Grand Champagne Helsinki 2017, The Champagne Competition And The Upcoming Grand Vin Helsinki 2017

Photo: Michael Boudot

Yes, some couple of months ago I did win and got the title Champagne Master 2017 in Finland! That is the long story short. Now few more notes on where when how what etc. Enjoy reading, there might be few tips for the upcoming competitions :)

IF there is still someone wondering, what is this Grand Champagne Helsinki Event? I try to explain with my own experience.

Grand Champagne Helsinki (GCHelsinki) is a wine event, specialising on the wines (mostly sparkling/champagne) coming from the Champagne region of France, to say it right, one of the biggest Champagne events in Europe. Therefore makes many wonder, this is really happening in Helsinki, Finland, really!!! This year, 2017, was the 3rd year it was organised. Who are the names behind it then?

There are mainly three names behind the organization, Taru From and Christian From of Ceesta Shop and Essi Avellan MW(Master of Wine, Avelvino Oy). Here I have to mention also the name, Samuil Angelov, sommelier and restaurateur, who is taking a lot of action in the organisation.

GCHelsinki, I think, is a very big event for Finnish gastronomy and tourism and it should be supported on the official level so I hope City of Helsinki will turn their eyes on and support the event in a huge scale. The last event got tickets sold in 10 different countries and welcomed guests from all over Europe and other regions with guests who are into wine, specifically into champagne.

The event collaborates with wine importing companies and they invite some big rockstars from Champagne region. This year among the guests were Champagne Louis Roederer Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, Champagne Philipponnat President Charles Philipponnat, Champagne Drappier Proprietor Michel Drappier, Champagne Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Proprietor Didier Gimonnet and many more and you are simply able to meet and talk to these people about their stories through their personal and business life. Also these people set very interesting "Masterclasses" where you can get a lot of information from them about the wines and their production while tasting those wines with them. It is quite a big thing to have this opportunity right here at home, Helsinki. So from that perspective GCHelsinki is big, I think. Very big.

Masterclasses waiting for action 

During the events many restaurant in the city offer champagne deals and winemaker dinners, as well as, surprisingly, the giant monopoly of Finland, Alko, offers special champagnes such as vintages with slightly reasonable prices.

Also the very dear friend now Michael Boudot, a young photographer from Reims, Champagne, runs a photo exhibition where you can also buy his works. He is also the photographer of Essi Avellan's Champagne book.

At the very first day, there is the "Champagne Challenge Competition" where you are entitled to do different tasks on the stage in front of the whole crowd. This year's task were choosing a champagne in the hall and introducing it with your sommelier skills including its story and why you chose that wine to introduce to the guests, and then a blind tasting, and then a quiz and then a pouring session. For example, for the first part, I chose Louis Roederer's Crystal cuvee to introduce, because I thought it was a perfect wine to talk about in Helsinki, since the Cuvee is made for Char Alexander II of Russia, who did make Helsinki as the capital of Finland when Finland was still a Russian grand duchy. His sculptor stands in the middle of Senate Square today and we walk in front of it almost every day. So that cuvee has a strong connection to Helsinki. And then we tasted 3 different champagnes blind, with such questions like "which one is malolactic fermentation?" and so on. These questions also surprised the French guests in the jury asking "Isnt it little bit too hard?" but yeah, never meaning that I knew everything right, a well experienced sommelier should have at least some ideas about the deep knowledge of wine production but guessing a malolactic fermentation right, can be very hard sometimes. And then a quiz on the giant screen, with such questions like there was a photo of Gerard Basset and asking "Who is this?" (well, I might sound harsh, but my dear friends, seriously, every sommelier should know who is Gerard Basset!!!) or a vineyard or a chateau photo from anywhere in the world and so on. And then a blind tasting and a pouring sesssion follows each other.

Now almost the same team, Taru&Christian of Ceesta shop also organising a similar event that is called Grand Vin Helsinki, same people same attitude but different concept(http://grandvinhelsinki.fi) . This time it is not only focusing of champagne but still wines all around the world. And again, many winemakers and professionals coming to Helsinki for a weekend event and some of them are setting masterclasses also. It is definitely something to check and keep eyes on, it is here and it is here to stay, it will get bigger and more diverse next year I am sure.

