Restaurant review: Tablo – Turkish restaurant in Essen, Germany

October 2, 2011

Tablo restaurant in Essen

I had some business in Essen the other day, and my good old friend Uli Hillejan came to meet me for a dinner reunion.

Years ago, Uli had worked in this city at the heart of the Ruhr region which was once famous for its mines.

He also had a recommendation regarding the restaurant we should go to. It was the “Tablo – tuerkisch essen” restaurant owned by Yilmaz Dogan and his family.

I must apologize here for the low quality of my photos. I don’t know why I did not get it together that night. Maybe I was too excited? Who knows. Fact is, the following four photos of the food are all blurry.

We had a starter each and then a main course. Only much later did we learn that Tablo restaurant is famous for it’s ‘mercimek corbasi’ or in German ‘Linsensuppe’ (lentil soup), according to the waiter the “best in town”.

Baked goats cheese

Some cold vegetables

Lamb cutlets

Baked zucchini under cheese

It was a good meal. The food was very tasty, the service efficient and the waiter was very helpful, advising us also on the wine.

We wanted to drink a wine from Turkey with our meal. He suggested to take a bottle of ‘2007 Selection Öküzgözü-Boğazkere’ by the award winning Kavaklidere Winery.

‘2007 Selection Öküzgözü-Boğazkere’ by Kavaklidere Wines

Kavaklidere Wines is one of the big wine businesses in Anatolia, Turkey with as astonishing tradition. The enterprise is more than 82 years old and has about 562 ha under vines.

The selected wine was a blend of two indigenous grape varieties Öküzgözü (also called “ox-eye”) and Boğazkere. The latter usually displays dried fruit and fig flavour; the “ox-eye” grape shows some red berry taste of raspberries and cherries.

What a beautiful dark red colour

We both liked the wine. It has a strong body and a long finish. It’s alcohol content is rather low (12.5%). It had some oak but it was not overwhelming. All in all, a very good and very enjoyable wine. The price of 32 Euro was reasonable, I thought.

If you visit Essen look out for Tablo, the Turkish restaurant.

Address:
Tablo tuerkisch essen Restaurant
Huyssenallee 5
D-45128 Essen
Tel: +49-201-8119585
Fax: +49-201-8119584
www.tablo-restaurant.de

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Roast venison in Trier with a Merlot from Two Hills Vineyard

September 30, 2011

Whenever I visit my family in Trier, they spoil me with super delicious food, mostly game dishes. Heinz is a passionate hunter and he reserves only the best meat for me. This time young roast venison was on the agenda = my plate. I tell you, it was awesome.

The young roast venison

Venison with vegetables and egg noodles

2001 Merlot from Two Hills Vineyard

I washed the venison down with a ‘2001 Two Hills Merlot’, which is still a drinkable wine. The softness of the Merlot tannins went well with the savoury taste of the young game.

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Winery review – Closson Chase Vineyards, Prince Edward County, Ontario

September 23, 2011

I know that not that many people visit my blog entries on Canada, its wineries and wines. However, that may be, I am going to continue to introduce some of the places we have visited during our summer vacation. I have two reasons for this:

1. because I believe that Canadian wine is worth to take note of (tasting and drinking!), and
2. because I am convinced that in the next couple of years some of the Canadian wines will hit international wine markets and might be more readily available to consumers outside the Americas.

The Man from the Mosel in front of the famous Closson Chase entrance

The evening before we visited Closson Chase Vineyards, we had a glass of its 2009 Chardonnay which tasted strange, very strange. In hindsight I think it was off.

However, in some of the brochures collected from the Picton tourist office I had read a story about Deborah Paskus, the iconoclast viticulturist and celebrated wine-maker of Closson Chase, which led me to believe that we have to go and see the place with our own eyes.

Closson Chase was established in 1999. It produces exclusively the Burgundy varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines, some from its own vineyards, some from leased properties nearby.

We visited Closson Chase on the 2nd of August, a beautiful summers day. The cellar door is located in Hillier on the Western side of Prince Edward County.

Closson Chase has about 30 acres under vines. The soils are
limestone rich. The low yields and the French inspired vinification and barreling are responsible for the superior quality of its wines.

In 2009, Jancis Robinson, the guru of the international wine circuit, called Closson Chase Vineyards one of the two finest producers in Ontario.

The historic barn

The cellar door and tasting room is housed in a century old barn which has been restored. The day we visited an exhibition of moden art was shown on the premises.

The back side to the entry where the garden is located

The garden where we tasted the wines

The tasting at Closson Chase Vineyards is pricy in comparison with other place on Prince Edward County. For a tasting of three wines one had to pay 12 C$ (uff!!!). We drank two glasses of unoaked Chardonnay, and one glass of Pinot Noir.

The garden ist just wonderful located on the back side of the old barn. We sat their completely satisfied. The wines were stunningly good. We bought a bottle of Chardonnay and one Pinot Noir to take home to Bangkok. Only one bottle “survived” the journey. More about the Pinot Noir when we have it with a meal.

Closson Chase is a must visit if you are in Ontario.

A Closson Chase vineyard

Old vines with grapes

Address:
Closson Chase Vineyards
629 Closson Road, Hillier, Ontario K0K 2J0
Tel: +1-613-399-1418
Fax: +1-613-399-1618
E-mail info@clossonchase.com
www.clossonchase.com

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The wines of Canada – Booty from Ontario

September 19, 2011

The six bottles we brought home from Ontario to the Mosel

Unfortunately wine bottles are rather heavy. Among the four of us we were able to carry six bottles with us. Some of them I had to leave behind in Germany, two of them made it to Bangkok.

I have already written about Marynissen Estates, the lovely winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. About the other four producers I intend to post in due course.

