Saturday, December 12, 2009

Wines served at the 2009 Nobel Prize Banquet in Stockholm



Picture: The Guardian

Here is a look at this year's winners of the Nobel prizes and their work, and what wine they drank at the Banquet on December 10 in Stockholm.

- Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine: Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for discovering how chromosomes protect themselves as cells divide, work that has inspired experimental cancer therapies and may offer insights into aging.

- Nobel Prize in physics: Americans Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith. Kao was honored for discovering how to transmit light signals long distance through hair-thin glass fibers. Boyle and Smith received the prize for opening the door to digital cameras by inventing a sensor that turns light into electrical signals.

- Nobel Prize in chemistry: Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz and Israel's Ada Yonath - the first woman to receive it since 1964 - for creating detailed blueprints of ribosomes, the protein-making machinery within cells. Their research is being used to develop new antibiotics.

- Nobel Prize in literature: Germany's Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born writer honored for work depicting life under the Iron Curtain.

- Nobel Peace Prize: President Barack Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

- The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences: Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson for their work in economic governance. Ostrom was the first woman to win this prize since it was founded in 1968.

At the Banquet on December 10, 2009 in Stockholm for the recipients,excluding the recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, three wines, two from France and one from Austria, were served. The ceremony for the Peace Prize traditionally takes place in Oslo.

JACQUART BRUT MILLESIME 2002 MAGNUM, France

A sparkler from a very popular Champagne House. Jacquart buys the fruit from over 600 growers across all the main regions of Champagne, especially the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs. Thus, their vineyards are spread over 130 different villages of which 22 are rated as Premier Crus and 10 as Grand Crus. The Jacquart cuvées are made in Reims. More than 30 million bottles are kept 20 metres underground in the three-tiered cellars.

CHATEAU LA DOMINIQUE 2001, SAINT EMILION GRAND CRU CLASSE, France

Château La Dominique is a top domain from the right bank in Bordeaux, adjoining the outstanding Chateau Cheval Blanc. It was promoted to Grand Cru Classé in the first classification in 1956. 80% of the vines are Merlot, as is typical for right bank Bordeaux wines. Clay and siliceous-gravel ground dominate.

TSCHIDA BA SEEWINKEL 2006, NEUSIEDLERSEE, Austria

A noble-sweet Saemling wine at the Beerenauslese level from the Austrian Hans Tschida. The family-owned Weingut Angerhof-Tschida is based in Illmitz in the Neusiedler See area. On an area of 14 hectares Hans Tschida grows noble-sweet white wines with a range of grapes, including Welschriesling, Chardonnay, Sämling (the Noble Prize wine), Muskat Ottonel, Traminer and Weißburgunder, and red wines with the Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. Weingut Angerhof-Tschida specializes in noble sweet wines, with typically the whole harvest accounted for by Beerenauslese, Eiswein, Schilfwein and Trockenbeerenauslese. Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are sweet because of the noble rot that converts the grapes into raisins, Eiswein is sweet because of the frost that concentrates the grape juice and Schilfwein is made out of non-botrytized grapes that go through a process of sun-drying. Read more about the fascinating noble-sweet Tschida wines here.

Schiller Wine - Related Posting

Wine event: The Wines at the 2009 Nobel Peace Price Banquet in Honor of President Obama.

2 comments:

  1. i was told that the champagne served at the Nobel Ceremony was a non-vintage Louis Barthelemy Brut Amethyste. Guess that's a prank??

    ReplyDelete