Sanna interviewing Roederer Cellarmaster Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon 

Competition moments 

Photo: Ari-Heikki Vikman

Photo: Ari-Heikki Vikman

Photo: Ari-Heikki Vikman

So, long story short, don't be afraid of the competitions, get ready for it and show that you can do it, show that you have the balls to compete and join the trail of Champagne Masters on the upcoming years. Follow the new event Grand Vin Helsinki and do not forget to book the dates in your calendar!

May your glass be filled with "Grande" Wines!

Greetings.

Travaglini Gattinara 2011, Viinibloggaajat/Finnish Wine Bloggers Group Post

Photo by Alko

Well it has been such a long time we haven't done much together, so every now and then a group post is nice to see how we taste the same wine and how different we think about it. So the lucky wine is Travaglini Gattinara 2011 with 23,99€ bottle price (February 2017) and the method is that every wine blogger buys the wine, taste and publish their tasting note at the same day on social media. Here is my tasting note regardless of the producer or importing company (yes I paid that wine myself, no gift, no commercial deal).

FIRST IMPRESSION: The wine gives you what you paid, so for the price-quality ratio, it is a nice wine. But nothing surprising at all. One good thing is that it is from Gattinara, I get excited whenever I taste something from Piedmont that is Barolo or Barbaresco, but I get "double" excited whenever I taste something from Piedmont that is NOT Barolo or Barbaresco!

First bottle I bought was faulty. "Ethyl acetate" is the fault I thought about. I returned the bottle back to Alko and it was replaced with another bottle. Do not hesitate to return any bottle back to Alko if you think there is a clear fault or flaw!!!

Second bottle was fine.Here we go:

Transparent light red color with brown rims that reminds a developed red wine though it is only 6 years old, surprisingly early color change. First nose offers earthy notes with a touch of leather and slowly fruit comes to the scene. Supple and round in the mouth,offering cherry and currant aromas with a high acidity. Light bodied, tannins are slightly strong but integrated. The nose gets more and more fruitier all the time for the following 15-20 minutes. The final has moderate length under the effect of acidity, which is a good thing.

After 2 hours:

After two hours of proper decanting, the nose offers a more complex, almost "cooked fruit" aromas such as fig jam and plump jam. Acidity goes slightly down as no surprise, though still enjoyable. I would recommend the wine to be consumed chilled and with fish and seafood dishes, as well as light grilled meat with a nice light green salad next to it without any heavy dressing which will be needless for and against the beautiful, feminine/elegant structure of Nebbiolo, so just with olive oil dressing, might work well too. Or, a nice vegetarian dish, beetroots roasted and served with lentils and fresh herbs, mushroom risotto with a mix of mushrooms and topped with a reaaaally generous amount of parmesan, or as well as a chickpea patty would work well with this.

All in all, for the price quality, it is a normal good wine. Good for sure in the very very limited retail selection in Finland. Try to taste more producers from Gattinara (Az. Vit. Nervi for example)!

Few of the other bloggers that joined this group post which you can also read are:

https://viinihullu.blogspot.fi/

https://viinikartta.blogspot.fi/

http://copatinto.com/

http://viinikupla.com/

http://loppasuut.blogspot.fi/

http://wineserver.fi/

https://anna.fi/rypaleista-viis/

https://blottootto.wordpress.com

http://pullonhenki.blogspot.fi/


May your glass be filled with awesome undiscovered regions' wines! Greetings.

It is here again: GRAND CHAMPAGNE HELSINKI 2017! (11-12-13.05.2017)

Same place, same style, same and even more excitement here again! This year in the middle of May, 11-12-13th of May, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 3 days of wine events full of bubbles, laughters, good mood and fun, Grand Champagne Helsinki is here again as a serious cultural event bringing some joy and life to Helsinki.

