The long run of the Danube River from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.

It is with pride and pleasure that we invite the trade and media to join us at our special upcoming tasting events. We will be introducing the latest arrivals from Hungary and Croatia. Our hosts, A Cote, Da Flora and Mignon, will be serving appetizers inspired from their travels along the road from Budapest to Venice. This is our best selection from Hungary ever and the U.S. Premiere of most of the wines:     * First organic vintage of the popular Pfneiszl Kekfrankos.     * First U.S. showing of the fiery Kadarka from up-and-coming estate Eszterbauer.     * Vylyan’s Pinot Noir, considered the best Hungarian PN to date (Caroline Gilby MW).     * New vintages from red wine super star Attila Gere: Portugieser, KOPAR, SOLUS.     * Sweet and dry premium Tokaji wines from top estate Patricius.     * First arrival of beautiful Tokaji wines by artisanal wine maker Judit Bott as featured in the recent NY Times article on Tokaj--Hidden in Hungary,Treasures on the Vine.     From Croatia we will introduce our first red Teran, delve deep into the story of Malvasia and share super premium wines from one of the most ambitious new projects in Croatia:     * Naturally made Malvasia and Teran from the young Istrian estate Piquentum.     * Two Malvasias made in different styles by leading wine maker Matosevic.     * A rare wine made from almost extinct grape Malvasia Dubrovnik by Karaman.     * The new ABC of wines from well known Bibich winery in Dalmatia: B5, B6, G6.     * And if the shipping stars align: the Premiere of a Dingac and Nevina from cult wine producer Saints Hills.     We know you are very busy, but these wines should be on your lists and shelves for this Holiday Season. We are hosting three events you can choose from:     * Tuesday Nov. 30 | A Cote | 5478 College Avenue, Oakland | 1 - 4pm     * Tuesday Nov. 30 | Mignon | 128 E Sixth Street | Los Angeles | 1 – 4pm     * Wednesday Dec. 1st | Da Flora | 701 Columbus Ave | San Francisco | 1 – 4pm     Please R.S.V.P. (650) 941-4699 or frank@bluedanubewine.com – trade and media only     Contact us if you are unable to join us. We will be happy to schedule a tasting appointment with you.     Cheers and see you soon,     All of us at Blue Danube Wine Company

A full program during the month of November.

It is our pleasure to announce that the one and only Hungarian restaurant in Los Angeles, Maximilian's is celebrating the Hungarian Heritage Month in November. There will be a series of cultural events, dances and music, special menus, and of course: Hungarian wines. Please see Maximilian's web site for more information.          We invite all of you to a special tasting event with a superlative line-up of wines at Maximilian's on Sunday, November 28th from 2 to 5pm. On this day we will present for the first time our new arrivals from Hungary. We are convinced that our Hungarian portfolio has never been better and is really showcasing what this ancient wine country has to offer: Taste with us the first organic Kekfrankos made by the Pfneiszl sister. Another premier in the U.S. is the spicy Kadarka from Eszterbauer in Szekszard. From the red wine paradise Villany we'll pour wines from wine maker super star Attila Gere, including his famous KOPAR. And from Tokaj we'll bring the dry and sweet wines from top estate Patricius. These fine wines will please everybody and they demonstrate that quality wine production is back and alive in Hungary!

Portfolio for the trade - 25 Grapes for consumers.

We are very happy to bring our wines after San Francsico and Los Angeles, now to San Diego. Together with our friends from Vinos Unico who are importing Spanish and Portuguese wines we are inviting you to two tasting events on Monday, October 25th at 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro.          The first one from 2 to 4pm is called 'Portfolio' and is addressed to the trade. The second one is open to the public from 5 to 7pm. We call it '25 Grapes you have never tasted before.'          You are invited to explore with us new and exciting grapes with unique tasty flavors. Both events are not to be missed. We are looking forward to see you there.

Lou loves 3 Liter Batič.

