Published August 2008
Germany's historical wine industry has long been synonymous with one particular variety. Quite simply, the Riesling. Known throughout the world for their superior whites while neighbouring countries sit pretty on their old world red wine laurels, the German Riesling is a wine that truly shines.
Nicknamed "the Rhine wine" for it's origins in the Rhine region, the Riesling is a grape variety that flourishes in a colder climate and is usually enjoyed while young, although that is not always the rule of thumb. A good Riesling will have a highly fragrant bouquet and a clean, crisp flavour with varying levels of apples, apricots, and other fruits. In short, a pleasant aroma balanced with a honeyed, fruity flavour.
One such German Riesling producer is the Gunderloch estate. Widely acknowledged as Germany's best, Gunderloch wines have clearly set the standard in terms of outstanding German wines. Celebrated award winning winemaker Fritz Hasselbach was in Kota Kinabalu recently to introduce and to guide wine enthusiasts through the Gunderloch range of Riesling.
Held at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa's Peppino Restaurant, guests were feted to a repertoire of some of Gunderloch's best. Touted as the people responsible for the high calibre of Gunderloch wines, Hasselbach and his wife Agnes Hasselbach-Usinger currently manage the Gunderloch estate, Agnes being the direct descendant of Carl Gunderloch, the founder of Gunderloch wines. Carl Gunderloch was a banker who formed the Gunderloch estate in 1890. Today, Fritz and Agnes man the helm with the help of their children Friedrich, Kathrin, Johannes and Stefanie.
Said Hasselbach, "Our wines have a worldwide reputation. They are easy to drink, light on alcohol and go wonderfully with different types of food. Our grapes are produced in cool climates but we also have a little hot weather so that provides the soil with a nice balance. The family estate produces 10,000 cases of wines that are shipped to 38 countries around the world. Riesling goes well in this tropic climate and our wines range from 8.5% to 10% in alcohol. In Germany there is no strict classification of standard based on vineyard or chateau. It is based on the sweetness level of grapes. So the sweeter the grapes, the higher the standard of wine."
Also deserving of mention was the venue for this Winemaker's dinner. Peppino Restaurant has undergone a refreshing facelift. An update of soft peppermint greens paired with light olive tones and classic black lines. Luxurious leather chairs are balanced off with comfortable white linens. The overall theme is one of understated elegance and this is accentuated with the floor to ceiling glass wine storage facility which gives a new meaning to the term 'wine rack'. In summation, a perfect setting for bon vivant epicureans and those who are simply in search of some great food.
The menu and accompanying wines :
- Pan-fried goose liver with warm goat cheese croutons on diced red apples
NACKENHEIM ROTHENBERH RIESLING AUSLESE GOLDSAPSEL
- Strawberry sorbet
- Pappardelle with sea scallops and prawn ragout scented with lemongrass
GUNDERLOCH ESTATE QbA TROCKEN
- Seared red snapper fillet on diced braised beetroot
GUNDERLOCH RIESLING KANINETT JEAN BAPTISTE
- Angus beef fillet topped with wild mushrooms and Taleggio
NACKENHEIM ROTHENBERG SPATLESE
- Cheesecake flavoured with passion fruit
NACKENHEIM ROTHENBERG AUSLESE
Showing posts with label Winemaker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winemaker. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 May 2011
An Evening With Alessia
Published April 2008
Last Friday evening a small group of us here in Kota Kinabalu were given the opportunity to interact with Alessia Antinori, a scion from one of the most important Italian wine families. Held at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, the venue for the event was at the resort's Italian restaurant Peppino - voted one of Malaysia's best restaurants.
Thanks to the culinary skills of Chef Denis Vecchiato, Antinori Biancos and Chianti Classicos were intelligently paired with a sophisticated Italian menu.
The dinner, entitled "An Evening With Alessia Antinori" gave guests the chance to familiarize themselves with some of the more popular wines from the Antinori fold.
With a large number of awards and accolades and a very solid reputation in Italy's somewhat rigid wine structure and appellation, the Antinoris clearly know what they are doing when it comes to all things grape related. To quote Marchese Piero, the head of the Antinori family, "ancient roots play an important role in our philosophy, but they have never held back our spirit of innovation."
The Antinoris have been producing wine for the past 600 years and are credited with formulating the 'Super Tuscan' in the 1970s ; a richer version of Chianti table wine.
Marchese Piero Antinori's experiments with other grape varieties from the region, namely cabernet sauvignon and merlot, were initially frowned upon and was considered a very bold move at the time. With the success of the Super Tuscan however, Antinori can now rest on the laurels of it's premier wines and the direct product of this trial is the famous Tignanello which was clearly the ambrosial star of the evening.
I was fortunate to be able to speak to the charming and gracious Allesia on life as an Antinori.