Essi Avellan MW presenting the program

I had the pleasure to be in the press release of 2017 event program on 19th of January in Vanha Ylioppilastalo, the always same premises of the main event. Many thanks to Taru, Essi and Christian for the invitation. We had gone through a nice set of Champagne tasting with snacks and got the information about the program. This year the event welcomes over 40 producers from Champagne region and many of them also giving Master Classes during Grand Champagne Helsinki 2017. Easy to register, reasonably priced and very interesting, please take a look at the Master Classes here:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/master-classes/

Samuil Angelov, one of the leading sommeliers of Finland, will be also lecturing during the events

One of the most smiley, funniest and energetic personalities in restaurant business, Savoy's and Roster Helsinki's Head Chef, one of my bosses, Kari "Kape" Aihinen is again the name behind the traditional Grand Champagne Dinner which is hold together with Champagne producers every year. You can also book a seat and join this dinner where you can have a first class dinner while having nice chats with Champagne producers tasting their Champagnes together with them. Take a look here at the link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/gch-dinner/

Boss Chef Kari "Kape" Aihinen

WHY SHOULD YOU GO TO GRAND CHAMPAGNE HELSINKI 2017?

First of all, this event can be considered as a 3-day Champagne course. You will be tasting hundreds of different Champagnes from different houses and vintages, you will have a chance to talk to winemakers and cellar-masters and you will have a chance to meet all other wine professionals and enthusiasts in Finland. That is the personal part if you think about it as a self-study opportunity.

And hear hear my idea here! --> Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend? Do you often take her/him out for a dinner? So here we go, a ticket to Grand Champagne Helsinki is a perfect way for an interesting and a really different kind of date with your beloved one! :) Who wouldn't love to have a partner who would do this for him/her? :) Or simply just with friends, come to Grand Champagne Helsinki and enjoy a great evening tasting and talking to producers, this is a great event to experience and it is not happening every week in Finland!!!

And after all, it is a great chance for you to spend some good time with bubbles and wine knowledge spreading all around all these three days. We need more of these events in Finland and so far Grand Champagne Helsinki is absolutely one of the most professional and well organized events ever set in Helsinki.

Meanwhile, anytime during the event dates you are welcome to Roster Helsinki where I work as the assistant sommelier, we will be popping up several Champagne bottles as always and even more bottles during these 3 days! Me, Olli and Big Boss Paul Hickman and any of our colleagues in Roster will be more than happy to serve you a glass of Champagne!


May your glasses be filled with good Champagne and ears with sweet laughters! Greetings.

Also Check out the digital tasting tickets!

The tasting set up of the day

Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016: Enjoy Yourself/Educate Yourself 21-22-23.04.2016

It is again the Champagne week in Helsinki. The Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016 takes place this week in Vanha Ylioppilastalo starting from Thursday, ongoing during Friday and Saturday with a lot of different events and interesting lectures, which some are spreading around the city in restaurants. The ticket prices and events are very reasonable considering how interesting this event going to be, full of knowledge and interesting master classes and many many guests from champagne that you can actually meet them and discuss about their wines with them. To note here, the event will host 59 different producers. 

All 3 days, there are many different master classes happening and you can check them here via this link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/master-classes/

it is good to be quick, because some of the classes are sold out.

I am personally studying the Champagne Region as much as I can at the moment, to renew all I know and learn more. Because this event is such a chance for one to practice what he/she knows and learn more, by tasting many different champagnes, meeting the winemakers and personalities from the houses, attending the master classes etc. I consider it like a three-day Champagne course happening right here in Helsinki.

Related to this event, last Thursday, I also happened to be in Ceesta Shop in Töölö with few more bloggers and we got an introduction to the event as well as tasting some champagnes, together with Essi Avellan MW and Taru&Christian From of Ceesta Shop.

Essi introducing the first Champagne we tasted, G.H. Mumm Blanc De Blanc Mumm De Cramant, a beautiful champagne to cheer up, with very peaceful bubbles as a cramant. The label corner is designed as folded and there is a reason. Read here more.

There are many restaurants setting dinners with guests and serving wines with special offers during the event dates. For example in Ravintola Pastis you can have a dinner with a set of 6 champagnes of the house Janisson-Baradon together with Cyril Janisson. Check all the events and offers via the link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/edut/

Also to add, Grotesk is the official after party location of the event for all the three evenings. 

