October 31, 2012
As you know, I like to eat game of all kind. The best wild boar I have eaten in a long time was served to me by my good old friend Ulrich Hillejan and his wife Elfriede when we visited them this summer near Muenster. The so called Muensterland is a very picturesque agricultural region right north of the former industrial heartland of the Ruhr.
Ulrich comes from a tranditional farming family which goes back a couple of hundred years (he keeps very impressive records). He inherited one of the traditional farm houses away from the manor house, just outside the nearby village.
His mother (I call her aunty Doris) prepared for us the leg of a young wild boar, shot by Ulrich’s younger brother Georg. Let me say from the outset that this was the best piece of game I have ever eaten. I asked her to tell me the secret of this delicacy. Her instructions were rather sketchy. I figured that mustard plays a central role. The meat needs to be rubbed carefully with a mustard-pepper-salt potion.
The following photos show what we had for dinner. Of course the side dish with the carbs consisted of good German potatoes.
The potatoes
The young wild boar’s leg
On the plate
And after….
Needless to say that we had various kinds of delicious wines with our meal. We started the extensive tasting with a white wine, a fresh Gruener Veltliner from Weingut Setzer, Austria. The Setzer winery was decoreated with the “winery of the year 2013” award.
The estate has about 30 ha under vines and produces a wide variety of wines. Main grape variety are Gruener Veltliner, and red Veltliner. Recently, Hans Setzer, owner-operater of the estate, was awarded with the “Vinter of the year award” for 2013. With its low (11%) alcohol content, this wine is wonderful for warm summer days. It is refreshing and shows great temperament.
Gruener Veltliner Vesper, Austria
Knipser Riesling, Pfalz
We followed up with a German dry Riesling by the well-known Knipser Estate in Laumersheim, Pfalz.In 2009 the winery was awarded the “vintner-of-the-year” award by Gault Millau.
The ‘2001 Laumersheimer Kapellenberg Riesling Kabinett Trocken’ was just the right wine to complement the meal. I like the minerally note and the tropical fruit aromas.
Barbera and Nebbiolo blend by Villa Contessa Rosa
Mid-term through the meal, we changed colour and switched to a red wine from Italy. Villa Contessa Rosa has currently about 70 ha under vines. The blend of Barbera and Nebbiolo, produced in the wine region Langhe, was also a good accompliment to the wild boar.
The meat from the forest animal and the red and Forest berry aromas from the wine went well together. Below you see the colour of the drop from heaven.
From here on I lost track of the wines we sampled in the course of the evening. There were a few more red wines, but honestly I cannot recall what they were and where they came from.
The generosity of our hosts knew no bounds, I might say (thank you again Ulrich and Elfriede). It was a terrific evening of reminiscing about the past and making plans for the future.
2 Comments | 
food and wine, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Austrian wine, Barbera, delicious wines, dry riesling, food, game, Gault Millau, German wine, Gruener Veltliner, Hans Setzer, industrial heartland, Knipser Estate, Langhe, Laumersheim, Nebbiolo, owner operater, Pfalz, restaurants, Riesling, Villa Contessa Rosa, vintner of the year, Weingut Knipser, Weingut Setzer, wild boar | 
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 30, 2012
Our table on the terrace
As you know there is not really a summer in the tropics. We have different seasons than temperate climates. However, when the rainy season has come to an end, days are getting hotter, and the meal I am going to describe is exactly for such days.
We had a beetroot salad with some cured salmon and a self-made sauce based on yoghurt. For carbs, we offered a selection of bagels. Look at the photos below. Doesn’t the food look delicious?
Beetroot salad
Salmon
And here the ensemble on the plate
Bagels from the supermarket
I would agree that bagels from a proper bakery would be superior to the ones shown above. But hold it. Remember we live in Bangkok!
Since it was a weekday, no special wine was pulled from my wine fridge. Instead I opened a bottle of a mass produced Sauvignon Blanc by Tahuna from the Marlborough wine region in New Zealand.
