Innsbruck, for all its charms, is not a hub for haut cuisine and it is not located in a wine region. So what can I recommend to a Master of Wine from overseas who will be in Innsbruck for a few days before continuing on to explore the wines of Alto Adige?
A hearty continental breakfast is part of Tyrolean hospitality, so he will likely leave his hotel or pension well-fed. The morning could be spent discovering Innsbruck’s gorgeous old town – it’s lovely arcades, the Golden Roof and a pedestrian zone with numerous cafés and boutiques. He should certainly take a look at the Hofkirche with its impressive cenotaph and bronze statues. Lunch is recommendable at the Viennese-style Café Central which has very good and typical Austrian cuisine and Austrian wines by the glass at reasonable prices in a pleasant atmosphere.
Innsbruck has not only some impressive old architecture, but the star architect Zaha Hadid has also left her mark with the Bergisel ski jump, which is just a 20 minute walk from the old town, and the hybrid funicular Hungerbergbahn. From the café at the top of the Bergisel ski jump he can enjoy a 360° view of the Inn Valley, the city, and the surrounding Alps. For a real Alpine feeling he should take the stunning Hungerbergbahn up to the panorama cable car and take that to the very top of the Hafelekar mountain for a truly breathtaking view that spans from Germany to Italy. In my opinion, the best dining in Innsbruck is currently at Restaurant Sitzwohl, where my acquaintance can enjoy a good wine list and Austrian cusine with Mediterranean touch. Sitzwohl is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 AM – 2 AM.
The next morning he could take a picturesque 50 minute train ride to Kufstein to visit the Riedel Glas headquarters. I think he would enjoy the tour of the production facility and observing them producing the Sommelier series of glasses. The multi-media Sinfonie show is kind of funky, but I have a love/hate relationship with the also a separate place to purchase 2nd and 3rd quality items and sometime you will come upon a very lucky find there.
Located right next to the Riedel shop is the Wein & Co shop, a wine merchant with perhaps the largest selection of Austrian wines as well as other selected wines from around the world – another place I spend a lot of money. Kufstein itself is a lovely city – it reminds me of a miniature Salzburg with its fortress castle overlooking the Inn river. The old town is quite a little jewel and has several interesting shops and boutiques.
Once back in Innsbruck in the afternoon, he should crown his visit to the Tyrol with Schloss Ambras. There are always interesting exhibitions and events going on there and it is a fabulous place to discover the history, culture, and art of the region.
Other impressive places to visit not far from Innsbruck are Salzburg and Kitzbühel. Both Kitzbühel and Innsbruck have several superb restaurants and despite there being other attractions as well, you could spend days just discovering the creations of highly decorated chefs! But those are two more future blog entries…
Meanwhile this is the view from the top of the mountain on a recent hike near home:
Moderator:
Christophe Macra MW is a native of Reims and an expert in web-based collaborative communications. With a background in business consultancy, he became a Master of Wine in 2008 and now runs Esensio, a consulting firm with a wine trade focus, and Tasteo, which specialises in wine education.
Panel
Rowan Gormley is the founder of Naked Wines, a group of 20,000 wine lovers which has created a £5m fund to sponsor independent winemakers. He previously founded Virgin Wines and Virgin Money.
Eric LeVine spent nearly 13 years with Microsoft before founding cellartracker.com in 2003. It is now the leading online cellar management application with more than 100,000 collectors tracking nearly 20m bottles of wine. With 1.5m reviews online, it is one of the largest wine databases in the world.
Mike Linton is an award-winning marketing professional with almost 30 years of experience. He was Chief Marketing officer at Best Buy and at eBay. Today he consults, writes for Forbes.com, is a Director of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and serves on the advisory board of venture capital companies.
Jancis Robinson MW became the first non-trade Master of Wine in 1984 and commands an unparalleled international reputation as a wine writer, TV presenter and judge. She is editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author of the World Atlas of Wine and writes daily for jancisrobinson.com.
MW Symposium – 25 June 2010 – Session 2 – Wine on the Web from Masters of Wine on Vimeo.
Reminiscing a bit and seeing parallels of my MW studies to the gymnastic trainings of my youth…
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Dr. Wolfgang Hamm speaks to a group of students of the Institute Masters of Wine on carbon neutral wine production at the Stift Klosterneuburg winery in Austria.
The Napa Valley Vintners Association was the very generous sponsors for a spectacular tasting at the most recent course day for European students of the Institute Masters of Wine.
The course was conveniently held in Düsseldorf on the 23rd of March, making it quite opportune for many students who were attending the ProWein either as visitors or exhibitors. The morning was spent in mock exam conditions for a practical paper of 12 wines. The paper and the wines were then discussed in depth with Fergal Tynan MW and Frank Roeder MW who did quite a fine job of illuminating those of us still in the dark. They were quite motivating and able to give us useful tips on how to pass the tasting exams. The biggest challenge for most of us is simply getting the paper finished and if you don’t answer all the questions, your chances of passing are quite slim.
