Category Archives: Master Quills Short Stories

Short Stories: Chateau de Mendis Premiéres Côtes de Bordeaux 2003

Hey another short story. So no introduction, no research (or nothing to research), just a short (tasting) note about something (in most cases, a wine I had with dinner), so without further ado…

Chateau de Mendis 2003Color: Extremely dark ruby-red

Nose: Nicely spicy and warming. Oozes hot earth. Spicy and somewhat woody. Nose is nicely balanced. Again lots of earth, dusty, meaty and with deep red fruits, mainly cherries. Very pleasant nose. I don’t know why, but smelling this, I have a craving for Pizza.

Taste: The mouthfeel is a bit thinner than I expected from the nose. It still is warming and has quite the body. Fruity again with some added acidity (but not much). This most definitely is a wine that needs to breathe. It was aged for quite a bit and has developed well. I imagine this wine wasn’t made for keeping. The soft tannins are there, on the tongue, but not as much in the taste. Again a bit meaty, but in no way unforgiving. Will do well with most foods. Meat and cheese and anything in between.

Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, but blended with a little bit of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. 12.5% ABV.

Points: 84

Short Stories: Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Tradition 2007

Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Tradition 2007, ABV 13%, Husseren Les Châteaux, Alsace

Color: Light White Wine.

Nose: Already a balance between sweet and sour. A bit flinty maybe, and a hint of Galia melon. Very fresh and light. Perfumy.

Taste: Well, not very sweet at first. Dryish and simple. Not overly acidic, so there is balance. I would have thought that some yellow fruit would stick out, but none of that. It has a fuller body for a second or two, and dissipates in a very light and slightly warming and short finish. After some time, there is some more sweetness to it. The perfumy note that was there in the end of the nose, seems to creep into the finish too. Easy drinkable.

Definitively better with fish than meat.

Have a look at: http://www.kuentz-bas.fr/index_en.html

Points: 79

Short Stories: Klug Gewurztraminer 2009

Caves Klug Gewurztraminer 2009, ABV 13%, Bennwhir, Alsace

Color: White Wine.

Nose: Lychee, thin exotic Gewurztraminer nose, citrussy, all very subdued.

Taste: Very thin, some lychee and dried apricots, typical Gewurztraminer yet very light. Don’t give it to children it still is 13%! Decent lemonade for in the summer, not with food. Even boiled rice would overpower it.

Won a gold medal at the 2010 grand concours des vins d’Alsace in Colmar. Well that’s possible. But it must have been in the el cheapo category. It’s definitively ok, but very very simple. Get a chilled bottle, put a straw in it and take five minutes on a park bench in the sun. So it does have a purpose, and hey, it still brings me back to the region. Flammenkuchen anyone?

Points: 71

Short Stories: Harald Konrad Fehres Riesling Classic 2002

Weingut Harald Konrad Fehres Riesling Classic 2002, ABV 12%, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

Color: Full White Wine.

Nose: Fresh, apricots, buttery, classic Riesling, boiled potatoes, flinty, peach.

Taste: Perfect balance, slightly lemony acidic ánd slightly sweet, light but not simple, very drinkable.

Highly recommended!

If it were still available I would buy this by the box. Maybe not too complex, but absolutely without flaws. I tried some other Fehres whites and all were pretty good.

Just have a look at: http://www.weingut-fehres.de/

Points: 84

Short Stories: Tokara Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2005

Again a wine I had with dinner yesterday. This time a copious swiss cheese fondue in classic style. Into the fondue went a very nice Alsatian Vorburger Pinot Gris 2008. The Vorburger is a biological wine with a great combination of acidity (needed for the fondue) and sweetness.

After the Vorburger I opened the South African Tokara which was a very different type of wine. The Tokara is aged 11 months French oak barrel, with 40% new oak barrels. The taste is completely different, less sweet than the Vorburger. Color was typical white wine, with a slight green hue to it. Nose was crisp, clean, fruity. Lychee maybe? After that the nose became flinty and sour-fresh. The taste was industrial, again flinty, buttery, toasty and meaty. Lots of meat in fact. Meatballs! For me the nose was very atypical, yet very nice, or maybe I should say “interesting”? For me this wine had nice citrus like acidity with lots of meat to it. I found it better with food than on its own afterwards. As an after dinner wine it’s simply to acidic, which cancels out the sweet bit. This will do better as an aperitif. All in all still recommended (and this one is not expensive), just use it well. By the way, ABV was 14%.

Short Stories: Navaherreros Blanco De Bernabeleva 2008

Since it seems I’m starting to review almost everything I put in my mouth, why not one little piece about a wine I enjoyed yesterday.  This one accompanied a nice and light fish dinner and boy did this go well with that.

This white wine is made from Albillo grapes combined with some Malvisia and Garnacha Blanca and is married in oak barrels.

Nice color, if it were whisky I would say this has the color of well…white wine. Nice straw yellow, almost looks sparkly. I started to drink this a bit too cold, but even then it was very nice. You could almost drink this as lemonade when properly chilled (ABV is 14.5%). When it got to it’s proper temperature, wow. Not overly complex, but such great balance. Great summer wine which starts with yellow, light fruits with some flowery notes in there too. later on it deepens with some spicy and woody notes, which makes for a fine balance and a acidity I know from wines from Alsace. Recommended!

I have another bottle of this, so I’ll probably add something to the review of this “a bit, technical wine”. What I mean by this I will explain next time around.