I was a bit worried at first, since the vintage was 2009 but the wine was in a perfect condition. It showed all the characteristics of a solid but inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc, and satisfied our needs for a glass of wine with our light lunch on a perfect summers’ day. Cheers
2009 Tahuna Sauvignon Blanc
Leave a Comment » | food, food and wine, wine | Tagged: Bangkok, beetroot salad, food, glass of wine, light lunch, Marlborough, Marlborough wine region, restaurants, Sauvignon Blanc, summer, Tahuna, temperate climates, white wine, wine, wine from New Zealand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 25, 2012
The salad with feta
Again I present something Greek here. It also comes from “Jamie does…”, the cookery book by Jamie Oliver. Hot days in Bangkok lend themselves in a perfect way to this kind og food, light and refreshing kind of meals.
Green vegetables on toast
We used an Asian vegetable for the ‘green vegetable on toast dish’: “kangkung” is its Indonesian name. I do not know what it is called in Thai. Sprinkle fresh parmesan on the warm vegetable. The melting cheese provides just the right “glue” to produce a very tasty complement. Some roasted garlic is also added.
The light Greek lunch
The crunchy bread together with the cheese flavoured green and the fresh ingredients of the salad (tomatoes, red peppers, onions) with feta are just perfect to stimulate your attpetite even on a hot day.
A glass of sparkling
Any white wine would have complemented the two dishes, I guess. In style would have been a Retsina, a flavoured wine customaynin Greece.
Since we were in a celebratory mood (it was the first day of the school holidays), I grabbed a bottle of bubbly from the fridge.
Base sparkling from Chandon
The sparkling from Chandon is not cheap in Bangkok (about 1,000 Thai Bath), but his zesty freshness with the small bubbles made it an ideal wine to have with the Greek food.
Cheers to us all.
50 Comments | food, food and wine, wine | Tagged: Chandon, Greek salad, Jamie does, Jamie Oliver, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 21, 2012
2010 Tempus Two Chardonnay
The grapes for this wine are actually not coming from the Hunter valley but from the cool climate Adelaide Hills wine region. The wine is a modern product, harvested by machine, made in steel tanks and briefly kept in French oak barrels in order to get the spicy vanilla character.
The Tempus Two winery, founded by Lisa McGuigan, a member of the fourth generation dynasty of celebrated vintners, the McGuigans, is situated in the Hunter valley.
The cellar door, an ultra-modern building, is just outside Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales in the foothills of the Brokenback Ranges (a region with freezing cold winters). Fruit for the Tempus Two wines comes from many different vineyards wine regions all over Australia. The band was established in 1998 only.
Back label explaining what you taste
This mass produced wine, is something for easy, every-day drinking. Apart from the Chardonnay, the Varietal Range includes a Blanc de blanc, a Verdelho, a Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, a Merlot, a Cabernet Merlot and a Shiraz.
The two premium brands are called the Pewter Range, which comes in distinctive bottle shapes, and the Copper Range, with more modern-style wines.
Since we were on a modified Dukan diet ( we made concessions for the alcohol), we had it with fish, a mackerel, which is a strongly-flavoured and oily fish. The wine coped well with the strong fishy taste. The citrus flavours and the high acidity were a great complement to the food.
Mackerel
I would have eaten another portion of the fish, and certainly could have had a second bottle of wine. My verdict: highly recommended.
PS: In Thailand, Siam Winery is the agent of Tempus Two.
1 Comment | food and wine | Tagged: Adelaide Hills, Australia, Australian wine, Brokenback Ranges, Cabernet Merlot, Chardonnay, Dukan diet, food, french oak barrels, Hunter Valley, Lisa McGuigan, mackerel, McGuigan, New South Wales, Pierre Dukan, Pokolbin, restaurants, Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc, Siam Winery, South Australia, Tempus Two, tempus two winery, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 10, 2012
The Mosel river near Schweich
I am rapping things up here in Bangkok. Only two more days to go. Friday night I will be on the midnight flight to Germany. After about 11 hours on the plane, I will land in Frankfurt early in the morning. I might have a coffee and breakfast at the train station.
Then I will catch a train to Tier, my home town to see my parents. The train ride will be wonderful regardless of the weather. Autumn might extend its magic with colourful leaves in red, brown and yellow.
First, my trip will lead me along the Rhine river, then I’ll change trains in Koblenz. The next leg of the journey will be along the Mosel river. Some of the views will be spectacular.
I will admire the vineyards of both valleys, the Rhine and the Mosel. On the hilltops will be castles here and there. The slopes are steep, and I will think of all the hard work the vintners put into their vineyards. How can one work these terrible steep slopes? Backbreaking work, done for generations.