YOUR FAMILY HAS MADE WINE FOR 26 GENERATIONS?
Yes. I am part of that 26th generation with my other two sisters. We are three women involved in the wine business. So it's quite unique.
DID YOU AND YOUR SISTERS ALWAYS WANT TO BE IN THE WINE INDUSTRY OR DID YOU TRAIN FOR SOMETHING ELSE?
No we had the choice to do whatever we wanted. But we have wine in our DNA, in our genes. I actually wanted to study history of art but then decided that I wanted to leave Florence and ended up studying wine making. I focused more on being a winemaker in the beginning but now I mainly look after sales.
DO YOU DO MUCH TRAVELING?
Yes I travel to the Middle East and Asia. I spend about 4 months out of a year here in this part of the world.
THAT SOUNDS TIRING.
I always tell myself that during all the trips that I make, I try to stay more relaxed but then that's impossible. I arrived on Monday morning at 6am in Hong Kong. I spent a day there for work. On Tuesday I went to Singapore and on Wednesday I was in Bangkok. And yesterday I was in Siem Reap in Cambodia. Today I came here.
HAVE YOU BEEN TO SABAH BEFORE?
No. It's my first time. I've been to KL and Penang many times before but not to Sabah.
AS YOU'VE TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD, IS THERE ANY TYPE OF FOOD THAT SHOULD NOT BE PAIRED WITH WINE?
I think Asian food does generally go with wine. But if it's is extremely spicy or too hot it will ruin the taste of the wine. Something to look at is Cambodian food. From what I've tried I didn't find it spicy and it actually went very well together.
YOU HAVE WINERIES OUTSIDE OF ITALY, IN HUNGARY AND AMERICA. IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON FOR THIS? Absolutely. My father has always traveled abroad a lot. The main characteristic about Antinori is that it is a hundred percent family owned and also that we have an extremely open minded view on Italian wines. So we went ahead, traveled a lot and fell in love with the new wine areas. And for us it is not a matter of financial matters but exchanging opinions and experiences with people from the new wine areas of the world.
We got the chance to invest in Napa Valley in the 1980s and in Chile we own fifty percent of a winery there. We have a beautiful property called Bàtaapàti in the south of Hungary. And then there's a small collaboration in Washington State too.
THAT SOUNDS QUITE PROGRESSIVE.Nowadays you would say it's quite normal, especially from the 90s onwards. In the 70s it wasn't normal but I believe that what makes us good is having an open mind and also having the opportunity to invest in new areas back then which today, would be too expensive.
SO YOU GOT IN EARLY.
Well in the Napa Valley in the 80s we were one of the first ones there. Also in Puglia which is a region in Italy, I would say that we were one of the first foreigners, not from that particular area, to invest there. So it is really important to have a pioneering approach.
ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO FURTHER DEVELOP WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE?
With my father anything is possible but we also concentrate on whatever we have. There are a few interesting wines that we are exploring, grape varieties, but you never know. Whenever my father travels he always comes back with something new, some new ideas
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT ANTINORI?
That the history and tradition of Antinori is very important. Also innovation, to be able to really look ahead and experiment. And to be obsessed with quality, that's a very important factor. That comes across from our entry level wines to the top ones. Being family owned one hundred percent, which is something I think is very rare nowadays.
An Evening With Alessia Antinori at Peppino's Italian Restaurant, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort.
MENU
Appetizer : Tuna sashimi with baby Mesclun in lemon and olive oil dressing
Wine : Campogrande Orvieto Classico DOC
First Course : Double boiled porcini mushroom consommé with goats cheese ravioli and black truffle
Wine : Villa Antinori Bianco Toscana ITG
Middle Course : Maltagliati pasta with pan fried goose liver and fresh thyme
Wine : Peppoli Chianti DOCG
Main Course : Over roasted to perfection lamb loin with red wine reduction and baby vegetables
Wine : Badia a Passignano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
Dessert : Edelweiss chocolate and lemon cheese delight with petit berry cake and red fruits coulis.
Wine : Tignanello Toscana IGT
Last Friday evening a small group of us here in Kota Kinabalu were given the opportunity to interact with Alessia Antinori, a scion from one of the most important Italian wine families. Held at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, the venue for the event was at the resort's Italian restaurant Peppino - voted one of Malaysia's best restaurants.
Thanks to the culinary skills of Chef Denis Vecchiato, Antinori Biancos and Chianti Classicos were intelligently paired with a sophisticated Italian menu.
The dinner, entitled "An Evening With Alessia Antinori" gave guests the chance to familiarize themselves with some of the more popular wines from the Antinori fold.