Our afternoon session was absolutely spectacular! Larry Stone Master Sommelier, the only American to have won the title of French Matre Sommelier from the Union de la Sommelerie Francaise, was our lecturer. Larry gave us an in-depth seminar on Napa Valley and led us through a tasting of truly exquisite wines from 14 of the 15 Napa Valley sub-appellations. In Larry’s two decades of experience as a wine educator and master sommelier in California, he has gained a reputation not only for his profound knowledge, but his ability to share it in a very unpretentious manner. He was incredibly generous with his knowledge and we had the opportunity to pick his brain for an entire 5 hours!
Here are my tasting notes from the afternoon tasting sponsored by the Napa Valley Vintners Association:
Saintsbury 2007, Pinot Noir, Los Caneros
Transparent ruby red. Dark cherry and plum fruit. Powerful 14.5% alcohol is not fully integrated and heats the finish. Liquorice and plenty of oak spice flavour loosely knit, velvety tannins. 89 points.
Cuvaison Estate 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Brandlin Vineyard, Mt. Veeder
Dark black red. Rich cassis with graphite and floral components. Abundant firm, velvety tannins. Muscular, very tightly knit. Very long mineral finish. 93 points.
Blackbird Vineyards 2006 Illustration Propriety Blend, Oak Knoll
Dark black red. Aromas and flavours of rich sweet vanilla, coffee and cassis with a hint of leather and dark spice. Plenty of supple, round tannin. Warming alcohol on the finish. 90 points.
Kapcsandy Family Vineyard 2006 State Lane Vineyard, Yountville
Dark dense black red. Blackberry and black currant with a hint of cedar. Soft and fleshy with medium high tannin content, velvety mouthfeel and nicely integrated acid. Rich plum fruit and liquorice t on the finish. 96 points.
Clos Du Val 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap
Very dark ruby Black currant and cayenne pepper comprise a very spicy nose. Rich fruit draped over a slightly stalky tannin spine and laced with pencil shavings and leather. Capsicum on the finish. 89 points.
BOND 2005 St. Eden Proprietary Blend, Oakville
Very pronounced, well-defined and focused cassis and black cherry fruit with hints of oleander and graphite. Boisterously fruit-driven, yet not over the top. Sweet and rather confectionary milk chocolate and blackberry liqueur remain long on the finish. This wine has a lot of everything, including 14.5% a.b.v. 94 points.
Rubicon Estate 2006 Proprietary Blend, Rutherford
Dark deep ruby. Dark forest berries, liquorice and chocolate with mineral firmness. Abundant fine-grained tannin, well-integrated alcohol and plenty of generous fruit. Black currants, blueberries, cedar and tobacco linger on the finish. 94 points.
Note to Francis Ford Coppola: This wine is packaged in an obnoxiously heavy bottle that requires a body-builder of a sommelier to pour and a million carbon footprints to produce and ship. What were you thinking? Such a sensitive wine and certified organic to boot and then this?
Salvestrin 2006 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
Dark ruby. Rich ripe black cherry and cassis fruit. Smoky aromas like coffee and charred oak flavour abundant soft tannins. Black currant and cedar remain on the finish. 91 points.
Cain Vineyard & Winery 2005 Cain Five Proprietary Blend, Spring Mountain
Deep dark black. Black cherry, leather, and floral notes make a slightly exotic impression. Abundant very fine-grained tannins wrapped in rich glycerine-laced black fruit on the palate. Warming cassis liqueur and cardamom on the finish. 92 points
J. Davies Vineyards 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain
Dark ruby with violet highlights. Intense yet elegant black currant and well-integrated alcohol. Medium full-bodied and very well-balanced with plenty of soft supple tannins and vibrant acid. Elderberry and spice linger deliciously long on the finish. 95points
Storybook Mountain Vineyards/Seps 2007 Estate Zinfandel, Calistoga
Transparent dark ruby-violet. Rich brambleberry fruit with vanilla, orange zest, and cinnamon spice. Medium full-bodied with fleshy tannins. Warm, dark-berry compote finish. 90 points
Viader Vineyards 2005 Proprietary Blend, Howell Mountain
Dark ruby. Discreet yet perfumed with floral components reminiscent of violets. A very fine-boned linear structure lends focused elegance to cassis jelly, raspberry and graphite. Abundant, extremely fine-grained tannin. The finish is discreet yet very long and persistent. 93 points
Brown Estate Vineyards 2008 Estate Zinfandel, Chiles Valley District
Transparent ruby-violet. Jammy blackberry fruit with coconut and tangerine flavour soft chewy tannins. Full-bodied and expressive with plenty of spicy rich fruit on the finish. 90 points
Antica Antinori Family Estate 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Vineyard, Atlas Peak
Dark youthful opaque ruby violet. Intense freshly roasted Arabica coffee beans on the nose. Lemony acid gives lift to crème de cassis fruit which is supported by fleshy tannins. Opulent fruit on the slightly warming finish. 91 points
The Institute Masters of Wine offers single-course days throughout the year for MW students. The European course days have historically all been held in London, often in rather tight quarters. Participants are always required to bring their own set of 12 glasses, a water cup and a spittoon. It is difficult and expensive for an MW student to get to these single-day courses in London for several reasons:
- Inexpensive flight usually fly to one of the periphery airports requiring about an hour’s travel from the airport to the course venue
- Flight times often make it necessary to stay at least one night in London
- A set of 12 wine glasses must be carried as hand baggage to avoid breakage which leaves little room for overnight necessities in the allowed carry-on piece for most airlines.
