My wine cabinet

December 7, 2009

My wine cabinet

Have I ever shown you my wine cabinet? No? Here it is.

It was made by Mr. Mambo, our furniture-maker in Jakarta. It was copied from one of the furniture magazines from which he makes his stuff.

I love it very much. It has a (red) marble top and a wooden rack for hanging wine glasses. I have the bad habit of putting empty bottles at the top. Many of them I keep for reference until I have written about the specific wine.

In the tropics one cannot store wine in the base of the cabinet because it is just too hot for that. But my hopes are high that once we have moved to Glenburn for good, I can use it, at least during the colder months of the year.

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Spiedini di salsiccia e manzo

December 6, 2009

The spiedini on my Weber

The other day we experimented with a recipe by Jamie Oliver. It had fired up my Weber and was ready to go. ‘Spiedini di salsiccia e manzo’ was the dish, we intended to cook. The photo above gives you an idea.

The recipe goes as follows:

– beef fillet cut in cubes of 2.5 cm (12 pieces)
– Italian sausages of the highest quality ( 4 large ones)
– four thickly slices pieces of pancetta (or streaky beacon)
– fresh sage leaves (18-20)
– gloves of garlic, peeled (2-3)
– one lemon, zested and halved
– extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, ground black pepper

In Jamie Olivers recipe you stick the meat and the sausages on firm sticks of fresh rosemary. We used skewers instead. But I will try it with the rosemary sticks if I prepare this dish in Australia next time.

We marinated the meat in a “magic potion” for a long time before sticking them on the skewer. Make sure that you put about 3-4 pieces of pancetta on each stick, also the sage interspersed with meat needs to be part of each skewer. I whacked them on the “barby”, turned them around a few times, all in all about 20 minutes suffice to make them the most delicious food you ever had.

You can serve them with polenta, or potatoes, or just eat them with bread. Have a beer or two, or a glass of cold white wine. Voila, a great meal. Thanks Jamie for the hint, we loved your recipe.

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Champage: Larmandier-Bernier

December 5, 2009

Champagne by Larmandier-Bernier

We were so lucky. When Timo visited us a couple of weeks ago, he brought with him a bottle of ‘Blanc de Blancs, Premier Cru, Extra-Brut’ by Larmandier-Bernier, Champage/France. We do not drink much champagne these days, just too expensive in Thailand. I was more than happy to fetch the champagne glasses when Timo produced the bottle from his luggage. I admit that I had never heard about this producer but since I do not know much about champagne that did not bother me.

Timo Meyer pouring the champagne

But this drop deserves a special mention. It was the perfect wine to celebrate a reunion. Larmandier-Bernier is a small champagne house. Pierre and Sophie Larmandier’s basic philosophy is to make a natural wine starting in the vineyard right through to wine-making. They go for small yields, old vines, and hand picking. They practice biodynamic viticulture. The motto is balance in diversity.

The ‘Blanc de Blancs’ is mainly made of the 2006 Chardonnay vintage with reserve wines from 2004 and 2005 of about 40%. It is an elegant champagne, mineral, floral notes can be detected, a sparkling wine with a beautiful finish.

Champagne producers are hard hit by the decline in demand partly caused by the impact of the global financial crisis. In the USA sales of champagne shrank by about 43% in 2009. In Britain and France the decline was lower, 33% and 7% respectively. In contrast lower-price sparkling from other sources, mostly cheaper wines from Italy and Spain are up this year. I just hope that especially the small champagne houses can weather this crisis. It would be a shame to lose them.

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Decadence rules

December 4, 2009

Yesterday was downhill all the way as far as my “lunch” was concerned. Usually I have just a “Muesli Riegel” of the kind in the picture below. However, when I learned that my colleague Bjoern would go to “the Scottish restaurant”, I asked him to bring back a Big Mac for me (picture above). And so it was that decadence ruled.

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Anniversary of Thai-German relations celebrated in style with German wine

December 3, 2009

The other day Lufthansa celebrated it’s 50 years of scheduled flight services to Bangkok, Thailand. I was invited to a function at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which provided not only a splendid backdrop to the event but also supplied the guests with very jummy culinary delights.

Also the wines, a red and a white, both from Germany, were first class. Lufthansa served a 2008 Spätburgunder from Meyer-Näkel, Ahr and a 2008 Riesling from Hermann Dönnhoff, Nahe. What a treat. I could not believe my luck.

