Great lunch and an exciting new wine project in Bucharest

interesting wine from Switzerland – 1996 Dole Cave de l’Angelus

Last SAT, together with my wife, we spent a great time with Oliver and Raluca Bauer. They came to Bucharest for the weekend to present their wines from Crama Stirbey/Stirbey winery during a couple of tastings organized in the Old Center. They were finally not in a hurry in the city so we had the chance to spend a little bit more time together, to have a longer lunch and enjoy some wines.

This was a great opportunity to find out more about an existing project that Oliver wants to start developing in Bucharest as well. During the last years he organized a few thematic tasting events with older vintages or harder to find wines in Sibiu. Usually the each event brings together 12-15 people to taste f.e. 10 to 30 years old wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Spain, Germany, Austria or other countries. The advantages of such a tasting are the costs: one can spend 30-50 EUR for an evening and taste multiple interesting wines with other wine lovers and exchange impressions and opinions. By splitting the cost among the group members the financial burden is easier to handle. There can be 8-12 different wines tasted (if wanted also more), depending on the number of participants and the amount agreed to be spent.

We already visited a couple of restaurants to choose the future location for the event. The first event is planned to take place in the spring of 2011. Any person interested to attend the wine tasting events in Bucharest can leave a message to oliver.bauer@cellartales.com or raluca.bauer@cellartales.com and as soon as the details(cost, location, wines) are established we will be informed. For now I would suggest the first event to be themed: old Bordeaux or old Burgundy. Other proposals are of course welcomed as well.

As we were all wine lovers, we couldn’t have lunch only talking about wine and without actually drinking some. So here are the wines tasted in the order we did.

starting wines

2009 Biblia Chora

A wine from Thassos, Greece. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Assyrtiko with 12.5% alcohol.

The wine has a clear yellow greenish color. The nose is very fresh with plenty of yellow flowers and fruity aromas. In the mouth the wine is off dry, the residual sugar combined with a lifting acidity makes the wine round and fresh, with flavors of acacia, elder, ripe pear, apple and grapefruit finishing with a beautiful medium fruity aftertaste. Very good+

2006 Trapiche Single Vineyard Adriana Venturin

100% Malbec aged 18 months in new French oak

The wine has a deep purple almost black color. The nose is sweet, oaky, with super ripe dark fruits, blueberry and black cherry, coconut and a hint of minerality. In the mouth the wine is full body, almost meaty, with sweet tannins, toasty flavors, coffee and plenty of almost over ripe dark fruits, the plum is the most noticeable. The wine contains extremely well the 14.5% alcohol.The wine finishes with sweet fruit and a long aftertaste. This wine is a better pairing for dessert than for a steak. A very New World wine and it is pretty tough having more than one glass of this wine. A little bit too much at the time. Very good+

1996 Dole Cave de l’Angelus

This is a wine from Valais AOC, Switzerland. Dole is the generic name for a blend of predominantly Pinot noir with Gamay from this region.

The wine has a ruby red color with brick tones on the rim. It has the nose of a nicely aged Pinot, with some barnyard, a little bit gamey, some stinky cheese, all mixed with pure strawberry liquor. A really nice nose as weird as it may sound. In the mouth the wine is youthful, vibrant, with medium body, nice acidity, beautiful sweet fruit and earthy, meaty tones. There is a medium aftertaste in this tasty aged wine that goes so well with food. Excellent wine.

pasta with shrimps and zucchini

I enjoyed this wine a lot with a dish of freshly made pasta with shrimps and zucchini. The wine went very well, probably better, with Escargots Bourguignon as Oliver tried.

Escargots Bourguignon

2005 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva

After the 1996 Dole the 2005 Antinori Chianti did not go very well. However the wine gained a new dimension that I did not feel it previously: a clear aroma of barnyard. It was very interesting to compare the mature wine with the younger one. The 1996 Dole developed beautiful complex aromas that made it hard to beat. Still, the Riserva was a Very good to Very good+ wine.

Oliver and Raluca Bauer

We enjoyed the company of Raluca and Oliver a lot and we are certainly looking forward to meet them again soon. Also on a positive note for Crama Stirbey and a negative note for us, the consumers, it seems that all of their remaining whites are sold out. There is however the 2007 Genius Loci Feteasca Regala soon to be launched, so there is still hope.

love is in the air

The better news is that Oliver characterized the new 2010s as German like wines: low alcohol, high acidity and plenty of character. I am certainly looking forward to try their new 2010s next year.

Thanks for reading!