Last Friday, I had the pleasure of being invited to a wine tasting event held at Børsen, the old Copenhagen stock exchange building. You’ve probably seen the building; it’s located next to Christiansborg (the Danish parliament) and has a quite unique spire of four dragons with their tails entwined. The actual stock exchange hasn’t been located in this building for years, though - it now serves as the headquarters for the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
On Friday, it served as the impressive backdrop for the annual wine tasting event hosted by Holte Vinlager, one of the biggest local wine importers and retailers. For their annual tasting, they had invited roughly 40 of their producers.
At the entrance, we exchanged our tickets for a glass and started making the rounds. There wasn’t only wine, but also a nice selection of cheeses and delicacies like foie gras and duck rillettes, as well as copious amounts of bread (definitely necessary with all that wine!).
Armed with a tasting brochure, we made a bee line for some of the regions and producers that caught our eye. For me, that were the two German producers, for one, since I’m currently trying to learn a bit more about German wines. One of my favorites was a really amazing orange wine from Weingut Ludwig (here). I’d only had natural orange wine before and that had been terrible, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Another one of the Germans I liked was Stefan Breuer’s Two Faces Riesling (here), a classic fresh, crisp and mineral Riesling.
A couple of tables later, we found a lovely lady who came all the way from New Zealand. Not only are New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs one of my absolute favorites, but the wines from Yealands Estate also have a really cute back story: there are miniature sheep grazing in the vineyards - they are small enough that they can’t reach the grapes. They’re called baby dolls (look at them, adorable!) and are also the namesake for some of the wines, like the lovely Baby Doll Sauvignon Blanc (here). I also really enjoyed the more complex Sauvignon Blanc Winemakers Reserve (here), which would go great with seafood dishes.
Now, I’m also quite partial to rosé wine, and I really enjoyed a Spanish one from Ribera del Duero called PradoRey Rose (here) - it’s basically summer in a glass!
We also made our way to Saronsberg from South Africa, who served a delicious sparkling wine (here) and a lovely Shiraz (here). South Africa is also one of the wine countries I’d love to learn more about. Definitely a lot of potential there!
Apart from “standard” wines, there were also some producers of port wines and sherry present. My favorite was this dapper Spanish gentleman, who was serving sherry from a little barrel with this special serving apparatus - I wonder how long it took him to learn how to pour from that with accuracy!
He was the star of the night for sure - and he knew it, too - posing for photographs and videos all night. Plus, the sherry was absolutely delicious (it’s this one here).
Yep, we definitely ended the night a bit tipsy (you know I haven’t quite mastered the art of spitting out wine in public) - which is how you know you had a great time, right? I always love these types of events, because not only do I get to refine my palate and try out different wines from all over the world, I also learn new things every time. I’ll definitely be back next year!
Disclaimer: I was invited to the event free of charge. I received no further compensation for this post from either Holte Vinlager or any of the producers. As always, all opinions are my own!
Diane Chayer says
Great review! This event is always so much fun, year after year. It seems like we like the same wine makers ;-).
Laura says
Hi Diane, thanks for your comment! It was a great event, I’ll be back next year for sure :) Virtual high five for shared wine taste!