One of our early supporters, Lou Amdur of LOU on Vine has always been one of my favorite people to work with. His love of wine and food extends far beyond his sensitive nose, palate. Tasting with Lou is more history, science, farming and people than strawberries and tannins. As a space LOU is intimate, slightly psychedelic and smells good, it attracts a whole host of interesting food and wine affiliated individuals oftentimes to dine and sometimes to host events. Coincidentally “A Feast for Ed Behr” editor of “The Art of Eating” was to be held the same day as our follow up tasting of all of the Croatian samples from our trip this summer with our partners Empty Glass. All of us really wanted to go to the Ed Behr dinner; the guy is kind of a legend. Thankfully Lou offered to let us hold the tasting there before hand so that we could.     In 3 hours we tasted 60 wines that ranged from international varietals produced in a global style to obscurities like the white grape Gegic. Lou tasted most everything and at the same time readied the restaurant for the dinner, wrote feverishly on his laptop and make astute observations of the wines. Part of what makes Lou a great taster is his openness. He does not prejudge. After looking very serious and saying little during an expansive line up of concentrated Plavc Mali we asked what he thought of them. He liked the way the slightly off dry quality in some balanced their rustic charms. This was music to my ears. The powerfully flavored Plavac grown on the ocean vineyards of Peljesac have long been tempered by a gentle sweetness. Dry examples can be found and they have their place but with Croatia so eager to reach out to the world if we (importers and buyers) fail to embrace the typical styles, run the risk of homogenizing what is unique and indigenous. Thankfully Lou is a junkie for the indigenous.     Dinner started with a refreshing intermezzo of sparkling unfiltered Cabernet Franc (the aperitif for the rest of the crowd). Some of our favorite people from the trade were also in attendance as enthusiastic guests, Mike Green from Woodland Hills Wine Company, wine PR consultant Dan Fredman, and French wine importer Charles Neal to name a few. It is rare to see such a crowed at a public event. Would be dinners take note - LOU is the choice of some discriminating folks. Before the simple delicious creations of chef DJ and Lou’s subtle pairings started rolling out Ed Behr spoke. A gentle but curious personality with palpable energy, he painted a truncated (his own word), but beautiful world of food and place and how they have shaped his life. What was clear was that he loved food and was in a room full of people who also loved food the mood was electric.     Where else other than LA can one find a place like LOU. None come to mind. Culture is hard to identify, it is a moving target but between the locally sourced food, far reaching selection of wines, thoughtfully informed guests and industry professionals dinning together, sharing food, wine and ideas, culture could be felt. In a dingy strip mall on Vine near Melrose in Hollywood, USA culture flourishes.     Thank you LOU

Mike Dunne's Blog: A Year in Wine.

Our friend Tamas Torok recently hosted an extended sit-down tasting at his restaurant Seasons in Davis, CA. We designed a flight showcasing Hungary's best white, red, and sweet wines. Well known wine connoisseur Darrell Corti of Corti Brothers in Sacramento attended together with Mike Dunne, the Sacramento Bee's former wine and food editor. Read Mike's article From Hungary, Diversity and Quality.     The stars of the tasting were Tokaj's classic grapes: Furmint, Harslevelu, Yellow Muscat from Patricius and Zoltan Demeter in their dry & Aszu styles. Medium bodied reds made from native grapes paired well with home-made Hungarian food: Gere Portugieser and Pfneiszl Kekfrankos.

Moreno Coronica in his vineyard with the typical Istrian Terra Rosso.

