Irvine

News - Merlot Musings

07 October 2009

Irvine Stars at Aqua

Thanks to the graciousness of our friend and distributor Martin Apell, I experienced one remarkable evening at Ritz-Carlton Hotel Wolfsburg, during my recent visit to Germany.

The restaurant Aqua in the Ritz-Carlton is a Three Michelin Star rated restaurant with Sven Elverfeld as Master Chef and Jurgen Giesel as Head Sommelier.

The nature of service and choice is fascinating. The table has to choose one of two menus for all to participate and then the Head Sommelier arranges the wines to match. This makes every course an adventure as well as a surprise, and is quite intriguing.

As would be expected, the whole meal was a dining theatrical with great food, great wines and great service. But surprise after surprise!

No. 1. No need to write down the names of the wines – we were presented with an empty wine bottle on which the label had the whole list

No. 2. The wine list – the whole 36 pages – was presented to me just before leaving

No. 3. The greatest surprise of all – IRVINE WINES ARE ON THE LIST!! The Meslier Brut – because of its unique style, flavour and crisp apple character.

Then The Baroness is also listed – for sheer excellence. Fantastic!

This made me feel humble but absolutely delighted, and so I thank Martin most sincerely for his kindness, especially sharing the evening with his staff as well.

So when you visit Wolfsburg to pick up your new Volkswagen, just pop into the Ritz-Carlton Aqua for a total experience and Irvine Meslier Brut to celebrate! Then a Baroness Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc to finish!

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