- Lunch is not provided at course days
- Hotel rooms in London rarely have a sink large enough to clean your wine glasses
- In the end it costs a continental student 2 ½ work days and 250-350 Euros to visit a course day in London.
For these reasons it was really great to have a course day in Düsseldorf. Many students were already present at the ProWein, either as exhibitors or professional visitors and thus travel expenses were not completely extra for the course day. The VDP invited students the evening before to a fine restaurant for dinner and a tasting of extraordinary German wines. In addition to this a very nice soup, sandwich, dessert and beverage buffet was provided for no extra cost at lunch on the seminar day. AND a set of 12 tasting glasses, a water glass and a spittoon were provided for each student. The entire organization of the Düsseldorf course day was superb and must be highly praised. Many, many thanks to all those who made it such a worthwhile learning experience!
The first ever international symposium to be dedicated to the Grenache grape will be held on June 5 in Crestet, near Avignon in the Rhône Valley. It is intended as a mini-summit bringing together wine trade professionals from around the world to study and appreciate the characteristics and merits of the increasingly more popular Grenache-based wines, which are often underestimated and undervalued.
Grenache, known for its versatility and blending values, is one of the most widely planted grape in the world. However its notoriety is sometimes eclipsed by better known varietals such as Pinot and Syrah. The objective of the Symposium is to allow experts and producers from around the world to share views and create a firm foundation of knowledge and understanding of Grenache as a distinctive varietal.
The Symposium will be led by Steven Spurrier, world renowned for his ‘Judgement of Paris’ tasting and consultant editor of Decanter magazine, and Michel Bettane – the premier French wine writer and author of Le Grand Guide des Vins de France. The wine trade will be represented by top wine writers and journalists together with leading experts and producers of Grenache wine from Australia, Spain, USA, South Africa and the Rhône valley. It will also create an ongoing hub for gathering and exchanging information on all aspects of Grenache.
Topics under discussion will range from wine growing and wine making to the challenges of existing and emerging markets. To date, considerable interest has been generated from participants, press and sponsors because of this timely topic and the fact that this event is the first of its kind aiming to break new ground.
Recent Grenache recognition by the media includes –
A Toast to Grenache. Tim Atkin. The Observer, UK.
Grenache Enters the Spotlight. Dorothy J.Gaiter/JohnBrecher. The Wall Street Journal, USA
Grenache Steps Out of Others’ Shadows. Eric Asimov. The New York Times, USA
Both Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson have recently spoken of the importance of the Grenache grape.
For further information, please visit the website www.grenachesymposium.com or contact:
Walter McKinlay - walter@grenachesymposium.com
Louisa Rose, the chief winemaker at Yalumba has invited me for a Viognier Breakfast today, or better said, she has arrived here at Percy’s with a chef and several appetizing looking bottles in tow.
Louisa, or “Lou” as she is affectionately called by her friends and colleagues, has been a winemaker since graduating at the top of her class from Roseworthy in 1992. Since 2006 she is the chief winemaker here at Yalumba. I’ve been able to observe Lou at work this week. She’s a no-nonsense woman that shoots straight from the hip. She’s honest to the point of being blunt, but the reason she can pull this off with such admirable grace is that not only does she have an impeccable palate and is extraordinarily good at what she does, she is also a very fair, honest and warm-hearted boss and colleague.
One of Lou’s great achievements at Yalumba has been her work with the Viognier grape variety and the creation of one of Australia’s great icon wines – “The Virgilius” Viognier. Indeed, the amazing popularity and success of Viognier in Australia is largely due to the efforts at Yalumba.
It is worth recalling that back in 1968 there were only 14 hectares of Viognier growing in the northern Rhône in the tiny appellations of Condrieu and Côte Rotie. Not much of it was growing anywhere else in the world. Due to the variety’s demand on climate and difficulty in the vineyard, it had become nearly extinct, having been replaced by easier and more predictable varieties.
