Talk-A-Vino

Last couple of weeks brought a breakthrough in the Treble Journey with adding 11 new grapes, plus 5 more grapes available for tasting. The Treble 300 looks a lot more within the reach than before.

This breakthrough was mainly made with Swiss and Georgian grapes – and I would like to cover each group individually.

It is very difficult to find Swiss wines in US, so it really helps to have friends in the right places. I had an opportunity to try this quite unique wines with the help of my friend Patrick, who once again brought me a few bottles.

All the wines came from Chanton Visp in the region called Wallis. All three grapes are in the very scarce supply in Switzerland and the wines have very limited production. The first white wine was made from the grape called Gwass. Very dry and almost expressionless (I would call it bone-dry, but without acidity), this wine worked quite well with various Swiss cheeses which were accompanying our tasting.

Second white wine was made from the grape called Himbertscha. This wine was very different from the first one, with good tropical fruit expression on the palate, but without any unpleasant sweetness. Very nice and balanced, it would be perfect wine for the summer day (minor problem – good luck finding this wine in US). I would put drinkability of this wine at 8.

Last but not least in this group was red wine made out of grape called Eyholzer Roter. It is interesting to note minimalistic approach in labeling of this wine – the label is a tiny piece of paper ( half- an-inch by half-an -inch) with web address on it, and even more, this is web site of the ISP, and not of the winery itself. Despite the strange labeling, the wine was absolutely gorgeous – smooth and very playful, with perfect balance of tannins, fruit, earth and acidity, very easily drinkable (bottle ended too fast for some unknown reason…). This was definitely an 8+ wine – and needless to say that I would be very happy to find this wine in US…

Two more grapes are in the mix here. One is a white grape called Avesso, and it was a part of the blend in Portuguese wine called Famega Vinho Verde – simple summer wine with good acidity (it was begging for seafood). Another one was red grape called Monemvasia, which was part of the blend in the wine from Greece called Paros Moraitis Reserve 2006 – bone dry red wine, with some hint of fruit, and very pleasant overall – I would dare to say that this was if not The best, then at least one of the best Greek red wines I ever tried.

Five new wines, five new grapes, and getting closer to the Treble status.

But – it is the time to conclude the Treble Journey report for now, and Georgian wines will be next.