With a large number of awards and accolades and a very solid reputation in Italy's somewhat rigid wine structure and appellation, the Antinoris clearly know what they are doing when it comes to all things grape related. To quote Marchese Piero, the head of the Antinori family, "ancient roots play an important role in our philosophy, but they have never held back our spirit of innovation."
The Antinoris have been producing wine for the past 600 years and are credited with formulating the 'Super Tuscan' in the 1970s ; a richer version of Chianti table wine.
Marchese Piero Antinori's experiments with other grape varieties from the region, namely cabernet sauvignon and merlot, were initially frowned upon and was considered a very bold move at the time. With the success of the Super Tuscan however, Antinori can now rest on the laurels of it's premier wines and the direct product of this trial is the famous Tignanello which was clearly the ambrosial star of the evening.
I was fortunate to be able to speak to the charming and gracious Allesia on life as an Antinori.
YOUR FAMILY HAS MADE WINE FOR 26 GENERATIONS?
Yes. I am part of that 26th generation with my other two sisters. We are three women involved in the wine business. So it's quite unique.
DID YOU AND YOUR SISTERS ALWAYS WANT TO BE IN THE WINE INDUSTRY OR DID YOU TRAIN FOR SOMETHING ELSE?
No we had the choice to do whatever we wanted. But we have wine in our DNA, in our genes. I actually wanted to study history of art but then decided that I wanted to leave Florence and ended up studying wine making. I focused more on being a winemaker in the beginning but now I mainly look after sales.
DO YOU DO MUCH TRAVELING?
Yes I travel to the Middle East and Asia. I spend about 4 months out of a year here in this part of the world.
THAT SOUNDS TIRING.
I always tell myself that during all the trips that I make, I try to stay more relaxed but then that's impossible. I arrived on Monday morning at 6am in Hong Kong. I spent a day there for work. On Tuesday I went to Singapore and on Wednesday I was in Bangkok. And yesterday I was in Siem Reap in Cambodia. Today I came here.
HAVE YOU BEEN TO SABAH BEFORE?
No. It's my first time. I've been to KL and Penang many times before but not to Sabah.
AS YOU'VE TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD, IS THERE ANY TYPE OF FOOD THAT SHOULD NOT BE PAIRED WITH WINE?
I think Asian food does generally go with wine. But if it's is extremely spicy or too hot it will ruin the taste of the wine. Something to look at is Cambodian food. From what I've tried I didn't find it spicy and it actually went very well together.
YOU HAVE WINERIES OUTSIDE OF ITALY, IN HUNGARY AND AMERICA. IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON FOR THIS? Absolutely. My father has always traveled abroad a lot. The main characteristic about Antinori is that it is a hundred percent family owned and also that we have an extremely open minded view on Italian wines. So we went ahead, traveled a lot and fell in love with the new wine areas. And for us it is not a matter of financial matters but exchanging opinions and experiences with people from the new wine areas of the world.
We got the chance to invest in Napa Valley in the 1980s and in Chile we own fifty percent of a winery there. We have a beautiful property called Bàtaapàti in the south of Hungary. And then there's a small collaboration in Washington State too.
THAT SOUNDS QUITE PROGRESSIVE.Nowadays you would say it's quite normal, especially from the 90s onwards. In the 70s it wasn't normal but I believe that what makes us good is having an open mind and also having the opportunity to invest in new areas back then which today, would be too expensive.
SO YOU GOT IN EARLY.
Well in the Napa Valley in the 80s we were one of the first ones there. Also in Puglia which is a region in Italy, I would say that we were one of the first foreigners, not from that particular area, to invest there. So it is really important to have a pioneering approach.
ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO FURTHER DEVELOP WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE?
With my father anything is possible but we also concentrate on whatever we have. There are a few interesting wines that we are exploring, grape varieties, but you never know. Whenever my father travels he always comes back with something new, some new ideas
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT ANTINORI?
That the history and tradition of Antinori is very important. Also innovation, to be able to really look ahead and experiment. And to be obsessed with quality, that's a very important factor. That comes across from our entry level wines to the top ones. Being family owned one hundred percent, which is something I think is very rare nowadays.
An Evening With Alessia Antinori at Peppino's Italian Restaurant, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort.
MENU
Appetizer : Tuna sashimi with baby Mesclun in lemon and olive oil dressing
Wine : Campogrande Orvieto Classico DOC
First Course : Double boiled porcini mushroom consommé with goats cheese ravioli and black truffle
Wine : Villa Antinori Bianco Toscana ITG
Middle Course : Maltagliati pasta with pan fried goose liver and fresh thyme
Wine : Peppoli Chianti DOCG
Main Course : Over roasted to perfection lamb loin with red wine reduction and baby vegetables
Wine : Badia a Passignano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
Dessert : Edelweiss chocolate and lemon cheese delight with petit berry cake and red fruits coulis.
Wine : Tignanello Toscana IGT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)