Let there be wine in 2010

December 31, 2009

Pokal of German Riesling

Another year is coming to an end. And what a year this was. We were almost wiped out by the wild fires in February. We had no vintage and no income from the grapes but bought a new traktor. We had sufficient rains but grape prices in Australia promise to be the lowest in recent history which does not bode well for Two Hills our little boutique vineyard in Gelburn, Victoria. So what will 2010 bring for us small vintners?

Many grape growers have pulled out their vines. Thousands of hectares of vines are no more. This is most likely not enough to save the price slide. Many more of us will have to give up and/or supplement their incomes with off-farm work.

There are quite a few “lifestyle” people among us. They will have to decide if the price of “their hobby” is still affordable for another year. Then there are the pure investors, some of them lured into grape growing out of taxation reaons. They will be the first to abondon the industry for greener pastures or just walk away from their losses.

Some of us are the ever optimists banking on the future such as myself. “It will all come good”, one day or not at all, but we hang in there for the love and the passion and the satisfaction growing a good product which will reward our efforts. “Bring it on”, one more time, and let the wheel of life run another circle.

This is my last post for 2009. I will end my three years of wine and food blogging with a total of 401 blog entries. Uff, I made it. This means that every 2.6 days I prepared a new piece during the last 36 months. I am chuffed but not sure if I can keep this up. I have still not found an answer to the question: Shall I continue or do something else? Would that mean to stop drinking wine and eating good food?

I will keep on contemplating about this conundrum.

Another year in Bangkok is coming to an end. The last 16 months since our arrival were quite busy, full of change and excitement. We have not seen much of Thailand as yet but there is, god willing, still some time for that.

Tonight, the four of us will join the Bangkok St. Patricks Society’s New Years Eve party on a boat on the Chao Phraya river. I guess we will have a couple of drinks, maybe dance, and we will celebrate the end of another year on this plante and welcome 2010.

I will let you know how it went. But let me say: Happy New year to all of you. God bless you.

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Christmas Lunch at La Villa, Bangkok

December 30, 2009

La Villa Restaurant

For Christmas lunch we had booked at table at La Villa, an Italian restaurant not far from our home in Thonghlor, Bangkok, right in our neighbourhood. We had eaten there before and therefore, knew that the food would be delicious.

All these bottles…

One of the house wines, a Sauvignon Blanc

We had antipasti and a pasta as “secondi” and, of course, the children wanted dessert. Below you can see what we had.

Charlotte’s choice

Margit’s choice

Lucy’s choice

My choice: mozarella in ham on greens

Spaghetti alle vongole

Penne

Tagliatelle with mushrooms

Other tagliatelle

Various ice creams and sorbets

The Adam family (do you like my new haircut?)

It all ended with espresso and an Averna. Before that we had a glass of red wine (house wine open), a Cabernet Sauvignon.

The food at La Villa is realy nice, and so is the service. It is not cheap but on an occasion like this, it was just the perfect choice.

Address:
La Villa – Il Ristorante
131 Soi Sukhumwit 53 (Paidee-Madee) Sukhumvit Rd. North Klongton
Wattana District
Bangkok, Thailand 10110
Tel. : 02 7129991, 02 7129129
Fax: 02 7129960
http://www.lavillabangkok.com/

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Nihonmura in Thonglor, Bangkok

December 20, 2009

That’s the corner of my street where I live in Bangkok. The sign on the sail of the boat reads: “Nihonmura” or in Chinese “Ri ben cun” (they are Chinese characters) which means Japanese village. According to a journalist friend of mine about 40,000 Japanese and Koreans are living my neighborhood Thonglor.

There are many Japanese and Korean restaurants here as well, which we have not started to explore as yet. But today we spend the time on our terrace with Italian food and Australian sparkling from Taltarni Vineyards with vineyards in the Pyrenees, and Heathcote, Victoria and in Tasmania.

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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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Hosting the vintner – with Timo Mayer at Patara in Bangkok

November 3, 2009

I admit, we take all our friends traveling through Bangkok to our favorite Thai restaurant if time permits. Patara is Thailand’s best restaurant and was awarded the corresponding prize for this achievement in 2009. We just love to dine there.

When Timo Mayer and his two daughters came through Bangkok we were pleased to have them for a couple of days and show them around. The Mayers’ came from Germany where Timo was helping with some wine-making in his native village near Stuttgart. He was also selling some of his Australian wine in various places (London for instance).

He was loaded with different bottles of very unique wines some of which we tasted together at various occasions. But one evening was reserved for fine Thai cuisine. Patara sent his tucktuck taxi service to pick us up from our home in Thonglor.

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The colorful entrees

We decided that we would order the food and Timo would choose the wine. As always we started with the three colorful delicacies shown above. Somehow I had problems taking clear and crisps shots of the food that evening. But you can look up earlier posts in this blog where you can find some more photos of the various Patara signature dishes.

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Happy diners

Timo selected the ‘2007 “Hugel” Riesling’ the classic wine from Hugel & Fils from Alsace. Jean Hugel, the senior vintner and wine-maker of this pioneer family of wine-making in Alsace was a legend and had passed away only in June this year.

I had never tasted their wines before and was very excited about the choice. Hugel and Fils maintain not only a very informative website but also an entertaining blog. I had visited Riquewihr, the picturesque Alsatian village where the winery is located many years ago (actually decades ago).

As a high-school student I had visited Alsace and its villages with my school and tasted my first Gewuerztraminer ever. A couple of years later I had seen a play at my “alma mater”: the Bonn University music and arts festival telling the story of the Alsace in three languages. After that my fascination with Alsace was complete. I had the chance to visit several times but mainly the north of the region. Our favorite destination was a restaurant, Au Cheval Blanc near Wissembourg but this is another story.