Vineyards and wine production have been a feature of the place for more than 2.000 years, incredible. I will have only about 24 hours there before I will move on for a business trip to Berlin.
Saturday night I will patronize my favourite wine bar, Weinsinnig. It will be my cellar door so to speak since I plan to pick up a few bottles of my favourite Mosel wines. There will be certainly a crisp Riesling among them.
I very much look forward to going home.
1 Comment | culture, food and wine, wine, wine regions | Tagged: German wine, Koblenz, Mosel, Mosel river, mosel wines, nature, outdoors, Rhine river, Riesling, Schweich, steep slopes, travel, Trier, trip to berlin, Weinsinnig, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 4, 2012
I am in the North of Thailand right now. To be pricise, Chiang Mai, the former capital city of the Lanna Thai kingdom. I will use my spare time after work to explore the local cuisine.
What you see above is my Thai cooking certificate which was given to me after the successful completion of a Thai cooking class in Hua Hin last year. I guess I forgot what I have learned; my inate nature is not the one of the cook. I am more of a gourmet; the one who enjoys the eating rather than the preparation of food.
1 Comment | food, food and wine, history and culture, Restaurant Review | Tagged: Chiang Mai, food, Hua Hin, Northern Thailand, Thai cooking, Thai food, Thai wine, wine, wine industry | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
September 30, 2012
Mother’s roe deer dish
Reminiscing about the past is one of the privileges of the not so young. A Sunday lends itself to such action, especially when considering the traditional German Sunday lunch.
Roe deer on noddles
While in my mothers house a few weeks back during our summer vacation, we were treated to roe deer goulash with noddles and salad. My friend Heinz, a passionate hunter, had reserved this particular piece of meat for me. He knows that I love game, especially meat of young animals.
Needless to say that this piece of roe deer was super delicious. When asked how they cook it, I can never quite figure out the recipe. Just simmering for a long time in a pot with some onions, is all what I could extract from the uttering of my mum. Well, I will have to prepare such a dish myself, one day and see.
The choice of wine was a foregone conclusion. Just a couple of days earlier we had visited the winery of the Schäfer-Fröhlich family in the village of Bockenau, Nahe.
In 1995 Tim Fröhlich took over the management of the vineyards and winery from his father. Today the estate has 16 ha under vines, some in the best locations in the vicinity (for instance Monzinger Halenberg, Monzinger Fruehlingsplaetzchen and Bockenauer Felseneck). His fine Riesling wines have won wide acclaim in the world of German wine. In 2010 Gault&Millau selected Tim for its “vintner-of-the-year award”.
The ‘2011 Bockenauer Riesling dry’ is a young wine. It comes from the hill just behind the winery. On the label it says “Schiefergestein” which means the the vines grow on blue and grey slate. I loved the lime and citrus aromas. The wine has great character, is fresh and exuberant. Its fine acidity shows great balance. This elegant Riesling has a long finish and might gain even more complexity when aged. No chance to age for this bottle, though. We needed it with the deer dish on that Sunday to bring absolute enjoyment to the Adam family.
PS: If you want to know where the grapes for this were grown, please visit Weinlagen-Info.de. My wine blogger friend, the winegetter, made me aware of this handy tool to find the vineyards and places where the grapes come from.
2 Comments | food, food and wine, Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Bockenau, Bockenauer Felseneck, dry riesling, food, Gault&Millau, German Riesling, German wine, grey slate, hunting, Monzinger Fruehlingsplaetzchen, Monzinger Halenberg, Nahe, restaurants, Riesling, Riesling wines, roe deer, Tim Fröhlich, travel, vacation, Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
September 28, 2012
Our vegetable soup
As you probably know summer days in Germany can be chilly. This is not a big deal because the appropriate food is easy to find. How about a real vegetable soup? Not one out of a tin but with real veggies, cut into small pieces and cooked with just the best stock. And how about some home made bread as well?
Sounds yum. I tell you.
But what about a wine? Should it be red? Should it be white?
Well, my choice was a young and fresh Riesling from the Rheingau. From my recent visit of Schloss Johannisberg, Rheingau I had brought a bottle of ‘2011 Schloss JOhannisberg dry Riesling’ from the “Gelblack” series.