When I was a student of agriculture at Bonn University, one of my fellow students, came from the nahe wine region. She had a sticker on her car reading: “Nahewein ein Edelstein”, freely translated as “Wine from the Nahe a gemstone” (unfortunately this does not rhyme as the German slogan). Both wines were gemstones, indeed.

In the end the Riesling somehow blended better with the food, a mix of Thai, German, and other cuisines served in small portions in a snack-type fashion. The anniversary was celebrated in style with beautiful visualizations (among them old photos from good old Bangkok), street food, a twist dancing group, sepia photo taking, a choir and other singers. I wish Lufthansa many more successful years with their venture in Thailand.

PS: I did not bring a camera and therefore do not possess any photos. I also somehow forgot to study the labels of the bottles carefully. That’s a cumbersome affair for me if waiters are serving.

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Bodegas Muriel Reserva, Rioja

November 30, 2009

2001 Bodegas Muriel Reserva, Rioja

I do not buy a lot of wine from Spain, main reason being that I do not know enough about Spanish wines. But the other day I made an exception and bout a bottle of ‘2001 Muriel Reserva’ from Rioja, Spain. Made of Tempranillo grapes, this wines is just wonderful, rich and full, lot’s of red forest fruit, silky and smooth the tannins.

As you can see from the picture below, the colour of the wine is already like a brick. Reserva wines by Muriel are aged for a minimum of two years in oak barrels and three years in the bottle. It was a great pleasure to drink this wine. I need to learn more about the wine region of Rioja and its wines. We had the wine with dinner, of course.

The colour of the Rioja

Muriel is located in the heart of the Rioja region in the small town of Elciego, next to the river Mayor, east of the E-804 from Zaragoza to Bilbao. When in 1973 on our final study tour before concluding “Gymnasium” (high school), I passed the area on my way from Burgos to San Sebastian not knowing anything about the famous wine region (not that I would know much more today).

Muriel also makes a white wine, from Viura grapes, the website said. Honestly, I have never heard of the Viura grape, what an ignoramus I am. There is so much to learn out there. Life is just beautiful.

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Tree of life

November 29, 2009

The “tree of life” is a concept found in many cultures with various interpretations. The picture above was taken at the outskirts of Bangkok, a Bodhi tree under which Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment.

Today is the 29 November, a very special day. It is the 15 anniversary of my children, the twins Lucy and Charlotte.

Happy birthday girls.

Below are the flowers for you, a special orchid which just bloomed on our terrace.

Since it is seven o’clock here in Manila, I have no bottle of champagne for a toast. That we will do later today when reunited in Bangkok.
Cheers folks

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Dreams of Two Hills Vineyard

November 28, 2009

Brownies Landing at Two Hills Vineyard in Glenburn

While the north American continent celebrates Thanksgiving and the Muslim world Eid ul Adha, I am homesick for Australia and our small farm-cum-vineyard in Glenburn, Victoria.

There, we had lots of rain, the vines are doing well, the grass is lush and green and our two dams are full of sweet water.

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Brunello di Montalcino and pasta

November 27, 2009

2004 Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino

Just a simple dinner with a pasta and a salad. I grabbed a bottle of red from the wine fridge and woh, where did I buy this wine? It was a ripper of a red, ‘2004 Brunello di Montalcino’ by Pietroso (about 100 km south of Florence in Tuscany).

Aged for 36 months in oak barrels, this 100% Sangiovese wine is just a wonderful drop. Intense forest fruit flavours, great structure, good mid-palate weight and a long finish, round and silky. It took us by surprise.

A delicious pasta

We had just a simple pasta for an ordinary dinner during the week. When I went back to the supermarket the next day to look for this wine, I could not find it any more. I know why: it’s marvelous. Look out for this Brunello di Montalcino. It’s worth it. Azienda Agricola Pietroso produced 2004 about 13,000 bottles of this Brunello. I think it was one of the best wines we had had recently.

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How to open a bottle of wine

November 26, 2009

This is another technique to open a bottle of wine (and not breaking off the neck) if you are not in possession of a proper bottle opener.

Please do not mind the French.
The clip is self-explanatory, in fact amazing. It shows “where there is a will…….”.

Cheers

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