Last year the number of the champagnes that tasted was 150 and now this number will be 230. Unbelievable range of champagnes for Helsinki, all will be available to explore/drink/taste/study through this weekend.

There is also a dinner on Thursday and Friday in the same building, with Kari Aihinen, the head chef of the classic and famous Finnish restaurant Savoy. For the details, menu and pairing wines, click on the link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/gch-dinner/

Also Essi's new champagne book will be launched on Thursday which is the first day of the event. 

A quick introduction video is also available to see:

After all, as I said, this is going to be a great chance for self-studies on wine, or as well as great opportunity to have a great time with a friend in such a different way, or just to enjoy great wines, Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016 is here. If missed, it is one whole year to wait for the next one ;) So, don't miss the opportunity! :)

Thousands of thanks to Essi, Taru and Christian for the lovely evening we had and also for organizing Grand Champagne Helsinki 2106, such a big and hard to organize event, as well as such an event serving to Finnish gastronomy and culture. Yes, bring in more poetry! Finland needs. Kiitos!!!

May your glass be filled with good Champagne. Greetings.

Natural Wine Joints in Helsinki: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1

Back with a few more important natural wine joints in Helsinki. Hopefully these posts will help readers who are looking for a place to drink nice wines, specifically so called "natural" style wines. Part 1 of this post has received quite good reactions so far and hopefully this one will, too. Well, writing in English, I hope this blog guides also tourists traveling to Helsinki who are wine aficionados at the same time.

Pekka, sommelier of Restaurant Grön, right before the service we had our chat. In Grön, you can check the 'wines by glass' written on the wall

Restaurant Grön: Opened relatively recent, and became first of all the favorite of the people from the restaurant industry, Grön is a restaurant focusing on local and organic products. Extremely delicious cooking is accompanied by a wine list highly dominated by organic, biodynamic and natural wines, which also has some classics. Pekka, the sommelier of Grön, had started working with classics in Restaurant GW Sundmans but two years ago he had bumped into naturals and now mainly selling natural wines, "with of course a certain quality level", he adds. Almost everything sold by glass, you can try many interesting wines during your dinner, but if you are still looking for some vintage champagne or any other fine wine, ask Pekka, he will have enough to make us all happy. I think the most fun thing about natural wines is that you can easily play with the color codes of food&wine pairing, as Pekka agrees and gives an example; "I did pair Fatalone Primitivo 2011 (a robust red) with our celery dish and the impossible looking pairing was just great."

Yeah. we all go Grön!

Carelia Brasserie & Viinikellari: Located across the National Opera House in Töölö, Carelia is established in 1996. Since then Tuomo and Kai, who first joined Tuomo in 1998, have been running together the wine list for some time, a list with about 200 labels which 45-50 labels out of them are more organic, biodynamic and natural production. Now Tuomo is more at the importing side of the business and Kai is taking care of the management. Carelia serves a French influenced menu with very reasonable prices, accompanied by its very nice and classic ambiance. Kai, the restaurant manager and sommelier of Carelia, tells me when I ask: "What is natural wine for you? -For me, I don't really care about how much sulfites are used during the winemaking, for me it is more the growing method, how the plants are treated, and of course, I would prefer it made with natural yeast." He also tells that the guests started to ask more and more about natural wines on these days and hopefully that is a growing interest.

Kai and Tuomo in Carelia

Organic wines of Eva Fricke is "hot" at the moment in Carelia, Eva was just here in Helsinki last Monday for Riesling&Co event also. Click here to see what the "very Goode man" says about her wines

Carelia is also a perfect place to have a glass of wine before or after opera shows. You can stop by for a glass anytime and ask Kai what wines to taste at that day, or maybe their new sommelier Laura will be guiding you what to chose the best of your need. In Carelia, wine prices start from 45€ to up.

Restaurant Spis: Chosen to be the "Restaurant Of The Year 2015/Vuoden Ravintola 2015" , Spis is a 18-seat restaurant serving "almost" only natural wines from very small producers. Jani, the sommelier and the restaurant manager of Spis, first had started to get more into natural wines about 6 years ago. He explains their cuisine as "Nordic and French technicwise", which is not in extremely strict lines. They also have past experiences of molecular cuisine, Jani says.

