Winstub: S’Thomas Stuebel, Strasbourg, Alsace

January 19, 2015

Winstub 00

Canal in Strasbourg

Strasbourg in autumn is very picturesque, and a great place to visit. I was lucky that I had to attend a conference and therefore had the chance to be there for a few days last year in early November.

I love this city and the wine region surrounding it: Alsace is one of my favourite French wine region. I especially love their whites, among them Riesling, Gewuerztraminer and Pinot Blanc and the Pinot Noir.

Winstub 0

S’Thomas Stuebel

Since I was a day early for the event, I used the Sunday afternoon for a stroll to explore the town. I had visited before. Actually my first visit was when I attended high school (or as we call it Gymnasium). Since I was in the “French branch” of my school, we went quite frequently to various places in France. We stayed at a youth hostel. Our teacher made us try some of the local wines. It was here in Strasbourg that I tasted my first Gewuerztraminer.

I was eager to visit one of the famous wine bars. Unfortunately, the S’Thomas Stuebel was closed on Sundays. I promised to come back another day. Which I did.

Winstub

The name plate at the entrance promised a truly indigenous dining experience. Something earthy, something traditional, something authentic with special dishes from the region and local wines.

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The guest chamber of the wine bar

I was not to be disappointed when I cam back a few days later on the last day of my Strasbourg visit. Together with a colleague, we intended to explore the culinary delights of the Alsace wine region. We longed for simple, peasant type of food and nothing fancy.

Winstub 2

A white wine served in an earthen flagon

Since my friend does not drink alcohol, a bottle was out of the question. Therefore, I ordered a 1/2 ltr. which was served in an earthen flagon. I selected a local Pinot Blanc.

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The assorted Alsatian dishes

As you can see from the photo above, we went for very basic, nutritious and hearty local food. The potatoes with ham were wonderful. The cottage cheese with garlic and onions was creamy and rich. The salads contained all the garden greens typical for the season.

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Crème brûlé

I am not a big fan of deserts, but the crème brûlé on the menue I was not willing to miss out on. I did not regret my choice. A fruit schnaps was used to make the crème brûlé, make it burn.
When we left, the taproom was filled with local diners. If you should visit Strasbourg you should not miss the S’Thomas Stuebel. Have dinner there and enjoy the local cuisine and the excellent selection of Alsatian wines.

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It’s Riesling time

June 17, 2013

Selbach

2011 Selbach Riesling Classic

Recently, the supply with German Riesling wines in Bangkok has improved considerably. A fine specimen is the ‘2011 Selbach Riesling Classic’ by the Selbach Winery in Zeltingen, Mosel.

Selbach 1

The family enterprise has vineyards in Zeltingen, Wehlen, Graach and Bernkastel and is currently working 20 ha of vines, many of them in very steep locations along the Mosel river. 98% of the area is under Riesling, the rest is planted to Pinot Blanc. As is customary with many German wine producers, the Selbach Riesling assortment includes dry, semi-dry and sweet wines, plus late harvest and ice wine.

Selbach 2

In Bangkok only the classic dry Riesling variety from the Selbach winery is available (88 Parker Points). In order to get your hands on terroir specific and single vineyard wines you might have to identify a specific importer. Although ever since the new It’s Riesling initiative has started operating, one has a much better chance as a consumer to find more exotic Riesling wines of the highest quality.

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The Selbach Riesling Classic shows all the qualities of a good German Riesling. It is not bone dry, has a good acidity and citrus notes. Riesling is a perfect compliment with Asian cuisine, especially Thai and Chinese food. I paired it with the shrimps (in the picture above) and some spicy chicken (as in the picture below) and it worked very well.

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Chicken on my Weber grill

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Domaines Schlumberger: Pinot Blanc Les Princes Abbés 2006

June 26, 2011

Our super market in Bangkok, the Villa Market in Thonglor, offered for a couple of weeks the ‘2006 Pinot Blanc Les Princes Abbés’ by Domaines Schlumberger, Alsace, France.

Pinot Blanc is not one of my favourite grape varieties but I like the wines from Domaines Schlumberger including its Pinot Blanc.. The 2006 vintage, though, needs to be drunk fast. This is why the super market offered the last batch of its remaining stock of Pinot Blanc Les Princes Abbés at a discount.

Instead of charging about 1,500 Bath (about 34 EURO) per bottle, the price dropped to 999 bath (about 22 EURO) which is pretty cheap for Bangkok, although wine prices are terribly high in this Asian metropolis.

If you get some of these bottles in Bangkok you must drink it fast though. Recently we had a bottle just at the edge.