We have just gotten back from the Blue Danube company trip to Hungary, and there are so many highlights to share. However, this must be postponed because of the 2008 Coronica Istrian Malvazija from Istria, Croatia. Why? The reason is the season. Let me explain.     Istrian Malvazija is primarily grown in Slovenia and parts of northern Italy but is most at home on the large Croatian peninsula of Istria at the north end of the Adriatic where Croatia, Slovenia and Italy meet. Wines from this grape vary greatly in style. Many are made in a fresh, reductive form, akin to the commercial white wines of New Zealand, pleasant but undistinguished. Others are macerated, or made like red wine where the skins are left with the juice during fermentation, resulting in deeply colored, even orange wines with red wine structure, tannin and all. Quality varies radically among wines of this already challenging-to-appreciate style. When bad they can be undrinkable, but the best examples are unforgettably good.     In July 2009 we tasted the 2007 Coronica Malvasia during a tasting of potential imports. We all immediately noticed that there was more to the nose than on the lineup of fresh Istrian Malvazija we had just sampled. What was tropical and bubblegummy in the other wines was still sweet-smelling but more herbal, complex and engaging. As good as it smelled, the real crux of it was the texture, sea mist, olive oil and chalk. I know, doesn’t that sound delicious? Seriously, it was clean but deep and textural, lush but mineral, fruity but savory, a wine that pushed and pulled. We all wanted more and the tasting bottle was empty, and that, my friends, is how an import is born.
    We received our first delivery of the 2008 Coronica Istrian Malvazija early this January. As I had a hand in selecting it, it was one of the wines I was most anticipating—but it has been slow to catch on. When I taste the wine I go “yeah, that’s what I want!” while buyers respond by nodding their head yes and muttering a non-committal, “interesting.” Needless to say, the situation has left me a little flustered. That is, until the season changed.     Seasonality is more than just difference in temperature. The Earth changes position, the length of day changes, plants bloom, the whole environment changes. It is logical to consider that this has an affect on our biology as well. It is also logical that this would change how a wine taste or how we taste a wine. In the case of Coronica this had not really entered my mind; if you looked at my tasting notes you would not guess that I was talking about a summer wine.     I first saw the change at the Croatian dinner at Michael’s of Naples in Long Beach that we did with The Wine Country on the 17th of June—a pretty warm night. People could not get enough of the Coronica. Pairing it with poached lobster with grilled apricot and treviso salad possibly had something to do with this. All I noticed was that people bought a lot of it—it was the second most popular wine of the night.
    This week I showed the wine to customers. Surprisingly, they were digging it. By the end of the day it was clear that something was up. When Kristyn and I sat down to eat fresh pasta with lentil bolognese, the Coronica was a must taste. The wine did in fact taste different. It was crystalline, as if all the attributes finally came into focus. The following morning I tried it again--3 days open and it was still good. It is like the wine turned on--for months it was off and then, flip, on.     No matter how familiar I may think I am with the wines we import, there is always more to learn from them. My awareness changes, and suddenly, in the middle of routine I discover a new pursuit: this time, to taste for other wines that might have turned on. Below are a few of my favorites that are drinking differently than they were 3 months ago. Most of them are 12.5% Alc. or less, and even the reds can handle a bit of a chill. They are all are fairly inexpensive, meaning there is no reason not to make it a multiple bottle night, another appropriately seasonal trait for summer.     Whites:     2009 Hilltop Winery “Craftsman” - Cserszegi Füszeres - Neszmély Region, Hungary     2008 Weinrieder “DAC” - Grüner Veltliner - Weinviertel, Austria     2009 Crnko “Jarenincan” - 40% Riesling, 30% Chardonnay, 30%Sauv. Blanc - Podravje, Slovenia - 1 Liter     2008 Szöke - Pinot Gris - Mátra, Hungary     Reds:     2008 J.Heinrich - Blaufränkisch – Mittelburgenland, Austria     2007 Dingac Winery “Peljesac” Dalmatian Coast, Croatia     2007 Dingac Winery “Plavac” Dalmatian Coast, Croatia

our travel group: Jeff (A Cote, Oakland), Frank & Stetson (BDW), Santos (Bacaro LA), Pamela (CAV, San Francisco).

