Wine Fictions

 One of the things that I often experience when buying Italian wines is the recognition of my lack of knowledge about their grapes, specificity of the territory and an almost complete feeling of diving into the unknown.  That is as well as part of the fascination of buying them. This personal discovery of new worlds and sort of empiric gathering of information in order to try to understand what I have in my glass has been one of the most exciting wine experiences I have been through in these last times. In this particular case, I knew Chardonnay and Viognier and I could not resist to see how they would react to the warmer climate of Sicily as well as to the mix with the autoctonous grapes.  The result was quite positive, I must say. Pure freshness with a delicate citrus taste, making it a perfect pairing for summer dishes, with a special focus on seafood. Still, it shows quite a nice character due to its flowery taste and pleasant, long ending. A great wine to accompany ...

 From all the specific sorts of soils you can have to produce wine, I have to confess that the volcanic is one of the ones that thrills and intrigues me the most.  First I have to confess an extreme amazement of seeing how the grapes can grow and develop to an excellency point which can produce unique wines, full of character and extreme minerality.    Based at Etna´s foot, this Vulkà is not an exception.   Tremendously lively in taste, it presents a very stable body, with some fine herbs along with pear and apple, making it an elegant and seductive wine.    A perfect match for seafood or lighter summer meals.  So far, one of my highlights of this summer that seems to have come back to Hamburg.   Along with it, a poem by Francisco Alarcón to make it a perfect evening:   every tree a brother every hill a pyramid a holy spot every valley a poem in xochitl in cuicatl flower and song every cloud a prayer every rain drop a miracle every...

In order to do the most of the recent heat wave that has invaded Hamburg, I have decided to keep on my track of experimenting Vinhos Verdes. This time I have tried this intense Arinto from the Astronaut wines which has conquered me from the first sip. Brilliant acidity along with a strong and persistent pineapple taste have opened me the doors to an unique experience. For the fans of Arinto and its specific minerality, I would definitely recommend it.  Its rather pale and somehow lime colour induces us in adventurous palate experiences with high gastronomic paring. Also interesting is the concept of the whole project, which can be defined as a winemaker project, producing wines in different parts of the world ( Portugal, Germany or South Africa) under the same name and always with different collaborations.  A wine to enjoy the virtues and beauties of summer, such as this eternal poem by Shakespeare:   Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more t...