On the final day of the wine tour, we visited two wineries in Southern Tassie. The first one was Pooley Wines. This family business was started in 1985. They have their own winery and two vineyards, apart from producing wine … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 13: Southern Tasmania
We got up early today to do hike at Cataract Gorge before wine tasting. Today we visited three wineries at the east coast of Tasmania. The first one was Milton Vineyard, which originally was a farm with sheep and crops. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 12: Eastern Tasmania
The final state of Australia we visited on our tour is Tasmania. After a flight from Melbourne in a small aeroplane we got on our tour bus and drove to Ghost Rock, where we were welcomed by owner Justin Arnold. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 11: Northern Tasmania
The final wine region we visited in Victoria is Geelong. In the 1860s Geelong was the largest exporting region of wine in Australia. However, it was infected with phylloxera in 1875, which led to the downfall at that time. Only … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 10: Geelong
The Mornington Peninsula has a cool maritime climate because it is surrounded by water on three sides. There are around 60 wineries, mostly family owned. The area specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Although there were vines in the 1800s, … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 9: Mornington Peninsula
Today we flew from Adelaide to Melbourne, so we only had time to finish one winery in the Yarra Valley. That winery was Coldstream Hills Vineyards of James Halliday. James (1938) was partner in a law firm until 1988, and … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 8: James Halliday
The Barossa valley is one of the most famous wine regions of Australia, known for its big and bold wines. After an unplanned detour we arrived at Penfolds Magill Estate, where we were welcomed by Jamie Sach, Penfolds Global Ambassador. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 7: Barossa Valley
Today we ventured into McLaren Vale. In terms of climate this is between Adelaide Hills (cooler) and Barossa Valley (warmer). This was one of the first wine regions in Australia to be planted. The percentage of surface area planted with … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 6: McLaren Vale
Today we visited Adelaide Hills, the coolest wine region in South Australia because of the high elevation (about 400 meters above sea level). Shaw + Smith is a winery founded by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith. Their first vintage … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 5: Adelaide Hills
Before I start with the report of today’s tour, a brief explanation about the tasting notes in these reports. First of all, tasting notes are always personal. There are 18 experienced wine tasters in our group and we usually all … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 4: Canberra District, continued
The Canberra district has a cool climate thanks to the high altitude (700 meters above sea level) and a cooling breeze from the nearby ocean. It had been a wine growing region from the first settlement of Australia in the … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 3: Canberra District
This is the second day of the Aussie Wine Tour of the Association of Dutch Vinologists. Click here for the previous day. On the way from Sydney to Canberra we made a stop at Centennial Vineyards, the only vineyard in … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 2: Centennial and Rebel Rebel
This is the first installment of my chronicles of the 13-day Aussie Tour 2023 of the Verenigde Vinologen Nederland (Dutch association of wine connoisseurs), with Master of Wine Cees van Casteren as our guide. We started with an overview tasting … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 1: Sydney
This was a very special wine dinner at Restaurant Karel 5 in Utrecht, organized by Fred Nijhuis. Fred is a wine writer who specializes in Italy and was the guide for the wine trips to Lombardia and Piemonte. For this … Continue reading A Dinner at Karel 5* With Very Old Wines
This is the third and final part of a short series about the wine trip I made with a group of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). The first part was about our tour of Oltrepò Pavese and … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Valtellina and Valcalepio
This is the second part of a short series about the wine trip I made with a group of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). The first part was about our tour of Oltrepò Pavese. After that we … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Franciacorta
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the great wine trip to Piemonte last year, I joined this year’s trip to Lombardia. Our guide for the trip was Fred Nijhuis, just like … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Oltrepò Pavese
Happy Christmas everyone! It was on December 24, 1999 that I first met my husband. Every year we celebrate our anniversary by going to a great restaurant. For some years now we’ve been going to the Librije. But due to another lockdown, our dinner at Librije was first turned into lunch and then cancelled altogether. I contemplated going to Italy, but Kees suggested we stay at home and spend the budget for dinner at Librije on wine instead. Ten minutes later I had ordered these two bottles 🙂 The wines we usually drink are in the 10-30 euros price range, … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: At Home
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. Piemonte is a large region and we did not visit all of it, … Continue reading Wine trip to Piemonte: Dogliani, Roero, and Barbera d’Asti
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. This is the second article in a short series, in which I describe … Continue reading Wine trip to Piemonte: Barolo
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. Although I’ve been to Piemonte myself on a number of occasions, those were … Continue reading Wine Trip to Piemonte: Nizza and Barbaresco
Four years ago we had a fantastic experience at Enoteca Pinchiorri, click here for my review of that dinner. Back then I already decided we would be back for an even better experience at “grand cru” rather than “premier cru” … Continue reading Enoteca Pinchiorri*** (2021)
Timorasso is a grape variety from the Colli Tortonesi area in Piemonte that was almost lost, because it is difficult to work with and red grapes like Barbera and Croatina were more popular. Timorasso wines have great complexity and aging … Continue reading Timorasso by Vigneti Massa
Because of the pandemic I haven’t visited any wineries for a while, but luckily the nice people of Bisci Wines contacted me. They were enthusiastic about the recipes I have posted that pair well with Verdicchio, and offered to send … Continue reading Pairing Food and Wines of Bisci
Since 2009 I’ve been organizing wine pairing dinners twice per year for family and friends. As there is room for 12-16 at a time, I repeat each theme three times (so in total 6 wine pairing dinners per year, 3 … Continue reading Pairing Wine with Mexican Food
In Vienna most fine dining options seem a bit overpriced. Although the entourage at MAST Weinbistro is indeed that of a (modern) bistro, the elegant and refined dishes and wines are certainly worthy of the label “fine dining”, but at … Continue reading Dining in Vienna, Austria: MAST Weinbistro
Friends, co-workers, and reader of this blog ask for my advice regarding wine, wine pairing, or recipes on a regular basis. Sometimes a friend is in a restaurant and sends me a photo of the wine list and asks for … Continue reading A Reader’s Question: How to Create a Menu for a Wine Dinner
If you go to Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy, you should go there for the wine. The name “enoteca” is already a big hint that this is the case, because it is an Italian word that means “wine library”. And not just … Continue reading Enoteca Pinchiorri***
Twice a year I organize themed wine pairing dinners (click here to read more about them). This fall’s theme was Wild Game and Wine. The same menu was repeated on three Saturdays for three different groups of friends, and on … Continue reading Pairing Wild Game and Wine
You may have noticed that over the last year, I’ve been blogging a bit less frequently and lately there have been more posts about wine. The reason for both is the same: I’ve been studying the become a vinologist (which … Continue reading Condrieu: the Best Viognier in the World
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