Viiniexpo 2012

The annual wine event mammoth that is Viiniexpo took place in Helsinki's Messukeskus. I went there on thursday excited to see what they have to offer this year. My memories of past Viiniexpo years were good and expectations quite high for at least a couple of finds. In this entry I will guide you through the best I thought the expo had to offer. First of all I must mention that as always all majors well represented in Alko like Torres, Cono Sur, Freixenet etc. had their selections available for tasting, but for me thats obviously not the thing. I don't see it as a futile effort to come and win over winegeeks, but as a really good opportunity for wineheads starting their hobby to taste them all in a few hours in a "get-it-out-of-your-system" kind of way. For a more critique involving approach the "wine porn" presented at Viiniexpo was ok - not spectacular, but ok.

I'll go for the gold straight away:

Austria was well represented with a government sponsored stand and maybe the most overall quality found at Viiniexpo. Great austrian not-to-miss acidic deep Riesling and the lighter, easier well balanced Gruner Veltliner. Weingut Brundlmayer, with a 98p Riesling (Robert Parker fame) and Hirsch with the near perfect Zöbing and Nigl.

Over to Italy: Chateau Punk was a really good example of modernising the product. This is the spirit I want to see with younger winemakers looking forward and giving the product an image they personally want and like. Traditions are traditions, but what should we take with us into the future and what to change? If not my Viiniexpo favourite at least in the top 3!

I was trying to spot Portugese reds among the hundreds of wines and after not finding any I had to search the info-pamflet to actually locate the few Portugese present. Quinta Do Casal Branco from Tejo, a bit north from Lisbon. These southern-portugese reds are a lighter and more easy to approach than the thick and spicy cousins from the north. Sad to see the general lack of Portugese wines. Maybe next year?

Mud House was there (Vuoden Viinit competition winner fame) and they had others besides the Sauvignon Blanc - Pinot Gris, Riesling and two different Pinot Noir. Well I have to be honest and say there was nothing special here besides the older, 2009 Pinot Noir, which was the richest in flavour of the bunch. The sugary Riesling I would avoid especially after the Austrians. You definately saw the trend of N-Z Pinot Noir everywhere throughout the expo, and Pinot Noir in general - I'm tired of it.

What maybe surprised me most was a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Greece - Amethystos. Rich, heavy, dark, intense, spicy - The bomb! Something else than the normal-Greek-below-average-reds this really knocked me back for a minute. I suggest you try this if you manage to find it but please open many hours before serving...

That ends my highlights of Viiniexpo 2012 - I'll leave you with two pics:

Sara La Fountain, Chef fame - At the PANINI stand (of all stands) over at Gastro (Food expo next door). One of my favourite fast foods. Needless to say I had lots of free panini. (With Juha Veijonen)

And the beer & cider department. I don't usually do this but that Lemonade stuff was great. I could imagine myself having one of them on a hot summer day outside somewhere...

I'll be back next year