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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Sweet dessert wines from Austria and Italy; and a melchior

Following on the information in one of my recent previous posts, here's more about two sweet wines. AUSTRIA
Ice wine goes with blue cheese and foie gras as well as desserts.
Called a see (sea) not a l a k e n (lake, win l a k will be masculine?) because it is so big, an inland sea.
From Austria. Neuzuidersee new ... lake; south of vienna, near the Hungarian border, in fact the border runs through the middle of the lake.

I just tried this. Sweet, marmalade aroma and taste, sticky texture (known by the technical term luscious).




If you photograph the bottle standing upright whilst you are using a smart phone you get this distorted effect.

I thought I had found a quick cure by laying the bottle down on the table. Then you can read the lower half of the label more clearly.

However, the previous upright shot brings different parts of the label to the foreground, emphasising the top.


As the label tells us, it is from (aus) Austria (Osterreich), Pradikatswein - wine with a certificate; bottled by Willi Opitz.
Eis is ice. Wein is wine.
GmbH is the German equivalent of limited company. Geshellshaft (company) met (with ) limited liability.
8,5% low alcohol because so much of the sugar is still sugar and not turned into alcohol.
0,375 l or litres is a half bottle.

More information from their website: www.williopitz.at

From the label you can now see that the maker is Willi  (like william) Opitz, and Austria is at.

This bottle was bought at Hedonism wine shop in central London after one of their tastings which are held throughout the year.

ITALY
Location where it is grown and made - Passito de Pantelleria (island of Pantelleria)
grape - Muscat blanc à petits grains -  muscat grape, white at/of little berries

If you go to Hedonism wine shop on two stories there is lots to look at as well as buy.
Have you ever seen a Melchior? It is a huge bottle, larger than a magnum (2 bottles,) or a Methuselah or a Nebuchadnezzar, or a Jereboam. The cork is huge.

You need a special corkscrew to open it. And, of course, a lot of friends to help you to drink it.

ANGELA LANSBURY, travel writer and photographer.


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