Red wine from Burgundy is the most expensive wine in the world. And that is for a reason. It is generally heralded as the best wine in the world as well and with great quality comes great price! But you can find some good buys from Burgundy that wont bankrupt you!

​Domaine Faiveley is situated around Nuit-Saint-Georges. Established in 1825 it has long tradition for making really good quality wines. The produce thirteen Grand Crus and tventyr four Premier crus, but it is one of their more affordable wines that is this weeks wine.

​Faiveley Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2016 - 215,00

Smooth and very drinkable Pinot Noir. Hints of raspberry on the nose. Good structure and minerality in the mouth with berries from the forest and mushroom as the dominant flavours. A great everyday and affordable Burgundy red.

Things are coming to life after a short, and quite mild winter. The rich and fiery red wines we've been enjoying throughout the winter months, are shelved, making room to enjoy delicious rosé and white wines. Our wine of the week might be a new acquaintance for some of you, but I'm sure you'll be hanging out all summer. 

Arneis

Arneis is a white Italian grape variety, originating from Piemonte, Italy. It's most commonly found in the hills of the Roero area, located north east in the Cuneo Province.
Piemonte as a whole, produces 90% red wine, and the whites produced here are less known. But if you really wanna indulge and experience something new, accessible and super tasty, try the Arneis from Roero.

Malvira

One of my favourite producers in Piemonte is Malvira. It started production in the early 50's and today it's run by the two brothers Massimo and Roberto Damonte.
Massimo is in charge of the vineyards and Roberto is chief of the cellar.
They produce an impressive range of classic Piemonte wines. Ranging from robust Barolos, delicate and light Barberas, to a wide range of white wines.
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And the whites are what sets the winery apart from the rest of Piemonte. Normally a winery will produce 90-95% red wines, but at Malvira they produce 55-60% whites. At the moment they feature 12 different whites, including a spumante. Five of the whites feature the superb Arneis grape and 3 of the 5 are single vineyard projects. And even more fun; the prices are very very nice. 

As wine of the week, we've selected their most accessible and price friendly white Roero Arneis. It's found in quite a few of Vinmonopolets stores, around Norway.

We've had a pretty warm winter this year and that means spring has arrived early. We are in the beginning of march but we have seen signs of nature coming to life all over for a few weeks already. ​Spring for me is rose wine! Nice and fresh, light and easy to drink and with a promise of warmer times ahead. So in preparing for springtime this weeks wine is a beautiful rose from down under!

​I haven’t been the biggest fan of Australian wines. They have seemed overproduced to me. Too much additives and not enough of that great fruitiness you want in a wine. But in there are a lot of great producers in Australia that make fantastic wines, you just have to find them. 

​It is a long way from Australia to Norway so it is understandable that the great Australian wines don’t make the journey. It costs a lot to transport wine that far, but fortunately some have made the effort.
The wines from Ochota Barrels have been in Norway for a few years now and they are just fantastic! I had the pleasure of meeting Taras Ochota in June last year and was so impressed by his dedication and knowledge of wine making. He is also such a fun person to be around, with great stories of surfing and all the cool people he has met. Listening to him and drinking his wines was a perfect evening! 

​Together with his wife Amber Ochota Barrels have made wines since giving up surfing over ten years ago and we are all the better for it. The wines are made just outside Adelaide and the are part of the new natural wine movement. Their wines are all very fresh and juicy and all very drinkable. They go great with barbeques and other typical foods you want in summer. But they are equally enjoyable drinking alone.

Ochota Barrels Surfer Rosa Garnacha
Kr. 279.90
Sweet, red berries on the nose. Delicious and fresh in the mouth. A lot of strawberries, rasberries and other red fruits. Some nice spices also bring complexity to the wine, and the finish is so fresh and fine. A superb wine with salads, light meats and fish, but also great to enjoy by itself.

This week we bring you one of our best buys from the Tax Free world of traveling. This beauty from Burgundy delivers very decent quality, at a very friendly price. What's not to love?! :)

Last weekend I visited a good friend and he gave me the opportunity to "raid" his wine cellar. He was serving his special pork casserole with a tomato-based sauce, so I was looking for a red that could handle that but also for something with a little age so we could enjoy the wine by itself as well. 

​Fortunately, I don’t have to search for long. He had quite a few bottles of Chateau Musar in different vintages, so the choice made itself. We ended up with a vintage 2003 and it did not disappoint.

