Why that date and dau you may ask? Well, chances were there for an opportunity to have our new
Supporting GOLD Member present and as I knew he is a wines’ buff plus I had a few more (I thought), This was his last day before returning to Stockholm and Sweden for this year. Andris Zvejnieks is fully booked, so the next time it has to be with Hot Wine – Glögg – at Christmas!
Present were Juris Fridmanis, JFinance who loves wines, Vents Druva who grew up in Australia not
exactly unknown for good wines although we only see standard ones, almost industrially made, in the shops so just that for an insight is why we were glad to have him onboard, and then Crazy Henrik who remember age 11 when the first talks were about Sweden running a wine tanker to Australia, and back, because we only have one buyer in Sweden – the state which means a few liters… Talking of which – Sweden last year consumed 320,000 or so liters just of a white wine from Chile – and Maipo Valley.
Today, at lunch with Andris in ‘’Elande’’ on Briivibas Gatve near Teika and NESTE (great food by-the-way. Daily 2-course-lunch = 7,xx EUR). I was told they are seeing a decline in alcohol and wine consumption in Sweden because the younger generation see or drink things differently! Instead the older generation – Read: senior women are the largest consumers (not surprised, men die younger). Thus, will wine become cheaper, come from countries closer only? Time will certainly tell! I am more concerned about the birthrates just like I was when dancing on a dance floor became less common – no cheek-to-cheek, there, anymore!:(( And what does that do for good music produced?? That’s why we die folks! We get tired of living in a desert, and I for one crave GOOD Wine!
Now with my array – see pictures of Italian Primitivo, Argentinian ‘’privada’’, South African GLEN
Carlou, Californian Buena Vista fr Sonoma County, a Washington state wine, and finally a wine from Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. We were pretty well covered! Only Chile was absent and possibly Australia/New Zealand.
We almost of us arrived at that for value for Money the Italian, actually bought in Eirovins on
Terbatas/Gertrudes held its own, well! The lady present – recommended this as her favourite??. At just under 17 eur for taste, pleasure, stamina and smell it got it right. The wine that topped the price label was exactly Sonoma’s The Count’s Own as they call if from the man who supposedly planted it himself, in 1857 and forward – Count Buena Vista – at just under 30 EUR It was tasty, but the tastiest among us we voted for the Argentinian NORTON ‘’Privada’’(below 20) bought at Vino Studio in Antonijas iela / Elisabetes it was like a Tango to the pallet and Andris saw himself with a good steak – and so did I but for conversation, with or without food the Pasta was an option and our Primitivo had it all! And, here I agree with Juris Fridmanis – multiple usages! It also had been awarded at a Berlin Fair as best winemaker’s so we certainly reaped the benefits!
Our Washington state we felt had seen better days (EUR 26) and none of the wines we had were bad, it is just that it was a bit watery, as if having been shelved too long. All wines do not like waiting, maybe this was a one?
Moving on the Sonoma County was good too – was it worth EUR 26 ? Maybe. I will probably try it again just to affix my opinion. The Canadian stood out for age (2015) but looked far younger and was a Zinfandel – currently a favoured grape these days from both continents. Mot that we had had Cabernet Sauvignon content and the Canadian was Syrah, which often makes wines looking deep purple and dark but this one had a shade of transparency again we think it had lost it and there was a colour separation. All were however very deep in colour and yes they were tasty – I think we can end by saying it was good value for money all over. Several topics were discussed so by mastering your minds over a glass of wine or too – a lot gets said. We missed Aigars Zviedris who like us likes tasty wines and Stig Lonnberg who unfortunately had to run errands. To me it was the best wines tasting ever as I liked all the wines and ITALY has again proven itself the right to be on the map! Simply RED shows it will keep us warm for the up-coming months and yield a lot of palatable satisfaction E Viva Italia!