In Spis before service. Jani has coffee, I am the one next to the bottles :) 

Even though it is possible to order wines by bottle, there is no wine list here. Wine pairings are offered during the dinner which are 36€ and 40€ for the short (4 courses) and long menu (6 courses). The wine portions follow the food portions in size. Jani is regularly storing wines for few reasons, like aging or waiting for the right dish/moment for that specific wine and the wine line up might change from one week to another, but certain wines for certain dishes always remain. I asked Jani "do you think natural wine is just a trend or more?", he replied: " For now it seems more like a trend, it came, but absolutely it is something to stay." Then Jani asked me: "What is the spectacular difference between commercial and natural styles for you?" I do like all types of wines with a certain quality and deliciousness, but my answer for this question was: " Besides the flavor, the risk the winemakers take is the biggest difference according to me." Because I think, you might probably end up with a loss of a one-year-work, or end up with "a terrific wine" as Kristian Blanco, "the natural man", or "the man of the natural", or "the man in the natural wine bottle", describes :)

While my visit in Spis, we tasted few bottles together with Jani before the service, surprisingly, one of the bottles which is normally a very good wine, Michael Gindl Buteo 2015 was very weird to Jani, I also wanted to taste to see the problem, the extreme lack of acidity and the colorless-flavorless liquid in the bottle was nothing like wine, but water :) Obviously his colleague Mark did have some time last night to fill up the bottle with water and pack the closure very nicely. Hah! That was a good one, Mark, the bottle seemed like never opened before! :)

Here some labels of the many wines available right at the moment in Spis

La Maison: Since last autumn, the very dear friend, such a gentleman! :) , Toni Aikasalo is taking part in making the wine list in Restaurant La Maison and this relatively new French cuisine restaurant actually has lots of natural wines in their list. There is a nice selection of Champagnes with many of them being organic, biodynamic and natural style production. Also a few PetNat options available. The white and red wine selection includes some of the best natural wines available in Finland at the moment, and classics like Joly, Mosse and Villemade. You can also stop by in La Maison for a glass... or two.

Pictured: A very happy sommelier in its natural habitat

After all, natural wines are not "better" than any other good wine, but definitely something different to try. It is a different category that is not "new". Many well-known producers have been practising organic, biodynamic and natural methods for many years already. As Jani of Spis mentioned, I would really like natural wines to be something that "came to stay", some organic, biodynamic and natural wines might not give any special idea about these categories but some of them can be amazing and surprising, terrific and extremely delicious as well. Give a try if you haven't yet.

This might be continued.

May your glass be filled with good natural wines. Greetings.

Natural Wine Joints in Helsinki: Part 1

Click here to read Part 2

I have been thinking about to write about natural wines and restaurants in Helsinki serving natural wines, since the first time I was introduced to natural wines. Because it was totally different, another room in the tremendous world of wine. Since then, I have been studying, writing, interviewing/talking to professionals/friends and tasting (naah, sometimes drinking too) natural style wines to write this blogpost. You will now read few names of some restaurants and after that some more about natural wines and will read what the sommeliers and other professionals said about it. I sincerely thank them with all my heart, for all the help, and friendship.

Some Helsinki streets of Vin Nature:

Chef&Sommelier:  One of the best restaurants in the town absolutely, regardless of the Michelin star it has. The sommelier of C&S, Johan, had been anyway focusing on the more natural side of a wine list since they opened and he is introducing more natural wines into his wine list all the time. This is also where I was deeply introduced to natural wines by the Danish sommelier Solfinn Danielsen, when he was doing a guestplay in C&S.

Photo Courtesy: Basbas.fi

Baskeri&Basso (BasBas): Becoming many people's favorite in such a short time, a real bistro with a real bistro style atmosphere with a real bistro service with a real bistro style menu and food philosophy, is just, a real bistro. So far the only bistro that is a bistro, that I know. The wine list has some classics but the rest is extremely dominated by lovely natural wines, and so far by my knowledge, the first place which had "PetNat" wines as a separate title in their wine list. Correct me if I am wrong.


