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2011 Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Kesselstatt and Beenleigh Blue

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We all have those films in our head which are triggered unintentionally by certain keywords. Take blue cheese: shouldn’t you have sweet wine with that? The Roquefort people have told us so many times about Sauternes being the perfect match with its sheeps‘ milk sweetness and penicillium spicyness, and for obvious reasons the Sauternes producers never contradict them… Well, my cellar isn’t exactly overflowing with Sauternes, and really good Roquefort is a rarity (so much of the stuff tastes overly salty and sharp)…  » Weiterlesen…

German cider revisited II: a Sparkling Surprise from Joachim Döhne

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For various reasons I’ve been into clearing stuff and tidying up recently, cleaning dark, dusty corners and getting rid of unnecessarities. This has been leading to some great discoveries. When I went down to the cellar to grab a sparkling to open dinner procedures the other night, there were those cider bottles, sparkling cider. Fill level was low, my expectations accordingly and I put three bottles in the fridge instead of just one, to be prepared for the worst. Oh, the negativity in me… dear Joachim Döhne, I sincerely apologize. » Weiterlesen…

German cider revisited I: Apple Heaven from Andreas Schneider

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I could start this with saying that Ebbelwoi, traditional apple cider from around Frankfurt, doesn’t exactly enjoy a great reputation. But that would be so yesterday and predictable. I could also be totally honest and admit that for some unknown reason, a 12 bottle box just re-emerged from the depth of my cellar, containing 2011 and 2009 (!!!) apple wines from Andreas Schneider in Niedererlenbach near Frankfurt, Germany’s leading cider producer. Kind of embarrassing and unprofessional, I know. However, as life goes, it made for some amazing stuff in the glass. » Weiterlesen…

It’s been a red red night: German Pinot Noir x 3

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Pinot and me, we have a real love hate thing going on. He (yes, definitely he) can be so delicious and utterly attractive, basically non-resistable, and yet so cruel. Next morning, that is. Nothing worse than trying to tackle your morning run with a head full of pinot fumes… I’m not sure why that is, but I think that the low yield, slow fermentation and long skin contact necessary for great pinot produce some stuff on the side that has that not so special effect.  » Weiterlesen…

The same, yet different: 2012 Roter Riesling from Corvers-Kauter, Rheingau

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In case reading that heading makes you feel dazed and confused: yes, it does mean red Riesling, and it’s not a joke. The white queen has a red sibling! Well, red… let’s make that pinkish  in berry and white in the glass. But it’s rare. To my knowledge it’s been almost extinct until 2006, when a few producers in the Rheingau started to look after it. » Weiterlesen…

Cheese of the month January 2014: Ricotta from Torricelle, Paestum/I

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Since a few months there is a new stall at the farmers market at Markthalle Neun, the revived old covered market hall in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Alessandro Salerno for some reason is totally determined to provide Berliners with the absolutely best possible buffalo mozzarella. Although at least from an Italian point of view, buffalo is redundant in this case, because mozzarella per definition is made from buffalo milk, and anything else is called Fior di Latte and of a completely different texture and taste. » Weiterlesen…

HeinzelCheeseTalks at Markthalle Neun in Berlin-Kreuzberg

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It’s been a great winter and I loved our Friday Eatdrinktalk sessions at Markthalle Neun. But all things must change to stay the same  – spring is looming, summer will come and I’ll be travelling again, always on the lookout for great wine, cheese, and stories around them. Which is exactly what I’d like to share with you from now one, once a month, at Markthalle Neun: the Heinzelcheese Talks. » Weiterlesen…

I want to go to Cappadocia: 2012 Kaya Kapadokia from Kocabağ

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Dedicated Heinzelcheese followers will have noticed that I’ve been into Turkish red wine since a year or so… Well, I’ll be completely honest with you: I fell in love with Öküzgözü, one of Turkey’s many indigenous varieties (for German readers: here is the full story from Effilee). And our little fling is still going strong. » Weiterlesen…

Sooo good with salmon: 12 Silvaner Quarzit from Riffel/Rheinhessen

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Some NYC wine guys recently had a discussion about tasting notes on Twitter. One of them pronounced a stranger’s tasting notes about as meaningful as a Beijing bus schedule.  Which tells me that a) presumably Beijing busses don’t run on time, b) these guys are tired of writing them (tasting notes, not bus schedules), and c) they might not read the right ones (tasting notes, again). Of course, translating sensual impressions into words is as tricky to get right as any other translation, perhaps even more so. » Weiterlesen…