Wrapped haunch of venison with homemade “Eier-Spätzle”

July 25, 2011

Ingredients for the venison:
- a haunch of venison
- pig’s caul
- 250 gr. smoked ham (as fat as possible)
- 2-3 onions
- 6-7 garlic cloves
- 4-5 baby carrots
- 4 small potatoes

- 150 gr. Butter
- a bunch of fresh rosemary
- a bunch of fresh sage
- a bunch of fresh basil
- a bunch of lavender
- sea salt
- red pepper
- 2 limes
- 20 ml Aceto Balsamico
- sweet paprika
- bay leaves
- 500 ml red wine
- grape seed oil
- 2 pinches of cinnamon
Preparation :
Place the haunch of venison in large cooking tray and arrange all the vegetables (don’t cut them) around it. Prepare a marinate .....

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“Burgundy” meets “New World”

July 5, 2011

Year: Wine: Producer:Country: Region: Variety(-ies) Size: Closure: Alcohol: Taste: Colour: Group:
2002 Pommard Les Caves des Hautes-Côtes France Burgundy Pinot Noir 0,75 l natural cork 13.00 vol.% dry red III

Les Caves des Hautes-Côtes is a co-operative in Beaune and handles 470 hectares in 40 Burgundy appellations !! Aha, a really big producer with a lot of trivial wines, isn’t it ? Sure 2002 has been an excellent vintage but Pommard is known for tighter, more robust wines than its more .....

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CellarTales International Wineroundtable Edition No. 6

July 4, 2011

Better late than never ! The “International WineRoundTable Edition No.7” is already in the planning stage and I haven’t closed so far the last one … Well, we have been extremely busy lately (that’s a good thing) and therefore I let slight a little bit CellarTales and a lot of interesting wines lined up (that’s a bad thing). But I will do my very best to compensate the lost time. So, what we have had for our “International WineRoundTable Edition No.6” ? A very colored tasting with ups and downs, surprises and disappointments and a lot of different .....

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1986 Chateau Chasse-Spleen vs. 1995 Chateau Lynch-Moussas Grand Cru Classé – BDX generations

July 2, 2011

Year: Wine: Producer: Country: Region: Variety(-ies):   Size: Closure: Alcohol: Taste: Colour: Group:
1986 cru bourgeois exceptionnel Chateau Chasse-Spleen France Bordeaux (Moulis)Cabernet Sauvignon (73%), Merlot (20%), Petit Verdot (7%) 0,75 l natural cork 12.50 vol.% dry red IV

People who know me also know my fable for this particular winery. So far I didn’t experience a disappointment concerning this producer and its price-pleasure ratio has always been more then just OK Therefore it appears normal to me to “strike” immediately if .....

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1999 Clos Cazals vs. 2000 Hervé Dubois Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru – brothers in arms …

July 2, 2011

Year: Wine:   Producer: Country: Region: Variety(-ies): Size: Closure: Alcohol: Taste: Colour: Group:
1999 “Clos Cazals” Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs brutChampagne Cazals France Champagne Chardonnay 0,75 l natural cork 12 vol.% dry (brut) white (sparkler) V

During a stay in Epernay a couple of years ago we went by a very “French” wine magazine in Epernay (close to the “Avenue de Champagnes”) to supply with some sparklers for dinner. From the outside you don’t get a clue what kind of treasure chamber you are entering by .....

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Good old times ? – 5 white classics

May 4, 2011

Year: Wine: Producer: Country: Region: Variety(-ies): Size: Closure: Alcohol: Taste: Colour: Group:
1990 “Le MD” Henri Bourgeois France Sancerre (Loire) Sauvignon Blanc 0,75 l cork 12.50 vol.% dry white III

The grapes for this wine have been harvested from the “Côte des Monts Damnés“ – cursed mountains or simply “MD”. A very steep hillside with a special soil (shell limestone/clay) offers excellent conditions for classic, mineral Sauvignon Blancs. And who still thinks that SB cannot age and should be consumed in its .....

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South Africa Gastro

March 25, 2011
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1985 Chateau Lanessan … moldy label, yummy wine !

March 25, 2011

Year: Wine: Producer: Country: Region: Variety(-ies):    Size: Closure: Alcohol: Taste: Colour: Group:
1985 cru bourgeois supérieur Chateau Lanessan France Haut Médoc Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (36%), Petit Verdot (4%) 0,75 l natural cork 12.5 vol.% dry red III

Ok, ok ! I admit it. The label looked like hell, the capsule has been corroded and the cork soaked until the last 2 mm. But for people like me, who wants to drink the wine and not to resell it, the .....

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Hartenberg, Nederburg & Co. – mature South African Cabernet Sauvignon

March 23, 2011

Lately with these wines and after we tasted also some mature blends it’s clear to us, that despite a lot of reports to the contrary South African reds can have an excellent aging potential, too. Of course not all of them, but here there’s no difference to other famous regions. Furthermore a lot of younger red wines (blends and single-variety) which we tried during our recent stay in this amazing country encouraged me to reinforced my statement, that some of them are having a lot of in common with traditional Clarets (expression, elegance,structure) without denying their origin. Of course .....

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Langoustines soup

March 22, 2011

Ingredients :
- 20 (precooked) Langoustines
- 750 ml dry white wine
- 200 ml homemade fish stock
- 100 ml Vermouth (Noily Prat, Martini etc.)
- 1 celery
- 1 fennel
- 2 carrots
- 1 Spanish onion
- lemon grass
- citrus thyme
- sage
- 1 lime
- 150 g Crème fraîche
- clarified butter
- salt
- fresh milled white pepper
- a pinch of chili pepper
Preparation :
Cut the lemon grass, the celery, the fennel, the carrots and the onion in very small pieces. The lemon grass becomes more intense if you grind it with a pestle in a mortar. Keep some of the cutted carrots and some of the green parts of .....

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