For three days every other year, a wing of the Hofburg imperial palace in Vienna turns into the national wine cellar, as hundreds of Austrian wine producers (and some from other lands) come to pour their wines for an international gathering of trade, press, and colleagues. A small group of five supporters of Blue Danube Wine and specifically of Austrian wine was there to investigate.     It is difficult to imagine the Habsburgs roaming these rooms, now that they are lined with tables and packed with people talking of Grüner Veltliner and Blaufränkisch, the merits of screwcap closures, and the conditions of the 2009 vintage. There are so many attractions that one needs to plan carefully to absorb as much as possible, even in three days.     The rooms are mapped to a regional theme, making it easy to taste as many Wachau whites as possible, then slip into Wagram and try to identify general differences. One can plan a journey from table to table in Burgenland, tasting only wines from the St. Laurent grape, or try to define the characters of the two primary red grapes of Austria: Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch. Then there are organized tastings, such as a breakfast tasting of the fresh, fruity white called Wiener Gemischter Satz, a “field blend” of at least three and up to twenty different grape varieties grown in Vienna’s vineyards and harvested and vinified all at the same time. Or the fascinating exposition of the “first growths” of Grüner Veltliner, which was really a wonderful way to see how Grüner ages, as we compared one recent and one older vintage from each vineyard.     Most important, though, was the opportunity to meet wine makers and see different approaches and philosophies. Blue Danube Austria was well represented (plus some of Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia), showing the 2009 vintage. Connecting people and places to wine is perhaps the most satisfying way to enjoy it. In that sense—and many others—VieVinum was a success.     text & photo by Katherine Camargo, Camargo Wine Support LLC, © 2010

memories of a warm Welcome at the Batič estate.

Miha Batic’s great-grandfather made wine on his property in the old Austria. His grandfather made wine on the same property in Italy; Miha’s father, in his turn, in Yugoslavia, and now Miha makes wine with him in Slovenia. As Miha explains it, the rulers and their rules don’t matter so much as the land in the Vipava Valley that has been cultivated by his family since 1592. For him, as he explains his family’s wine to 60 appreciative guests at a tasting dinner in New York, it always comes back to the land, to nature.     The Batic winery lies on 18 hectares of land on the westernmost edge of Slovenia, 15 miles from the Italian border. Grapes are planted on the slopes edging the valley, where the dry breeze of the Mediterrean climate meets the Alpine chill. The Vipava Valley is historically known for its white wines—and Batic makes ageworthy Pinot Gris, as well as Chardonnay and Sauvignon—but Old World–style reds are produced as well: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Indigenous varieties are blended with international in the Batic cuvée Bonisimus: Pinela, Rebula (known as Ribolla a few kilometers away in Italy), Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris. Zelen and Vitovska are also grown.     Batic father and son are clear that it’s the growing that matters—not the cellar. Wines are made in the fields. Batic wines are farmed organically, and regional tradition places importance on farming by the lunar cycle: knowing the effect of the cycle on planting, growing, racking, or bottling. Such biodynamic principles may be trendy elsewhere, but Miha explains their uses for potato growing as much as grape growing, and one has the sense this is just old-fashioned farming, looking to nature rather than science for guidance. “Every step is a step back to our roots.”     These wines are not “modern”—they are true to the land and the grape, and are made only in successful vintages, and in tiny quantities (most in the low thousands of bottles). Old ways, now newly popular, are used in the cellar, too. The wines are fermented on wild yeast, and sulfur is used sparingly, if at all. Red and white wines alike see oak—usually in three- to five-year-old Slovenian barriques, but Batic will soon move back to larger, old Slovenian barrels. The wine is nicely balanced, with an Old World oak profile that settles beneath the spicy fruit of the Merlot, and adds a touch of oxidative interest to the velvety body of Bonisimus.     Borders may shift, as well as winemaking trends, but the wine world is slowly coming full circle, and the old ways of land and nature may emerge as the one cutting-edge method that carries us forward. Batic has waited for 400 years.     (text and photo by Katerine Camargo, Camargo Wine Support LLC ©2010)