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The ‘2007 Hugel Riesling’

The ‘2007 “Hugel” Riesling’ is a very fine wine, young and vibrant. 2007 was a good vintage because the grapes had the opportunity to ripen for the longest time ever and therefore the grapes were very healthy. As a consequence the wines show great elegance and balance. The wine is fruity with mineral notes, a typical Alsatian Riesling with the characteristic petrol note. I love Riesling with Thai food.

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After we “demolished” the food

Our evening was great fun. The culinary delights of Thailand are just “breathtaking” for the palate. I can only highly recommend the restaurant. I love the atmosphere and the professional and friendly service.

We talked a lot about Timo’s German visit, his impressions, the adventures and, of course, wine. But when friends from afar visit, time flies. That’s how it was. Hours shrink to seconds and in a blimp of the eye it’s gone.

Address:
Patara Fine Thai Cuisine
375 Soi Thonglor 19 Sukhumvit 55, Klongtonnua Vadhana, Bangkok 10110
Tel. +66-2185 2960-1 Fax. +66-2185 2962
www.patarathailand.com

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Italian wines for Sunday lunch

September 23, 2009

Sundays in Bangkok is usually fish day. There are many beautiful fish for sale in the markets. So for lunch we select a fish and a white wine. Often I choose to have a Riesling with the food. This time we went “Italian” and bought two bottles of white wine, one on the cheap side, the other a bit dearer. The former was a ‘2007 Montecelli Soave Classico’ from Piave in the Veneto, the latter a ‘2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio’ from the Trentino, in Alto-Adige, Italy.

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2007 Montecelli Soave Classico

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2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio

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The Soave might costs about 3-4 Euro in Europe (or less). If I would buy the Pinot Grigio in the US I would have to pay 25 to 28 US$ for the bottle. In Thai Bath I paid about 500 for the Soave and about 1,000 for the Pinot, which corresponds roughly to 10 and 20 Euro respectively. We liked both wines. The Soave is a bit edgy and had a salty/oily after taste. The Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita is just great, light bodied, spritzy with crisp acidity and a light lemon-citrus flavour.

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Fried potatoes, zucchini and onions

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Red snapper in caper and olive marinade

The food was simple. Red snapper is a beautiful fish which I like very much. The recipe is from the Philosopher’s Kitchen by Francine Segan. I have written about this fabulous cooking book in earlier entries of my blog.

I just love lunches like this one. We all relax, enjoy the food and the company. This was the first time we moved away from the dry Riesling-fish pairing and moved tp the Italian whites. We will repeat this, for sure.
And as Epicurus said: “Pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily”.

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Birds growing up

September 22, 2009

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Birds with proper feathers

I regularly monitor the development of my two little birds, and as you can see from the photos, they are growing up fast, very fast. I am very protective of my Yellow-vented Bulbuls and hope they can grow up in safety to become beautiful birds. The nest is now getting smaller for the growing birds.

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Always hungry

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Also the parents are very attentive and wary of the humans of course.

The Yellow-vented Bulbul or Merbah Kapur (Pycnonotus goiavier) of the passerine family is quite common in South-East Asia. They originate from the mangrove forests and coastal scrubs which were so widespread in this part of the world. They forage not only on insects but also eat small fruit, berries, sip nectar and nibble on young shoots. They are also not afraid to browse for feed on the ground.

The adult birds are about 20 cm long, their crest is slight and they are yellow under their tail. They remind me of Zorro as the black stripes on their face look like a mask. Both parents incubate and raise the young. We had only two eggs but they lay up to five. I look forward to the next stage in their upbringing.

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Two young birds

September 19, 2009

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My two little Merbah Kapur – Yellow-vented Bulbuls have grown a little. The parents are very busy collecting insects to fee the two hungry beaks. They have also grown some feathers.

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New chicks on the block

September 13, 2009

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Two eggs only

Today I discovered that the little Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) or Merbah Kapur as we call them in Malay, which had built an elaborate nest in on of the bushes just next to the table on our terrace, and which had laid two eggs some time ago, has had young ones. Our terrace is about 80 sq. meters and we planted a lot of different pot plants. I found the two hungry birds today. Welcome to Bangkok.

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Eggs become chicks

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Restaurant review: Al Majlis, Bangkok

September 11, 2009

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Do you want to have an atmospheric evening on a Friday night in Bangkok (actually any night will do)? If the answer is yes, then Al Majlis (actually the full name is Al Majlis Tearoom) is absolutely the right place for you. The Moroccon-inspired tearoom is the perfect place in busy Bangkok to relax and plunge in a long lost dream of a “Thousand an one night” experience.

I very much like the interior of the restaurant. Moreover, in the inner courtyard tent-like structures have been erected which remind me of a “caravanserai”. The sofa beds are very comfortable; it feels like sinking into a divan, a “Thousand and one night”-experience.

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Needless to say the food is excellent (I love couscous), the service friendly and there is also a wine list which offers sufficient choice. Moreover, I just love the design and the furnishings; it gives you the illusion that you went away, far away, traveled in time to a leisurely place where the hassle of the modern world canot reach you. You order a water pipe, a shisha, and just relax.

Address:
Al Majlis Tearoom
Praduu Spa Club
83/8 soi Charoenchai (Ekamai 12)
Sukhumvit 63 road
Bangkok 10110

T: +662 392 2345
F: +662 392 2344
E: info@almajlis-tearoom.com

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 4.30pm – 1am
Sat-Sun: 2pm – 1am

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