality improvements due to auditing and motivation strategies and at the same time very good "price-taste-relationship".
I'm looking forward to the next edition.
Kind regards Dieter Kühne
Excellent pieces. Keep writing such kind of information on your
blog. Im really impressed by your blog.
Hello there, You have performed a great job. I will definitely digg it and for my part
recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this site.