Il Forno

WBW#22: 2004 Herzog von Auerstedt, Regent Saale Unstrut Qualitaetswein.

You would think that finding a red wine with less than 12.5% alcohol in Germany would be a piece of cake. I did too, when I read the theme that Tim, over at Winecast, picked for WBW#22: low alcohol reds. Think again: scanning the local stores, the lowest % alcohol German reds I managed to find are exactly on that limit. I only managed to come across one single bottle of red with 12% – from the sunny Italian island of Sardinia nonetheless – but having already decided for a German wine, I picked a local product of the Saale Unstrut wine region.

I never thought the alcohol percentage in a wine would make me feel old, yet it did. I was telling Daniela how 13-14% wines were considered alcohol bombs back when I started getting interested in wine-tasting and she just looked at me, smiled and told me I sounded like a pensioner rambling about the "good old times". Isn't she the loveliest wife? Nonetheless, I do miss having more low-alcohol every day wines at hand, especially to go with this season's cuisine and temperatures... even if I sound like a moaning old man when I say so!

The wine I picked for this edition of WBW is a 2004 Saale Unstrut Qualitaetswein made by the local Thüringer Weingut Bad Sulza from Regent grapes. I had never tried Regent before. This is hybrid grape variety with high resistance to fungal diseases, which is said to produce either warm wines from cold terroirs or products that resemble Rhone wines in their aroma. It is certainly becoming increasingly popular in Germany, and to some extent in England too. The wine itself is a special edition bottle released for the bicentenary German-French celebrations of the battles of Jena and Auerstedt between the Napoleonic troops and the Prussian-Saxon alliance.

The wine itself opens on fruity notes of damsons, blackberries and raspberries, with just a touch of cloves, leather and earth following, but it slightly lacks cleanness, closing on a weak chemical-waxy note. It is well balanced in taste, where the fruity notes return albeit less defined than in the bouquet; the finish is medium closing with a not too pleasing bitter note.Though not completely disappointing, it is another Saale Unstrut red that falls short of expectations, contrary to what I am discovering about the local whites.

Wine Tasting Notes: Naumburger Sonneneck 2004 Saale Unstrut Riesling trocken QbA, Weingut Pawis.

The recent Fabulous Favourites Festival has had one peculiar side-effect on me and this blog. I had not written about wine for ages, but after a little warm-up exercise and my event entry, I noticed I wanted to go on and have an excuse to write about wine again. Actually, why  should I need an excuse on my own blog? My tasting notes are not going to be as good as those of the dedicated wine bloggers out there, but having had the proper wine tasting training I think I could still manage to put together something that is not completely meaningless.

This is also the chance to launch a new category dedicated to Jena and surroundings. Although the area around here is not the centre of gastronomic life I would like it to be, it still has quite a bit to offer. I used to have the occasional local post some time ago, but that slowed to a halt way back. Time to pick up that thread again.

Back to wine for a little introduction on east German wine: after the fall of the Berlin Wall the eastern German wine industry has somewhat struggle to meet the standard of its western colleagues, catching up with modern oenological advances and marketing, yet things are changing. The best producers of the area are slowly being recognised nationally and local wine is finally earning some due respect. There are two protected Denominations of Origin areas (Anbaugebiete in German) in the east, Sachsen, located around Dresden, and the Saale Unstrut region, starting only a few kilometres north of Jena and centred around Naumburg and Freyburg.

Living so close to the latter, I have had quite a few chances to taste a number of the local wines, predominantly the dry ones produced as Qualitätswein or Kabinett according to the German wine classification. Many of these are perfectly fine wines, in a simple and immediate way, but none has ever particularly rocked my world. Talking to another wine-aficionado in a local shop a few months ago, I was told to try the wines made by Weingut Pawis, hinting that these might chance my opinion of the local tipple. Pawis is by far the producer with the best reputation around here, getting good press and prizes with every vintage. The winery itself is pretty young: it opened in 1990 with only half an hectare of vineyard and has since then slowly expanded: the cellar that is used today only became operative in 1999.