Juuri: Again one of the best restaurants with flavor bombs in your mouth, with a great work behind everything, as I know that I did work myself there for a short time. The sommelier, Pilvi, is always keeping a very nice and short wine list mostly consisting organic, biodynamic and natural wines. Ask for it.

Latva Bar: Juuri's little sister which is located on the same blog, just a short walking distance away, again serving naturals in the list, as the wine list is made by Pilvi again.

Grotesk: Lord Paul Hickman, the sommelier, keeps very interesting selections of wines and beers in his list, as well as naturals. He says, "I do introduce the natural wines to my customers saying that " I have an interesting wine, have a try", and then I pour a taste. If they like it, after that I tell about the natural wine philosophy. Also I have always sold Dagueneau, which is always more on the natural side." Go and ask for more. They also have a "friendly" pricing method, read about that here more.

PetNats in Sinne

Sinne: One of the longest wine lists in the town, Sinne is serving "classical preparations of Nordic ingredients" as the wine director Lauri Vainio describes. Lauri and Edmund as a wine duo, they have almost 20 different labels of natural wines and also recently added a PetNat title in their wine list. The wines of the natural winery COS from Sicily are must to try. Also every weekend PetNat wines served by glass.

Pastis: Otto Sovelius, my dear friend and the sommelier in Pastis, always keeps few bottles of natural wines in the list, for the guests who might ask for it or might ask something different and unusual.

This is not the end. I will write another post as a Part 2 and there will be some more restaurants in it. To be continued.



Now few words:

What is Natural Wine?

'Natural wine' term is used to describe the wine made with the minimum additives such as enzymes, sugar, sulfites, several chemicals, etc. and still made with the minimum technological manipulation, including the type of yeast, whether natural or laboratory produce. Lauri Vainio of Sinne  says: "This is a tricky question, probably the natural wine would be 'vinegar' thinking about all the natural process happening in nature." True that wine ends up in turning into vinegar, so which part of the process it can be called 'natural wine', when to call it 'natural', it is quite unknown. Many say "I don't like the term 'natural' to describe this style of wine." But yeah, do we have an alternative at the moment? Maybe "naked wine" as the natural wine advocate Alice Feiring would say so, who is also looking for the Leon Trotskys of the wine world. How sweet is that :)

Also the natural wine man of Helsinki, Kristian Blanco Sequeiros adds " Natural wine can be horrible, very tasteless and so on. But if you do not mess up with the nature, the symbiosis of the vineyard might bring out terrific wines with phenolic compounds at the highest.".... So true... Like a bottle of Joly... I guess I am in love with Nicolas Joly's wines. <3

Trend or Philosophy?

If I ask so, Niki Thieulon of Baskeri&Basso says "Both." Yeah, I agree. Philosophical way as the perfect reflection of the terroir, as well as the protection of the terroir itself, but also the demand for it might turn it into a trend. Hopefully not a trend because trends are doomed to die, but again, hopefully the demand rises, so more producers tend to go that way, I would not mind, I simply enjoy natural wine so much :)

Health Benefit Issue

Everyday we are reading many articles about how healthy the wine drinking could be as the consumption is kept in certain levels per day, but at the same time we might be drinking many unhealthy chemicals or chemicals that bind the aroma particules or simply killing the bacterias in wine. I am talking about the sulfites additive. There are always so much debates going on about it. One research in Spain proved that the good probiotic bacterias such we get from dairy products do also exist in wine content. As I always enjoy to say, "Wine is nutrition.", here I would like to put the words of the American sommelier Larry Stone: "Wine is comfort food." Absolutely. (!)

Niki says " The naturalists are now divided into two, those who add slight amount of sulfites and those who are totally against of it." But he also adds: "Sulfites or not, to me good and enjoyable wine is the one easy and tasty which I drink and I wake up next morning with no headache."

UPDATE: My words on sulfites can be understood as "It is such a bad thing", so I need to elaborate that part little bit. Sulfite is a natural product of fermentation and found in every wine naturally, here what is in question is the extra sulfite that is added into the wine, which is many times told to be nothing to worry about. It is also not a poison in wine because the amount of the sulfite added into the wine is under the threshold that might give any health effect to a human. Sulfites improve the longevity of wines. it stops a possible fermentation by the alive yeast in the bottle, if any yeast left. What I wonder, is that it might bound also fruit and other aromas too. So I don't really mean natural wine is the best, I don't really mean it is more healthy than any other wine, I don't really mean sulfites are such a bad thing.



