Ursula Heinzelmann, Wein- & Essenschreiberin
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…
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…
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…
I really should be busy at completely different stuff, but an article about dry German riesling in the New York Times just made me push everything to the side. Let me first be clear about one thing: I appreciate any attention German wine gets and I am happy for anybody to discover it his or her way. Well, almost. Because what I don’t like at all (and would have thought Eric Asimov, for whom I have a lot of respect, would have known better) is bringing out the same old, tired lines yet again… » Weiterlesen…
What do I know about Slowakian Riesling? Embarrassingly little, such as that this one, the 2011 „1“ from Elesko, grows in the small Carpathians in the Modra region, not even two hours drive east of Vienna. And that with 12% alcohol it is light in a very pleasant way, but in the depth of winter also quite refreshing due to the characteristic Riesling acidity! » Weiterlesen…