Hello,
Friday night I had bought Pike Perch (that would be Wall-eye to the Merkins
of the group) and fresh asparagus from Holland. Also, our first case of
fresh veggies from distributor of eco produce had arrived, and it contained
amongst other nice things good potatoes (not to be sneezed at this time of
the year). I decided to fry the fish, lightly coated in flour and egg, and
do a sallad. While cooking, we had a glass of Dirler Riesling Belzbrunnen
2004 - extremely pleasant, with citrus and diesel in the nose, almost
bonedry on palate with that sort of rinsing acidity you get from a good
Riesling - beautiful, and a steal at less thatn EU 10 bought directly from
the producer.
My plan for the meal was something a bit more hefty than the Riesling. In
the fridge we had a bottle of 2005 Le Busche from Umani Ronchi, a producer I
have previously had some good experiences with, at affordable prices. This
wine had been much lauded in the newspapers.
The nose was charming - pears. Lots of pears. ALso a tad of minerals. On the
palate, it showed much fruit, too much fruit, or it could be simply RS. Low
on acidity, beaten up with an oak cudgel, out of balance.
We corked it up and got back to the Riesling which did a very convincing job
with fish and asparagus.
Saturday we had a short glass of an Australian - the Katnook Founder's Block
2003 Chardonnay from Coonawarra.
Opens with citrus aromas, slight minerality, hint of sulphur. Very fresh and
wellstructured, could pass for a white Bourg from a lesser commune. Good
aftertaste, ends on sweet liquorice. At SEK 98, very good QPR.

Cheers

Nils