Sunday treat – dry Riesling from Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich, Bockenau, Nahe

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.

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Food and wine pairing: vegetable soup and Riesling?

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!

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Food and wine pairing: spicy prawns with off-dry Riesling from the Mosel river

September 21, 2012

Spicy prawns sizzling in the pan

I love spicy food, especially seafood. I find it also easy to identify an appropriate wine for such occasion. During a casual stroll through one of the local super markets here in Bangkok, I found a small selection of wines from my beloved Mosel river.

I could not believe muy luck.

‘2010 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett’ by Weingut Max Ferdinand Richter

I selected a bottle of ‘2010 Brauneberger Juffer, Riesling Kabinett’ by Weingut Max Ferdinand Richter, in Muehlheim, Mosel.

The name of this vineyard (31 ha, opposite the villages of Brauneberg and Muehlheim) is intriguing, Braunenberger Juffer. “Brauneberg” stands for ‘the browninsh colour of oxidized devon slate’ and “Juffer” means ‘un-married young woman’/vestal-virgin. There is a story about a young woman who rather tended the vines in this prime vineyard location instead of getting married.

Well!

‘Braunberger Juffer’ is is one of the top terroirs along the lower Mosel. I was so mesmerized when I read ‘Brauneberger Juffer’ on the label, that I did not pay attention to the “attribute”, ‘Kabinett’ which suggests an off-dry type of wine. Not my favourite usually. 50 or so odd grams of residual sugar at 7 to 8 g./l. acidity, is just too much for me.

Fortunately, such information is not mentioned on the label. I would not have bought it. But after all, the sweetness of the wine balanced the spiciness of the prawns exceptionally well, and I was reconciled with my choice of wine.

I guess a dry Riesling would also have been a good choice, but maybe next time.

I love the label: Braunberger JUffer Riesling Kabinett

This wine is full and round, mellow, almost oily. The dominant aroma is peach with some hint of honeysuckle. On the palate the sweetness of bee honey is dominant. However, the wine is light and fresh. The acids are well balanced. The fine texture is tangible and the long finish is rewarding.

Address:
Weingut Max Ferd. Richter
Owner: Dr. Dirk M. F. Richter
Hauptstrasse 85
54486 Mülheim/Mosel
Germany
Tel.: +49-6534-933003
e-mail: drichter@maxferdrichter.com

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Food and wine pairing: Sushi and Sashimi with Vinho Verde from Portugal

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.

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Impressions from Jakarta – Social House

November 9, 2009

SocialHouseview

The centre of Jakarta

We were lucky that we got a seat in the first place. “Social house” was, as always, booked out. We had a great view of the fountain at the city centre, odered two pizza and two glasses of house Malbec, a drinkable red wine.

SocialHouseme menue

Social house menue

SocialHouse motto

About food and wine

SocialHouse pizza

Pizza

SocialHousecellar

Social house wine cellar

There is nothing more relaxing than having a meal with a good friend, in a location where my heart is: Jakarta. Glorious memories and good company. What can be better in life

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Kayzer Soza – bar cum resto in Berlin

June 8, 2008

I love Berlin; it’s a great city with so much on offer. My friend Rainer Heufers took me to a rustic place in Tucholsky street, near the synagogue, called “Kayzer Soza”, named after the mythic film figure. Rainer knows Berlin very well since he lived there for a couple of years.

The inside of “Kayzer Soza”

Berlin is a cosmopolitan city again with a growing Jewish community. Just across the street from the restaurant was a bagel bakery.

“Kayzer Soza” was buzzing with people, mostly young, happy people with lots of time on their hands. Many were seated on the pavement of the sidewalk where we could not find space so we went inside. There it was rather empty at this early time, but that was about to change soon.

We ordered a hearty meal consisting of a strange selection of dishes: Suebian cheese noodles, a Mediterranean salad, olives, and a bottle of ‘Primitivo’, a ‘2006 Terre di Montelusa’ from Italy. We just felt like that after a long day meeting. The wine intrigued me because he comes from Brindisi in Apulia (Puglia) and I never knowingly drank a wine from there. It was a robust country wine. I guess the bottle did not cost more than 3 to 4 EURO. My last ‘Zinfandel’, as the ‘Primitivo’ is known in the US, I tasted more than 10 years ago during a winery tour in California.