I got the bottle from the cellar door for 13.70 Euro/bottle. The alcohol content is 12.5%, residual sugar is 7.9 g/l, and total acidity is 7.5 g/l. The colour is a beautiful straw yellow. It shows lush aromas of green apple and tropical fruit. The acidity is charmingly fresh and zesty.
We gave the wine no chance to age and show it’s long-term potential. The young fragrant Riesling complemented the creamy soup with its carrots, cellery and other fresh garden-vegetables very well.
Cheers and enjoy!
1 Comment | food, food and wine, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: dry riesling, food, garden vegetables, Gelblack, German wines, restaurants, Rheingau, Riesling, Schloss Johannisberg, travel, vacation | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
September 10, 2012
The city of Trier – photo taken from Kockelsberg
During the month of July, we spend some glorious days in my home town Trier. On a splendid Sunday, wen went to have brunch with music at a country inn called Altenhof, at the edge of the forest surrounding the city.
A leisurly walk through a lovely forest (mainly sweet chestnut trees) of about one or one and a half hours will get you there.
Signpost in the forest
So what is the place like, you might ask? Well, it is a former forester’s lodge cum country inn, which was built in 1874 on the site of an old farm going back to 1406.
Country inn – Forthaus Altenhof
In my youth the place was a popular destination for family outings to enjoy a drink or two in the company of family and friends.
We went there for a breakfast brunch with music. The duo Wollmann and Brauner was playing blues and jazz.
We got there quite early, and the garden of the Altenhof was still empty. But it should fill up fast. Many families made the pilgrimage and brought their young children as well as their old parents along. In the early afternoon, it was difficult to find an empty table.
Wollmann and Brauner Duo
We were craving for some blues our most favourite music, reminiscing about lovely live music events in Yarra Glen and Healesville, Victoria. The two musicians did not disappoint us. They played among others some of the classic songs from Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton; so just the right stuff. It was great music and we had great fun.
Viez – local apple & pear cider
One of the specialities is the apple and pear cider called Viez in the local German dialect. I love it. It is usually very dry (one could say sour), and so it should be.
Riesling by Weingut Linden
My wife preferred the Rieslnig wine on offer by Weingut Linden, Mosel. The ‘2010 Riesling Spaetlese dry’ is a very solid wine, and displays the wonderful character of the Mosel terroir and climate.
Riesling Spaetlese
We also had food, hearty German delicacies. Unfortunately, I have no photo of the various dishes we consumed from morning to afternoon. But rest assured you get value for money. These were the best prices offered to me while I was in Germany.
It was such a pleasant day. The ambience was just wonderful. Everybody was relaxed. Because of the spatious surroundings, children could play ball, horse rider could tether their horses, people could walk around etc. If you have the time and opportunity visit this extraordinary place.
Address:
Forsthaus Altenhof
Aacher Weg 86
D-54293 Trier
http://www.altenhof-trier.de
5 Comments | culture, food, food and wine, history and culture, Restaurant Review, wine, wine regions | Tagged: Altenhof, apple cider, chestnut trees, Forsthaus Altenhof, german dialect, German Riesling, Mosel, pear cider, playing blues, Riesling wine, Spaetlese, travel, Trier, vacation, Viez, Weingut Linden, Wollmann and Brauner Duo, Yarra Glen | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
September 8, 2012
A selection of sushi and sashimi
We had a kind of quick lunch today. We bought a selection of sushi and sashimi. The question was what wine to have with it? Well, we had not much choice because my wine fridge is almost empty.
So I picked out of distress (I did not want to take one of my great Riesling wines) the last bottle of Vinho Verde we had, a bottle by Casal Mendes, which can be obtained in Bangkok super markets at relatively low cost.
Casal Mendes Vinho Verde
Woh, what a surprise: it worked wonders, I thought. The Portuguese Vinho Verde with its low alcohol and freshness was just the right wine with the raw fish and the rice. What an excellent choice this was. I highly recommend to try this pairing of Eastern food with Western wine.
11 Comments | food, food and wine, wine | Tagged: Casal Mendes, food, Portugal, raw fish, restaurants, Riesling wines, sashimi, Sushi, travel, vacation, Vinho Verde, wine, wine fridge, wines of Portugal | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The Man from Mosel River 