The two bottles in the middle of the above picture are from Huff Estate in Prince Edward County. Also Del Gatto Winery is located on this island, as is Closson Chase Vineyards and The Grange of Prince Edward County Estates.

I had the great opportunity to visit all of them and taste some of their wines. Great stuff what the Canadian wine-makers produce, I must say.

Stay tuned for more stories on Canadian wineries.

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How to say good bye to Germany – would a Riesling do?

September 17, 2011

A wine cooler at Frankfurt Airport

We left Germany in style, will say, we had a bottle of German Riesling while waiting for our plane to Bangkok.

A bottle of ‘2010 Frankhof Weinkontor Riesling’ was my choice. I had never heard of this producer.

Later I found out that it belongs to the Steigenberger Hotel chain. In 1873 a wine cellar was founded in the basement of the Frankfurter Hof hotel. Albert Steigenberger bought the place in 1940 and made it his flagship hotel.

2010 Frankhof Weinkontor Riesling

The wine is a good specimen representing German Riesling quite nicely. It is nothing special though, just a good Riesling, fresh and full of lemon flavours, in short the way I like it.

But the fact that we had a good Riesling served in a wine cooler relaxed us somehow. We could conclude our summer holiday in a setting which reminded us about the many great wines we had tasted, the places we had visited and the people we had the great opportunity to meet.

Summer 2011 was wonderful for our family; we had a great time in Canada and Germany.

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The program is out – 3. International Symposium on Tropical Wine

August 24, 2011

I have already announced and informed you about the 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Wine to be held from 12. to 18. November in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Now the first draft program is out. Gosh there are so many interesting sessions, international and national speakers, and exciting field trips on offer that I might not know where to go. I cannot attend all for them.

Have a look and check it out.

By the way, you should register, I have already done it.

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Jewel of Ontario: Stratford, home of the Shakespeare Festival and Justin Bieber

August 13, 2011

Stratford, Ontario

We had the great pleasure to spend a couple of days in Stratford, Ontario. Apart from visiting our friends Dominik and Kymm, we also had the opportunity to explore this picturesque and very pleasant town.

Founded in 1832 at a railway junction, Stratford is a city of about 32.000 people at the Avon River in Perth County, about 2-3 hours West of Toronto. Many of its first settlers came from England so it is little wonder that it was named after Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

The town is famous for its Shakespeare Festival. The city has four theaters and from May to November the city is buzzing with tourist, theater aficionados, music lovers, festival goers, musicians, actors, singers, directors and all kind of “technical people” and support staff.

The Shakespeare festival 2011

Unfortunately, we could not manage to attend a performance. Instead we participated in an extremely interesting theater tour and were introduced to almost 60 years of festival history, the plays, the stage, and the facilities of the main house.

A landmark: the Perth County Courthouse in Stratford

But Stratford is also the place where Justin Bieber, the now famous young musician, was raised. One of the city’s ice cream parlors, named Scoopers, was one of his favourite places.

Needless to say that my two teenage daughters needed to check out this almost sacred space. Also the ice cream was very enjoyable. If you happen to visit Ontario, go and spend some time in Stratford. It is definitely worth it.

Scoopers ice cream parlor in Stratford

Enjoying ice cream in Justin Bieber’s home town

PS: Stratford has some very good eateries and restaurants where wines from Ontario are readily available. But more about the wines from Ontario at another time.

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Ice hockey and wine – 2008 No. 99 Wayne Gretzky Chardonnay

July 30, 2011

Traveling through Canada, my wine of the week is the ‘2008 No. 99 Wayne Gretzky Chardonnay’ which we drank the other night at my friend Dominik’s house in Stratford, Ontario.

It is well known that not only dentists and medical doctors get lured into the wine business but also sport stars. Wayne Gretzky the famous Canadian ice hockey player being one of them. His winery, the Wayne Gretzky Estate, which opened in 2007, is located on the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario.

This unoaked Chardonnay is a very pleasant wine. We had it with a pizza. The wine has all the good characteristics of a good ‘Chardy’. It won some awards (silver and bronze) as well. I liked the peach notes and the fine balance of acids. It is also a very affordable wine (12.95 Canadian $). We had great pleasure sampling it.

Address:
Wayne Gretzky Estate Winery
3751 King Street
PO Box 55
Vineland ON L0R 2C0
CANADA
www.gretzkyestatewines.com

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Summer break – The Mosel Man is gone!

July 14, 2011

Hi folks. This is my last post for some time to come. We are leaving tonight and will travel for a couple of weeks in Europe and Canada. I will see my beloved Mosel and my home town Trier. I will collect stories and drink a lot of good wine, mostly Riesling.

In Canada I will visit my old friend Dominik Franken who lives in Ontario. The last time we met was in 1989! It will be a joyous reunion. I am very excited about this.

Before leaving Bangkok we opened a bottle of bubbly. Cheers my friends and fellow bloggers and wine lovers.

..and what was it?

Woolshed Brut from Victoria. I have no idea what it is. I will find out later. Now it is holidays and nothing else. Cheers folks. Seeya later.

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Japanese food at home

July 9, 2011

Japanese food is very popular not only in Asia but also in Europe. Even my hometown Trier at the beautiful Mosel river got a sushi bar.

Also my family just loves Japanese food. And there are so many different kinds. We even bought a table grill so that we could enjoy a “Japanese table barbecue” or a “hot pot”.

It innocently starts with an egg

Followed by vegetables and dofu

Then comes the meat

And at the end it all comes together in the hot pot to which a broth needs to be added

My wine suggestion is broad. A Cabernet Sauvignon would do but also a Merlot, a Tempranillo or a Malbec. Also Italian reds would go well with the food.

However, I would not rule out a white, especially if the meal is a lunch time affair. For dinner I prefer a red. So the choice is yours.

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