When I opened the menu a poem jumped into my eyes. Freely translated it said the following:

“Good wine makes good blood.
Good blood makes good deeds and
good deeds lead mankind to heaven”.

It is said to originate from the Veneto, the lovely Italian wine region.

Suebian cheese noodles

The salad

A simple wine but matching the occasion

My friend Rainer tugging in

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Restaurants in Asia – Bon Ton, Kuala Lumpur

April 29, 2008

One of my most favourite eating places in Kuala Lumpur is the restaurant & wine bar “Bon Ton” (www.bontonkl.com). I went their the other day with some colleagues for a business dinner.

The restaurant is located right in the middle of town. There is a huge parking lot in front of the place because next to it is another popular Malaysian restaurant. The decoration is in fusion style of various origins, mostly Southeastasian with some European influence. The web page of “Bon Ton” includes some nice photos of the interior (better ones than I could make). Have a look.

Since I was the only one drinking wine, I restricted myself to the house wine, an Australian Shiraz (I somehow did not ask where it came from, sorry folks, will do it next time). The wine list is very impressive and contains many prime producers from Australia, Europe and South Africa among others.

Below you can see what we had.

Prawn ravioli in spicy Thai broth with Cilantro

Vegetable platter of pita bread with roasted vegetables and lentil stew

Asian rack of lamb with potatoes, mushrooms and oriental salad

The food is excellent, the atmosphere very relaxing and inviting, the service is great and that together makes it a great place to take you family and friends to when in KL.

See you there, one day.

Address:
Bon Ton
Restaurant, Wine Bar and Catering
No 8, Jalan Conlay
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel.: +60-3-21413848
Fax: +60-3-21449289
e-mail: info@bontonkl.com

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“Ze Lawen – Zur Lauben – At the arbour” – Trier at its best

April 18, 2008

In the dialect of Trier “Ze Lawen” translates into high German as “Zu den Lauben” which can be transcribed into “At the arbour” in English.

What is it, you might ask.

Well, it is a part of the city of Trier. In the 18th century it was a small fishing village at the outskirts of the city just beyond the ancient city walls. Later it was transformed into garden arbours used by city folk to spend their Sundays where they relaxed in the shade of their small garden houses.

Today, “Ze Lawen”, located directly north of the Kaiser-Wilhelm bridge, consists of a small stretch of beautiful historic buildings along a very picturesque strip of the Mosel river. Over the years many of the fishermen’s houses were turned into small country inns, eateries, bars and restaurants with a great variety of local foods and drinks on offer. Actually if you look for a culinary delight in Trier you have to visit this part of the city. Needless to say that you can enjoy all the many famous Riesling wines produced along the Mosel and the surroundings valleys of Saar and Ruwer.

I will take you on a quick walk around this part of town (only a 200 meters stretch). Below, thats what it may look like in summer, in the background the Mosel and the red sandstone cliffs.

With friends eating out in “Ze Lawen”

During my recent visit to Trier I took some more photos. One can, for instance, find some stone mason work depicting scenes from Roman times, usually the delivery of rental payments as below.

The patron saint of Trier is St. Peter. He is usually depicted holding the city keys and the bible as below.

Now we enter from the north. The first “Wirtshaus” cum restaurant is the “Schwarzbierhaus” to the left. Further on is another well known restaurant: “Pfeffermuehle”.

Other must visit places are “En de Lauben”, “Alt Zalawen”, “Mosellied” and “Bagatelle” (bistro/cafe), a restaurant where we had the most amazing food and wine degustation last year (a summary you will find in this blog).

The entry to the “Schwarzbierhaus”

The old lintels of the door frames shown belwo, usually also in stone, demonstrate that it was fishermen who once lived in these old houses. The most popular motives are fish or gear from fishing boats.

I hope this enticed you to put the city on you map. See you again in “Ze Lawen” one of these days. Its always worth a visit.

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