Food Pairing
Thats the most interesting to me about natural wines. The oxidized notes and the body of natural wines first of all break down the color codes; "red wine with red meat/white wine with fish." I like color codes and they work well but I love the wines that are easily breaking down the color codes, I even did a wine workshop on that, but I am not the only one thinking of it. One evening I asked Paul Hickman of Grotesk to pair a white wine with their Picanha, the very soft and tasty meat dish in their menu, he just brought a natural white to the table, Sebastien Riffault, Akmenine, Sancerre 2010. The pairing was just perfection.



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So, after all, we are talking about wine. It is a product that might be prestigious to some, or can be a very simple thing, told by one of the most famous wine critics, Jancis Robinson, "Wine is a peasant activity." As simple as that. It is an agriculture product. It is the beverage of the Mediterranean publics for hundreds of years that was spread around the world. Why to puzzle that much about it? Maybe just, it is fun to do so?

I would like to thank Kristian Blanco Sequeiros very much of the big help he gave me while I was working on this post, I had the chance to taste many natural wines with him while having a long and lovely conversation.

May your glass be filled with good natural wines. Greetings.

Some Alsace Poetry: Gustave Lorentz Tasting in Helsinki With A Nice Range of "Gastronomic" Wines

Few weeks ago in Muru, there were some amazing wines to taste in the afternoon, and some other amazing wines were getting ready to be tasted in the evening, there was a nice, slight rush.

Pascal Schiele, the export manager of the Alsace producer Gustave Lorentz, came all the way through Helsinki and I can only say that I was just lucky and happy to be invited to that tasting by a very good friend, and it was just a perfect, beautiful, sunny day for such a beautiful occasion. (Note: The tasting took place out of the service hours, therefore not public space.)

Pascal Schiele of Gustave Lorentz. Behind at left, Muru's DRC bottles getting ready for the tasting.

We started in the early afternoon with the introduction of Alsace and Gustave Lorentz by Pascal. Of course Alsace is certainly one of the most interesting regions in the world and some of the best wines come from there for sure, I had fallen in love with Alsace since the first Alsace Gewurztraminer I had some years ago and Pascal did quite a good introduction to Alsace, how sophisticated the production and consumption of the Alsace wine, how it is a way of living, a culture, a lifestyle as itself, and the Alsace vineyards, and their own vineyards and more. A lucky man would be born in Alsace probably. I just simply love the wines of Alsace.

Well, then, we started the tasting with the Pinot Noir Rose and Pinot Noir before the whites. There is no rule that all wine tastings would start with whites, there might be some whites that need to be tasted after some light bodied red, or the line up would require such order. Today was a good example for this. The winery is producing a series of organic wines called Evidence and we had the chance to taste all of them too, together with many other Grand Crus.

What I realized in the middle of tasting that all the wines had some kind of same structure like a backbone which is mellow, elegant, like reflecting a mathematical formula, a design, a same skeleton that every other element was build on after like acidity, tannins, aromas, minerality and so on. This same skeleton that every wine has regardless of variety, is probably the signature of their winemaker Markus. Simply intelligent wines.

Pinot Noir Rose 2014: Beautiful color, red apple and slight orange peel at the nose with berry aromas. Velvety texture in the mouth, fresh with a nice acidity.

Pinot Noir Evidence 2012: Little bit different, "out of the box" Pinot Noir with its darker color and very nice fruity character. First vintage of that wine. Rather than earthy and peppery notes, a beautiful fruit is dominant at the nose and mid palate. Slightly oaked as PNs in Alsace are usually not oaked. Supple, amazingly delicious, beautiful final with heavy flavors of ripe cherry and berry aromas. Very food friendly, so to say "gastronomic". I just thought about an oven baked salmon or bonito cooked with tomatoes to match with this red right before Pascal said that it might be good with fish too. It is just so normal to consume fish with today's elegant, beautiful, velvety and light reds. This is one.

