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Summer memories of Portugal: 2012 Defesa von Esporão

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That’s one of the beauties of wine: it can transport feelings and memories through time and space. In early October I’ve been to the Alentejo in Portugal where it was still summer, the golden sunlight bathing the beautiful roughness of the landscape. Of course, that trip was all about wine and food and the first stop was at Herdade de Esporão, the region’s most important wine producer. But instead of a wine tasting, we went first to their vegetable garden and then straight to the kitchen. » Weiterlesen…

Taste twice before you think: Rheingau Riesling from Anthony Hammond

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It’s really nice when people stay on one’s radar through several lives. I met Anthony Hammond when I was at sommelier school in Heidelberg, back in 1992, when our motley bunch of wine-crazy fulltime students went to every single tasting we could possibly fit in, geographically, financially and timewise. He worked for some wine merchant then and we kept running into each other, then lost touch and for a while I wondered what had become of that nice guy who is just as American as he is German. But the big plan hadn’t finished with us: In my next life, in Berlin (November, grey) and jobless, I walked past a wine shop and suddenly stopped in my tracks: I had just caught a glimpse of a familiar figure… you guessed it, Anthony. » Weiterlesen…

Lovely sweet stuff from Málaga: Rujaq Andalusí

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The sweeter the wine, the older it should be, as the sweetness over the years gradually recedes into the back of the taste spectrum – at least for me. However, that’s easier said than done, as my squirrel gene seems kind of underdeveloped. So it’s extremely nice to come accross a wine such as this Málaga from Dimobe where the ageing has been done at the winery. » Weiterlesen…

Bubbles from Domaine La Louvière

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Not that I’d need an excuse for a glass of bubbles (or two) at the start of the evening (full disclosure: I am a bubbles girl). But the festive season is upon us, and a steady stream of bubbles is more important than ever to get everybody into the mood, to celebrate love and friendship, and… well, just because life is too short not to have bubbles. » Weiterlesen…

Fribourg, Yvorne and MFK’s love story

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I recently had to travel to Switzerland for a day, to interview somebody who lives near Luzern. Thinking I was very clever and would catch two flies with one swat, as we say in German, I planned my trip to fly into Geneva and visit Fribourg cheesemakers, then travel by train to Luzern – only to find out that the cheese date wouldn’t happen. And that the Swiss train fares are even more expensive than the German ones. To cut it short: I felt like a dammed fool for not rebooking my ticket to Zurich, which would have been a short hop… » Weiterlesen…

Cheese of the month December 2013: Stichelton from Nottinghamshire/UK

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Winter without Stilton is like summer without Riesling, great meals without wine, life without love and friendship… well, you get the idea. But just as there is good Riesling and better Riesling and you might like some friends just that little bit more, there is good and better in the world of blue cheeses under the name of Stilton. And the best is Stichelton. » Weiterlesen…

Cheese of the month November 2013: Pouligny St Pierre, Berry and Touraine/France

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For most people in this part of the world November sounds somehow dark, melancholy and altogether grey. But first, at least for now the late autumn sun is still shining beautifully, second the grey is a great excuse after all the summer outdoors time to settle in at home (cook a lot! music! read!) and third (I know, this is supposed to be a cheese blog) with the right cheese on the table, things will look much better, immediately. » Weiterlesen…

Cheese of the month October 2013: Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Seattle & NYC/USA

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No excuse for yet another offering from the English speaking cheese world! I’m fully aware though that American Cheddar from glasswalled facilities in both Seattle and midtown New York sounds like more show than content, more Disneyland than real character… but the American cheeselogic often works completely against what we European cheesaholics assume. Beecher’s Flagship Reserve is a gorgeous cheese, fullstop. » Weiterlesen…

Riesling and milky substances at Rutz, Berlin

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Classically trained ambitious chefs mostly use dairy products in the form of butter and cream, as well offering a cheese course (which they sometimes can’t help to fiddle around with, as if a sommelier added a dash of this and a few grams of that to wines, just to prove his or her own importance – no comment). Therefore a big applause for this extremely succesfull composition from Marco Müller at Rutz in Berlin: wild yellow Tomate, marinated scallop & sheep’s milk. » Weiterlesen…