Burgundy in autumn is still beautiful

Some photo impressions of a recent visit to Beaune, Nuits St. George and Dijon.

Checkout descriptions and more on Facebook /jswinetours in the Photo Album Burgundy

Celts in Alsace?

Just when I thought I was really understanding the history of Alsace my husband and I ran across something really interesting on a wine tour.

Lovely vines of domain Haegelin

We were at the Bollenberg with "HAEGELIN Materne et ses filles". In the field at the top of the hill  is, "La Chapelle des sorcieres du Bollenberg". The chapelle was built at the pinnacle where the magnetic field were the greatest.

View from the top of Bollenberg

This chapel, we were told, was a place of animal sacrifice to the Celtic god Bollen, or Belenos, the Shining One. Now it is a little Catholic chapel......

View of  La chapelle des socieres du Bollenberg

Why we asked was a Celtic God in Alsace? Well it turns out that Alsace is really so old that the Celtic people were in Alsace before the Romans! Wow.

In the vineyard of Bollenberg, at domain Haegelin

"In terms of a starting point, the Celts probably had their birthplace in the Alsace-Lorraine region of eastern France in the years between 1500-1000 B.C. This is roughly the time when Moses and King David were said to be active in Judea.

The Celts of this period were a Bronze Age people, although before long they became the first people north of the Mediterranean civilizations to use iron, giving the Celts a superior position in weapons and tools in their geographic region." 

Just when you thought you knew a lot, a whole new learning curve comes your way. 
More on the story of the Celts: The Ancient Celts is here

Emotion in wine tasting?

In wine tastings reports you can read things like (for example): "Lots of freshness, fruit, black berries, a hint of leather and tobacco" And then it gets (again for example): 93 points.
I often wonder ... but did you LIKE the wine? And WHY? Did the wine touched you emotionally? Did the winemaker made himself clear to you, thru his wine? Did he or she communicated with you? And did you have somehing to eat with it? And ... who else was present? Your beautiful wife wearing her silver earrings?

It makes me think about how is written about hifi music systems over the years. Especially in the past, you could read reports like: "it had a lot of base and it played the silent parts without much hiss., logical a modern transistor design with 2 times XX watts and 0,0003% distortion ...." Followed by some more measurement results.

But then there were journalists that went one step further and did try to write about that something extra: "emotion and communication" ...Forget the Watts, did the system touch you? Did you feel and understood what the conductor and/or composer wanted to communicate to you? .....

"You can hear every nuance and inflection of every instrument; the dynamic range is unparalleled and the time-machine sensation of being present at the original performance is staggering—the performance, driven and I mean driven by Reiner's conducting as a man possessed is utterly electrifying. One of the most astonishing recordings the Hand Of Man has ever produced." .... (Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade [RCA LSC-2446])

How would it be if we introduced a little more "emotion" in our wine tastings and see if we understand what the wine maker and his/her terroir is telling us?

This is why JoliSoleil - JSwinetours states: "" Wine is like jazz: I can analyze song structure and such, but I'd rather enjoy the music".
What do you think? #jolisoleil

Impressions of a lovely May tour in Tuscany

On our May tour in Tuscany we visited some great wineries in the Chianti region like. Gagliole, Castellare and Ricasoli. 

We had some wonderful lunches and dinners in Siena and near Montalcino.

Around Montalcino we visited Altesino and Banfi, among others.

In a tasting sesssion we compared these 3 Brunello's:

• Pian delle Quercy 2006
• La Poderina 2007
• La Togata 2007

Life can be good. We cannot wait to go back :).
Join us next time?

Ciao from Terry & Pieter

Riesling Vertical Tasting 1970 Vintage

It is not everyday a person is able to taste one wine that is 44 years old, and we were able to taste twelve bottles of Riesling of this vintage at one sitting! What fun! I will do my best to describe this for you.

The event took place at the castle of Kientzheim, home of the "Confrerie Saint Etienne".

The tasting was conducted starting from the South of Alsace to the North. All of the grapes were harvested in October 1970.

At this point in time "Grand Cru" did not exist yet in Alsace. Some producers did use this term already on their label though.  Another point of interest is that some "full" bottles contained 70 cl and not 75 cl as today.
All of the bottles had a cork change in 1994.

1. Clos St Lanselin: Beautiful golden color, floral to the nose, slightly acid. Amazingly this wine can still be kept longer, as it smells and tastes young. Flavor and aroma open up more in the glass, seems to be alfalfa. May still keep longer.

2. Grand Reserve Cave cooperative Westhalten. Beautiful golden amber color. Finer and more complex. On the nose a bit of honey. Balanced acidity. This one is at its end, drink it now, it will not get any better.

3. Leon Beyer Equisheim. Golden amber in color. On the nose the scent of nutmeg, and with tasting, spicy, pepper and nutmeg. Drink now.

4. Joseph Schafar Winzenheim. Golden amber color. On the nose black licorice and caramel. Shorter, less complex, lost its power a bit. Drink now.