​Chateau Musar has for a long time been a firm favourite in Norway. Even during all the troubled periods in Lebanon, they have continued to produce wine and their quality is super. The top wine has me drawing comparisons to great Bordeaux wines, but they have their own distinction as well. The las couple of years they have also produced a cheaper range of quality wines that also have become popular.

​Chateau Musar 2003 kr 429,90

A superb wine. Leather, pepper, ripe cherries and cigar on the nose. Very soft and delicate tannins, with ripe cherries, paprika and red forest berries in the mouth. It had enough structure to match the fat from the pork and the acidity from the tomato-based sauce we enjoyed it with. But I would have loved to try this with a middle eastern dish, maybe something with lamb, that would probably be fantastic.

There are several vintages of Chateau Musar at Vinmonopolet going back as far as 1979. Also, try their cheaper wines, the Chateau Musar Aana and Musar Jeune, good quality and good price!

When the top white wines in the world are discussed one always ends up in Burgundy. And this has a price ... especially for the wines in question. But fortunately there are some bargains out there, like this weeks wine of the week.

In Burgundy you'll find alot of wine cooperatives and wine trading companies. It can be difficult to know if they are quality driven or quantity driven wine makers, but the only way to be sure is to try the wines your self. Maison Roche de Bellene was founded in 2008 and they have several wines at Vinmonopolet ranging in price from 140 to over 2000,- nok. But we will focus on their affordable chardonnay for this weeks wine.

Maison Roche de Bellene Vieilles Vignes 2016 - 189,90.
Delicious white burgundy, Ricch and full bouquet, with hints of flowers, strawberries(!) and peach. Great minearlity and structure. Tropical fruits, ripe orange and grapefruits in the mouth. Very drinkable.
This is fine to drink by it self, but will also be perfect with a flat fish, like a dover sole with a buttery sauce.

This week 132 products containing liquid apples competed to be best of the best. There were five categories, with tight competition for the golden medals. Finn-Erik was one of 20 judges. Here are the winners.

THIS PART IN NORWEGIAN ONLY

In the famous region of Piemonte, north in Italy, there is a wine that once had the attention of European royalty. Gattinara is both the name of a small city situated between Torino and Milano, and the name of the wines from this small region. It's a limited production and , in most cases, on 100% Nebbiolo grapes.

"Conterno wants in on the fun happening in Gattinara", an employe at Vinmonopolet told me, as we spoke of the region. "The price of Nervi's Gattinara 2015 rose from 300NOK to 380NOK, overnight, as Conterno bought the house. And that's even before Conterno did anything to the winemaking."

A Gattinara wine is a very different experience than it's Barolo & Barbaresco brothers and sisters south in Piemonte. Even made on the same grape, in the same region, the Gattinara wines stand out differently. They are more slim and acidic, and demand more of you as a consumer. They tend to be quite complex and with great potential for ageing.

Our pick for wine of the week is from Travaglini. A winery started in 1920 that produces a number of different wines. We've tasted their traditional Gattinara DOCG from 2014.

​Last week we had the absolute delight of dining at new Restaurant Rest. in Oslo. It has already received rave reviews from the newspapers, so we were very exited to try for ourselves. And it didn't disappoint. A fantastic 19 course meal all with a focus on Norwegian produce and everything salvaged from what is in essence leftovers. Amazing! 

Fortunately for us I knew the head sommelier there and she served up some of the fine wines they have on their menu. Understandably, they haven’t got the biggest cellar yet, that comes later, but what they have is of the highest quality. And one of my favourites from the evening is this weeks wine. 

​I am a big fan of German wines, but almost exclusively their Riesling wines. But this time she had a fine Pinot Noir, or Spätburgunder as the grape is known in Germany, for us to taste. K. Wechsler Spätburgunder Trocken 2014 is fine and very drinkable wine that is also quite affordable. Perfect for both fine dining and the comfort of home. Made by the very talented Katharina Wechsler, another of the very exiting female wine makers making a splash in todays wine market.

K. Wechsler Spätburgunder Trocken 2014 – kr. 196,90

Lovely and nice Spätburgunder with all the notes you would expect from a Pinot. Red berries and strawberries. Very, very drinkable. Will be very nice with a vegetable dish like we got at the restaurant or something else light. But also fine to drink by it self.