Valckenberg Dornfelder 2010 Red Wine from Germany will be loved by those with a sweet tooth; the moment I tasted this wine I thought of my friend Scott, whose girlfriend Stephanie will love this.
I paid way too much ($20 at Attrezzi), but when you're traveling you either cough-up the dough or you go home empty-handed (On line $8.99)
What I'm struggling with is my own propensity for dry-red wines, my overall dislike of sweet wines, and my being fair to what I'm tasting and to those looking for a wine that suits them: so for Stephanie, I'd say this will be a 90 point wine, but for me, I'd say this is an 85 point wine. So I'm left with what I believe to be a fair rating of 87 plus blithe points (Nothing scientific, nothing earth shattering, but just for my record keeping).
Valckenberg Dornfelder 2010 Red, $20.00, 87 + points, has a lighter ruby-red color, a sweet (10% abv) cherry cola-cotton candy aroma which carries perfectly onto your palate and finishes there on a medium body.
Süße deutsche Weine appellieren an unsere Freundinnen!
http://nhwineman.blogspot.com/2011/02/index-of-reviewed-wines.html
Copyright 2012 Dennis Tsiorbas. All rights reserved, Template provided by Blogger
Copyright 2012 Dennis Tsiorbas. All rights reserved, Template provided by Blogger
We sell a good bit of Dornfelder at my job - I do live in MO, after all, & a lot of people in this state looooove sweet wines. Blech. I started out with the sweet wines from here & thank goodness, my palate changed quickly. Anyway, we also sell quite a lot of Blaufrankisch as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, & not to rub it in, but yeah - you spent WAY too much for this wine, my friend.
Claire, thanks for clarifying that.
DeleteSo, have you tasted this wine? If so, did you like it for what it was and did my dilemma make some sense to you?
It's been a long time since I've tasted Dornfelder, but it was not this one. It was the J. Drathen Dornfelder. It's good enough for what it is, but nothing I would ever buy.
ReplyDeleteYes, you made sense. It can be difficult to be "fair", if you will, when you already know your preferences. I can only imagine what it's like to be a pro like someone that works for Parker. If you don't care for a varietal, you still have to be open & rate it honestly, regardless of your own taste.
I just don't like sweet, so you won't find me drinking these wines. I'm very particular about Rieslings, hate most Gewurztraminers, & sweet reds make me want to hurl. Now, port & sherry....that's a different story.
I sell a bunch of this at my shop in Manchester, NH. For just those folks that like sweeter/fruity/low tannin wines. Beaujolais, Gamay are otherr good choices. Attrezzi is KNOWN for huge mark-ups. Avoid , there are 10 other shops in Portsmouth that will be more reasonable.
ReplyDeleteMaureen @The Wine Studio
Thanks for you comments Maureen.
DeleteIt was back in Sept. 2010 I said this about your wine boutique: "Before I go into the details of the 2007 Gamba Old Vine Estate Zinfandel, let me first thank The Wine Studio's Maureen M. Adams for her boldness in offering such a great wine; it is not often, in this area, that a wine shop will go out on a limb to offer wines of distinction, but she has."
http://nhwineman.blogspot.com/search?q=Maureen