Pinot Blanc Evidence 2013: Green notes with amazing acidity, well minerality at the palate. Great wine to be served by glass in a restaurant since it is quite "an introduction wine" to Alsace. Great acidity. Told as getting a bunch of rain during the harvest. Available in Alko at the moment (surprise!!!).

Riesling Reserve Magnum 2013: Amazing parfum. Floral with daisy notes. Very satisfying with citrus and green apple notes.

Riesling Evidence 2013: Very nice tipicity at the nose. Sharp citric flavors, very high acidity. I would love it with a traditional creamy Finnish salmon soup.

Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim, Grand Cru 2008: Simply amazing wine. Even a body is possible to talk about, very fruity while having a relatively high acidity, Very distinct color, great balance. With a half an hour decanting it could be just amazing. Lemon, apple notes with floral background, it is like walking in a spring field blossoming flowers, you can hear the bees flying around. Beautiful. Intelligent.

Riesling Kanzlerberg, Grand Cru 2007: Slight stone fruits notes followed by a little honey touch, then citrus aromas take the scene again. Wonderful performance, simply joyful wine, just made up to make your day happier.

Pinot Gris Evidence 2013: Citrus flavors as a signature, in, and then s slighly smoky touch like ham, or i am too drunk, high minerality with a warm but fruity final.

Gewurztraminer Altenberg De Bergheim 2010: I just got the parfum into my nose. I instantly got a smile on my face. I simply love Gewurztraminer. Would I get married again? With the right woman maybe yes, and Gewurztraminer would be the right woman I guess. Beautiful yet strong, funny yet serious, self-confident yet humble, down-to-earth yet charismatic, honest and loyal, passionate (I mean passion fruit in case of Gewurz). This is a tasting note. Yes. After these words, you should be able to understand how the fruit, acidity, body, structure and condition of the wine are. If you dont get it, come on, get some poetry and imagination into your life, which is the same as getting a bottle of well made Gewurz for your dinner, just like Altenberg De Bergheim 2010. It is a wine that I want to swim inside. The sugar is masked so well by the acidity, which makes it sooo "gastronomic".

Pinot Gris Selection De Grains Nobles 2008: Sweet wine. Beautiful amber color. Cooked fruit aromas with caramel in the mid palate, such a velvety, joyful structure.

Gewurztraminer Selection De Grains Nobles 2007: Very classic Gewurz tipicity which is beautiful. Intense aroma of caramel and honeycomb. Oaked. Very long final with the beautiful essence of tropical fruits.

Gastronomic. it is the right word. Alsace is anyway well known of producing gastronomic wines that match with such cuisines that does not include wine in their dining culture, such as Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. and anyway Gustave Lorentz wines are greatly suitable for a great dining table.

I came home. Still felt like drinking something. Opened a bottle of red, no reason to say what it was, if so then it was French too, but my level of quality was so high that I just couldn't go more than half a glass, after having the very high quality wines of Gustave Lorentz, I could not enjoy that bottle I had and got a glass of water for myself. After having such well made, elegant, such beautiful, such serene wines, as the poet said "intelligent wines", then water might be the best beverage if you dont have anything to drink at least at the same level of intelligence.

By the way what is great about Restaurant Muru is that it is really a wine-driven restaurant running tastings and events every now and then, for example while we had this tasting by Finebrands, Team Muru was getting ready for a DRC tasting in the evening. Wine is not just a make-up for this team to correct their image and make money, but it is something "running" the restaurant, Samuil is doing a great job on keeping his crew, or lets say "pushing his crew" into wine, which is simply great and he takes that responsibility "to teach".

So at the moment, surprisingly(very), Alko has 3 products of Gustave Lorentz, some very recently started to be listed (Gustave Lorentz Evidence Pinot Blanc Biologique 2013, Gustave Lorentz Sylvaner Reserve 2014, Gustave Lorentz Riesling Reserve 2013). Go and check if you wanna have a idea about Gustave Lorenz. It is also available in some restaurants in Helsinki now... And Finebrands, thanks a lot, for the effort that is put in to bring such great wines to Finland. Do it.

May Alko shelves be filled with such wines like Gustave Lorentz. Greetings.