Showing posts with label Trollinger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trollinger. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

GRAPE THIEVERY IN GERMANY


wine news

News reports show up from time to time about people stealing grapes.  Lots of grapes, like a vineyard full of grapes.  An AP story recently appeared, telling the tale of thieves in Germany harvesting grapes that weren't theirs.

They came in the dead of night to Germany's Pfalz wine region and hand picked rows upon rows of Riesling, Trollinger and Grauburgunder grapes.  This would be a huge financial loss any time, for any winery, but a late frost in May 2011 killed many grapes, so the ones that survived are the last hope for these winemakers.  Add in the fact that the remaining grapes are thought to be of extremely high quality, and it's a double whammy.  Also, most of these family-run wineries have no insurance that covers theft of grapes.

It's not unusual for harvesting to occur at night, so there would nothing overtly suspicious about seeing people with flashlights working the vines in overnight hours.  Some witnesses claimed later they did see people in the vineyards, but simply thought it was the usual harvest.

Some winemakers in the region are now clinging to ice wine as their last chance to salvage something from this vintage.  Grapes for ice wine are harvested when frozen, and the winemakers are keeping close watch on their vineyards until it's time to harvest them.  They know, however, that the criminals are watching closely, too.




Tuesday, August 2, 2011

EISACKTALER KELLEREI ALTO ADIGE VALLE ISARCO KERNER


Eisacktaler Kerner

Kerner is a grape I don't see very often on wine lists.  German in origin, the Kerner grape is a cross of Riesling and Trollinger, which is a red variety.  It was created in 1929 and named for Justinus Kerner, a medical writer who also happened to write poetry concerning wine.  It wasn't bred commercially until 1969 and by the mid-'90s it was the third most-planted grape in Germany, although its popularity has slipped since then.
This wine is from the Sudtirol region of northern Italy (South Tyrol), part of Trentino-Alto Adige.  The cool, Alpine climate there is where Kerner thrives in the gravelly, sandy soil.  The winery, Eisacktaler Kellerei, is in the Valle Isarco area.  According to their website, this is where, "glaciers meet the gentle hillside landscapes of the Mediterranean."  It sure sounds beautiful enough.  I found this Alpine gem at Little Dom's in Los Feliz, $11 by the glass.
Yellow-gold in the glass, the wine's flinty minerals come through on the nose even though it's served ice cold.  Fruity flavors - mainly crisp golden apple - sail in on a zippy acidity.  I am reminded immediately of Sauvignon Blanc, but with a fuller mouthfeel.  It's a perfect match with my wood oven-roasted eggs, almost perfect with the side of wild boar bacon.  This is a fairly versatile wine.