Europe is alive and well and lives in ...

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" wrote .......

Stoneleigh (now part of the Pernod Ricard empire!) has historically been a reliable producer of Riesling: always leaving 8-10g/l of residual sugar. I have had these wines at 10 years, and like all Riesling, they age very well.

Obviously, the export market calls loudly! I have not even seen this vintage on NZ shelves.

Although I have found previous vintages "varietally correct" this is a simple PN, which regardless of price, tends to be overshadowed by a the very good Pinot Noir emerging from Central Otago or Martinborough.

PN from Marlborough struggles to sell on the domestic market, and, even though this wine is sold at bargain basement prices, I do think that other wines represent better value.

Nils, what say, next (northern) winter, you and Xina venture downunder, where instead of short, short daylight hours and metres of snow, you can get a suntan and we can continue Xina's education in paradise.

You may have to forgo a trip to see M. Tommasi - but that will be no loss !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers

st.helier

Thanks for the note on the Stoneleigh. I've found their Rieslings great value - the last one I tried was the 04 last year, which was starting to take on some really nice smoky/petrolly complexity. Need to get more of their wines.

Cheers,

Salil

"st.helier" skrev i meddelandet news:foj7qe$ov8$ snipped-for-privacy@news.datemas.de...

Hello Milord, We are continually looking over the medical conferences in NZ ... so far, no go. Bad thing. The Riesling was, needless to say, very young - no doubt more notes of a petrol-ly nature would have emerged after a few years. My guess would be that it grew on a light soil, to wit, sand, not slate. The NZ wines that reach Sweden tend to be school book varietal examples - the Sauvignon Blanc a gaggle of incontinent cats, e g. (Query: do cats come in gaggles? No - that would be geese,right? Never mind) Pinot Noir quite often very fresh and brimming with raspberry, strawberry, leather. LAcks a bit in complexity, but, hey, these are on the whole rather cheap wines - SEK

As for visiting NZ, thank you for the invitation, it has been filed under "Must do ASAP".

Today we had Father-in-law and eldest offspring for lunch and, again, Xina was called upon to identify the white (no problems) which was rather light (untypical) with a spicy nose. litchee, old English roses ... off-dry, light, no complex structure, bitterness in aftertaste. Reserve Hennÿ Gewurztraminer 2005. Old standby in Sweden since c. forever. Not the kind of Gwz we would pay good money for but, in a way, typical. Xina had no problem with this. With the main course, also blind (to her), a dark red, with notes of leather, prunes, dill ... oak and vanilla on palate, quite nice, medium tannines. Here, too, Xina nailed this, effortlessly, as a Rioja - 100% Tempranillo, Coto Imaz 2001.

I have no doubt Xina will get her two-honors this time.

CHEERS

Nils

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" wrote .......

Well, when you find a conference, let me know - I would be delighted to arrange things from this end.

And if nothing suitable arrives, then, well, we are only on the far side of the world - 26 hours from Stockholm!!

Go to the top of the class!

Most of the Marlborough Region lies within the Wairau Valley: the Stoneleigh vineyards are on the northern side; here the soils are mostly composed of glacial derived river gravels, whereas 12 km to the south, the soils become more clay rich.

The clays give more tannin and structure to the wines while the grapes from the river gravels are more fruit driven with sweeter softer tannins.

Sounds like she is getting heaps of practice!

Shame about the distance (and import restrictions). I am sure that she would struggle over obscure, but very good examples of Pinotage or Chenin Blanc and even Arneis or Montepulciano.

OT - Have just been watching highlights of the Swedish round of the WRC - it is impossible for me to imagine the land being covered by snow for months on end.

Cheers

st.helier

I am coaching her mercilessly.

I have never known her miss a Pinotage (a plante moult desloyal) and rarely a Chenin. As for Arneis and Montepulciano, that would depend on the style - many moderns tend to loose their typicality, even in Italy.

There is very little snow in the Southern half of Sweden. Next to none, really. Global warming, dontcherknow.

Cheers

Nils