Europe Part 4 and Other Things

Day 9 Went to  Nymphenburg Castle which is on the outskirts of Munich,. http://www.destination-munich.com/nymphenburg-palace.html We took a tram there. This was the summer residence of  Bavarian kings starting in the 1664. Beautiful grounds and several building all over the property. The main building is impressive and houses a museum showing the rooms of the palace, decorative arts and artworks showing the history of the building including alot of portraits. It also houses a museum of the carriages used by royalty to get around town. Lots of gold.

This is a portrait of Lola Montes whose relationship with Ludwig I created a scandal. Ludwig was quite a character. Also a the title of a famous Max Ophuls movie.

We had been to Munich before after we left Nymphenburg we went back to the center of the city and wandered around. The Marienplatz is at the center of the old town. This is the famous tower  with its carillon.For lunch went back to viktualienmarkt and drank some Pauliner beer with a pretzel. Then ate fish filet with potatoes from one of the stands at the market. I had plum tarte from a local bakery.

We wanted to try some more modern type food for dinner and maybe have some German wine. We found Retter's Feinschmecker near the market in the center of town.  www.retters.de The food was great. It was an intimate small and quiet restaurant. The owners have a wineshop next store.

 We started with carrot ginger soup. The breads were excellent - pumpernickel and walnut.We had cod with bok choy and tomato ravioli and saddle of veal with aubergine and mashed potatoes. Wines changed with every course. We started with a sekt sparkling wine from Baden 2004 which we enjoyed. Then we had a riesling from Baden and pinot noir/cabernet franc blend from Ahr. This was the first German red wine for me. We then had some other white wines including a sylvaner from Frankel which came in an oval squat bottle. The design of the bottle is over 100 years old. It was light and delicious. I finished with an eiswein 2008 from Austria. Eiswein is an intensely sweet dessert wine with enough acid to make it wonderful. Dessert was a pear tarte with vanilla ice cream.

The owner and I had detailed discussions on  German wines Some of the wines we had were trocken or dry. The Ahr region is very small. The meal was just right and the wines were special. German wine is changing and the wines we had were some of the newer examples of what is going on in Germany. The best thing was that the wines were all reasonably priced. The owner basically kept bringing us wines to taste.

Day 10 We left Munich and headed home. We had to change planes at Heathrow in London. Wow! a 10 minute bus ride from terminal to terminal and then about a 30 minute walk to our gate. We made our plane with 10 minutes to spare and flew home.

This week we had Signargues 2009 granacha ; cotes du rhone villages, France, $10,which we like alot. It drank lighter than we thought with good balance and some spiciness. This wine is imported by Eric Solomon/European Cellars. Knowing the importer can help in wine purchasing. There are certain importers such as Eric Solomon that one can trust when buying wines. More at a later date.

We also had a bottle of Chemin des Olivettes 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc , France. I paid $9.98. The Wine Spectator gave this wine a 92. http://www.winespectator.com/wine/detail/source/search/note_id/283563 The wine was good but not crazy good. I can't explain the rating.

BTW the answer to a previous post -- the smaller glass was mine but I had another glass of beer after it.

Thanksgiving is coming up. Any family recipes or traditions are welcome. Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals.

Mid October 2011

My wife/muse has been recovering from surgery so my wine tasting has slowed down. However I was in Phoenix this week and had the opportunity to taste a few wines. I had a glass of Veuve Cliquot that I did not enjoy. Dry and tasteless.  A glass of Moet Imperial which is the old White Star was OK. I usually do not like the Moet because it is extra dry not brut. Champagne goes in the following order of sweetness -- sec, demi sec, extra dry and brut. Brut has less sugar than extra dry.

I had a glass of Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2010 and enjoyed it. This is becoming one of my favorite wines and for some reason, restaurants are stocking it. Sancerre is a sauvignon blanc from the Loire region of France.
I also had an  Elk Cove Pinot Noir 2008 from Oregon. It was very nice, balanced, good fruit and heavier than most Oregon Pinot Noirs.

However the best wine of the trip was a   Luce della Vite Toscana Lucente 2007. This was an Italian tuscan blend of merlot, sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. Both the Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate liked it. The wine is very balanced with good fruit. We did not really notice the sangiovese. The merlot gave it a beautiful aroma. In the restaurant it was a bargain at around $60 since I understand that it sell for around $30 in stores although I have not seen it in a store.

I also have bought some more Italian wines as some very good opportunities have presented. Heavily discounted wines are continuing to be offered by all sorts of on-line operations. Wine Access, Lot 18, Founders Club and Wine Library are just a few. In addition I need to investigate the app Wine PHD. A waiter in a restaurant in Phoenix used it and obtained detailed info on a wine we had ordered. I will try it out. Currently I have the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator on-line services at my disposal. It is not that their tastes are better than others, it is that I am accustomed to their reviews and info and I use them for background information and to help me identify wines that may interest me. It is also fun to compare your tasting notes with the "experts". However I never let an expert's opinion override my opinion of a wine.

BTW did anyone read Sam Sifton's review of Per Se in the NY Times this week.http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/reviewing-per-se/?ref=reviews I believe it is his last review as he is moving on. Per Se has a set price menu of $295  and a meal for 2 with wine will be around $1000 and will take 3 - 5 hours. Sifton loves the place and it is his favorite in NYC. I can't even dream of eating there so why bother reading about it. The goal of this blog is get everyone to experience food, wine and travel on their own. Dreaming is fine but is so easy to experience food, wine and travel on your own except at places like Per Se. Any thoughts.

Enjoy.