5. De La Bourse Colmar. Light yellow in color. On the nose almond and muscat. Fresh, good acidity, lemon citrus fruit. Can keep another 5 to 10 years! Amazing.

6. Pierre Sparr Altenburg. Amber color. Tired, acidity on the end. Falls apart. Drinkable but hurry up.

7. Sick P Dryer Ammerschwihr. Light yellow. On the nose vegetable. High acidity, nice structure. Rhubarb, light sugar, light minerals specifically granite. Very clean. May keep a bit longer.

8. Preiss Hemny Mittelwihr, Mandelberg. Yellow amber in color. Not too alive anymore, nose is gone, flavor flat. Drink now.

9. Ed Rentz-Ray Zellenberg. Dark yellow color. Nose cassis fruit. Mild acidity. Drink now.

10. Gustave Lorentz - Bergheim. Orange golden color. Nose fruity. Classic attack, fresh, round short on the end with a bit of acidity. A bit more sweet, like a vendange tardive. Drink now.

11. Riesling coming from Barr. Amber in color. Nose mostly gone. Tired, low acid, short. Drink now.

12. Riesling coming from Obernai. Color yellow gold. On the nose petrol and white flowers. Round, and bites on the tongue, carbon dioxide, cold fermentation. Drink now.

My conclusion : Riesling IS the king of age in Alsace.

Cheers from Terry!

Perfect Song: Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle - 1973

About those big oak barrels in Alsace

This is a big oak wine barrel as we use it in Alsace.

Depending on the size barrels like this can contain from 6.000 to 8.000 liters.
Some barrels are over 100 years old.

They are not used to work on the tannin's of the wines. In the old days we simply did not have stainless steel tanks. Today they are still used though, because they "breath".

Inside a barrel you will find a heating element.By heating up the juices the winemaker can start and control the temperature and with that the proces of fermentation.

Did you ever wonder how they would clean a big barrel like on the picture above, from the inside?

By climbing in: ...... on the picture you can see the boot and leg of a man that got in and is brushing and washing the inside. Not for claustrophobic 's ...

Ideas for a family, a group or for example a company teambuilding session in Tuscany

A stay with us is not following a standard formula. If you want to focus on the wines, that is fine. Please book us during the week if possible, as a lot of smaller wineries are closed during the weekend.

Do you want to do something else (together) besides wine tasting? Great: how about doing a cooking class in Florence?
You can shop with Silvia or Barbara on local markets in the morning and afterwards prepare your dinner with a teacher or even a real chef. In the evening you can enjoy your own dishes with a nice glass of wine.
Great for a team-building session!


Photo the kitchen of "The Florence Chefs" and "The Florence school of olive oil".

Do you want to learn more about olive oil? Ever did an olive oil tasting? We can built this in in your culinary adventure. Just ask!


Photo: Florence Chef - Silvia Maccari. 

Apart from doing a cooking class and/or olive oil tasting in Florence, we can also organize an event like this on your location in Tuscany, like your apartment or a house in for example "Castel Brunello".

Where do babies come from? The white storks the symbol of Alsace of course!

We grew up with stories of white storks delivering babies to our doorsteps. It may date me a bit, but I recall from my baby scrapbook my mother kept for me, drawings of the stork flying me to my parents! Pink blanket for me, and blue blanket for my brother.

Beautiful tall white birds, with very long orange legs, and a big long orange beak, and black tips on their wings abound in Alsace.

Legend has it if a stork is flying over your house the baby is on the way. When the baby is born it means the stork has flown down to the land of souls of the dead that are now reincarnated to a new baby. The stork takes the baby up in a blanket and flies the child from the land of souls to your doorstep. This is where babies come from everybody knows that!

If a stork chooses your house to make a nest, this is a symbol of very good luck. However it is said, a stork will never place his nest on a house where there has been a divorce! Today, it is estimated there are over 600 stork couples in Alsace, so very much good luck, love, and fertility here! Also we must assume not to many divorces.

The nests of these storks are permanent homes. We can think of them like a summer home, as they spend their winters as far away as South Africa to avoid the cold Alsatian winters. These nests are often supported by metal holders that Alsatians put on top of their homes to support their massive weight, as they can weight up to 500 kilograms, just over 1,000 pounds. It is a lot of fun to see these, and in the spring hearing the birds loudly clapping their beaks together in joy!

In the spring the male will arrive first to set up housekeeping in his forever nest, and soon after the female will arrive. These birds mate for life and somehow find each other again after flying as far as 15,000 kilometers back from Africa to their Alsatian home. Hard to imagine how they do it, but they do!

While touring with us in Alsace you will definitely see these majestic creatures in the the spring and summer, and we will most likely drive by this location  "Parc des cigognes et des loutres" Stork park, where you can see hundreds nesting and flying about from the road, and if you like we can plan a visit for you inside the park as well.

Yes, beloved Alsace, home to some of the best stories ever, with evidence of their truth!
Cheers!