I like the wine which is a a blend of 30% Pinot Blanc and 70% Auxerrois. Citrus fruit and lemon peel is what you can taste in your mouth. The wine is dry (residual sugar 5.6 gr./l) has fine acidity (3.46 gr./l), a good balance and a spritzy kind of feeling.

It can be combined with many foods but especially with Asian cuisine and seafood. In the tropics one has to make sure that the wine is appropriately cooled.

Address:
Domaines Schlumberger
100 rue Théodore Deck
68501 Guebwiller Cedex
France

Tel.: +33 3 89 74 27 00
Fax : +33 3 89 74 85 75
www.domaines-schlumberger.com

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Grans-Fassian Estate in Leiwen, Mosel

January 22, 2011

Grans-Fassian Estate in Leiwen

When I drove along the Mosel on a grey Saturday morning last November, I was heading to Leiwen to buy some good Riesling wines.

There were three reasons for this trip. It all started at Frankfurt airport when I bought the December issue of “Weinwelt” (World of Wine), the German wine magazine.

1. I had looked at the results of a wine tasting of grand cru (GG = Grosses Gewaechs) Rieslings: two of the top wines from the Mosel came from Leiwen; one of them was a ‘2009 Dhroner Hofberg’ by Grans-Fassian Estate.

2. Leiwen is just a 30 minutes drive from my mothers home in Trier at one of the most beautiful bights of my beloved Mosel.

3. I love German Riesling especially if it comes from the Mosel river and I wanted to know what a 95 point wine would taste like.

The original Grans-Fassian Estate manor house with the cellar door

So off I went by car and cruised along down the Mosel. I was lucky, the cellar door was open. Here I met Catherina, one of the two daughters of the owner, Gerhard Grans who had taken over the estate from his father Matthias in 1982.

We had a bit of a chat about wine, life and the universe. Catherina is a charming young lady. She is going to be an oenology student at Geisenheim soon.

Catherina Grans showing me the top wines

I tasted two of the wines (the ones mentioned in the magazine): the ‘2009 Riesling Dhroner Hofberg’ (95 points) and the ‘2009 Riesling Leiwener Laurentiuslay’ (92 points). I tell you these are Rieslings how I like them. Wonderful wines indeed. Tropical fruit the first wine, and a kind of a citrus bomb the second. Both with a good structure, young, minerally, powerful with a long finish.

The treasure box with Grans-Fassian wines

Furthermore, I learned that the estate has about 10 ha under vines. Some of the vineyards are lokated in the best terroir of the region, for instance Dhroner Hofberg, Leiwener Laurentiuslay, Piesporter Goldtroepfchen, and Trittenheimer Apotheke.

About 88% of the vines are Riesling, 10% Pinot Blanc and 2% Pinot Gris. The brochure shows the steep slopes of some of the vineyards, most of them with a southern or western aspect. The micro climate is ideal for Riesling. The soils consisting of red, grey and blue slate.

I bought a couple of the two wines I had tasted. By the way for someone like me who pays obscene prices for wine in Bangkok, these top wines were very reasonably priced, in fact they were a true bargain. It’s a pity that wine bottles are so heavy. I knew that I could only take one, maximum two of them with me on my long journey back to Thailand. What a pity, I thought.

The wine bloggers delight

Here is another hot “secret” for your next trip to the Mosel river: Grans-Fassian Estate in Leiwen should be your destination. Trust me, you will not regret it.

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A great white wine – Pinot Blanc by Doerflinger

November 23, 2010

Pinot Blanc by the Doerflinger Winery

Recently I had the opportunity to enjoy a couple of glasses of a very yummy German Pinot Blanc, it was a ‘2009 Pinot Blanc Muellheimer Reggenhag dry’ (13%) by Doerflinger, a winery in Muellheim, Baden.

The wine guide Gault Millau awarded to the 2008 vintage 89 Parker points.

The winery was founded in 1900. Today, Hermann Doerflinger is the owner-vintner and he manages 16 ha under vines. The annual production is about 140,000 bottles.

Apart from Pinot Blanc, Doerflinger grows Gutedel, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, the wines of which reached 85 to 89 points for the 2008 vintage.

I liked this wine, it was fresh and zesty, soft and round, a great summer wine.

Address:
Weingut Hermann Dörflinger
Mühlenstraße 7,
D-79379 Müllheim
Germany
Tel.: +49 7631 2207 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +49 7631 2207      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +49 7631 2207      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: +49 7631 4195
mail@weingut-doerflinger.de

Open:
Mo.–Fri. 08.00 – 12.30 h, 13.30 – 18.30 h
Sat. 09.00 – 16.00 h

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