I heard that the Hill-Smith family family fell with the variety on a trip to the Northern Rhône. I wasn’t able to confirm that, but I do know that they planted 1.2 hectare of Viognier on their Vaughan property in Eden Valley in 1980. They experimented with it quietly for about 10 years before subsequently extending their Viognier vineyards not only in the Eden Valley, but in the Riverland and Limestone Coast regions of South Australia. Much of Australia’s Viognier vine material actually originates from the Yalumba estate nursery.
The clone used for nearly all of the early plantings was the Montpellier 1968. In the late 1990’s Yalumba initiated discussions with other great Viognier makers around the world and placed cuttings from their best vines into a clonal development program at the Yalumba Vine Nursery. This work continues today where Yalumba, after years of observation, have selected 11 of the most successful clones for its youngest Viognier plantings in the Virgilius Vineyard on Flaxmann Valley Road in Eden Valley.
The original vines in Eden Valley were planted on their own roots, but these new vines have been grafted just as Yalumba’s other subsequent Viognier plantings have been grafted. Although there has not yet been phylloxera in South Australia, that pest is not the only reason to graft vines. In a replanting environment in the Riverland, Ramsey rootstock is used to help combat nematodes, salinity and drought. In the Limestone Coast Teleki 5C and Paulsen 1103 are used as they have good lime tolerance and reasonable, but not excessive vigour to cope with the shallow limestone soils.
Louisa Rose says, “Getting the cropping levels right early in the season is the biggest challenge. If the vine is left with too much fruit it will struggle to develop sufficient canopy to set the berries and ripen the crop. If the vine is struggling then leaf health is severely affected. If over cropping occurs on young vines it can take a number of years for the vine to recover due to poor cane development and the vine ends up with stunted growth and poor spur or cane positioning.”
The Virgilius
The flagship Viognier was conceived as the white partner to the flagship Barossa Shiraz called Octavius. The name “Virgilius” stems from the Roman poet Virgil who was also friend and mentor of the first Emperor of Rome, Octavius (Augustus). After nearly twenty years of experimentation, the Virgilius made its debut in 1998.
Virgilius is sourced from the best Viognier vines from the Eden Valley. Viognier can be notoriously high in alcohol and flabby due to it inherently low acid. This is because it needs to be really ripe before it develops all those lovely peach and floral aromas. And when Viognier finally does ripen, it ripens very fast. Louisa monitors the ripening progress diligently and gets her team out there to pick quickly in the cool early morning hours to preserve that precious acid.
To minimize the high phenolic content, she practices whole bunch pressing. Structure, balance and longevity are her goals with this big-bodied wine so it is fermented slowly with indigenous yeast in used French oak barrels. The wine remains on its lees for 9-10 months. Only the best barrels are chosen for the final blend.
The Breakfast
Lou presents the entire line-up of Yalumba Viognier with our breakfast. We have two variations of eggs Benedict: one with spinach and Barossa ham and the other with smoked Pacific salmon. All three of the dry white Viognier wines pair superbly with the eggs. We began with the 2008 Yalumba Y Series which exhibits excellent varietal character with jasmine and white peach flavours. The 2008 Yalumba Barossa Eden Valley is a bit more rich and intense with apricot and peach laced with a little citrus and orange blossom – I really enjoyed this with the Florentine version of the eggs. The Virgilius is a really sexy wine and I really have to hold myself back. (It would be easy to sit for a few hours enjoying this, but do still have a day of work ahead of me.) The 2008 Virgilius has intense aromas of peach apricot and ginger spice. It is wonderfully textured and displays well-balanced structure with vibrant acid and integrated alcohol. The finish is very long and mineral and while this wine is generous, it is by no means blowsy. I adore it with the salmon and the Hollandaise sauce. In the tradition of the northern Rhône, Yalumba also produces three dry red wines that are Shiraz blended with a small amount of Viognier. This adds a discreet floral components and bright yellow stone fruit to dark briary Shiraz. The 2008 Y Series Shiraz Viognier is reminiscent of crushed raspberries and rhubarb with a bit of cinnamon and jasmine. This is a jazzy medium bodied wine with soft juicy tannins and actually goes pretty well with the salmon. The 2006 Yalumba Barossa Eden Shiraz Viognier is a deeper darker wine with plum and black raspberry fruit and a cedary juniper berry component. The 2007 Yalumba Handpicked Shiraz Viognier is a complex wine with blackberry, honeysuckle, wild heather, dried apricot and a hint of roasted coffee. The tannins are abundant and very fine-grained and the finish lingers long with an array of spices and fruit. Yalumba also produces a sweet botrytized version of Viognier in adequate vintages. The 2008 Wrattonbully Hand Picked Botrytis Viognier is absolutely delicious with the fresh fruit. The superb ending to our meal is the Yalumba V de Vie, which is the pure, clear distilled Viognier.
