H.M. Borges

Text Ilkka Sirén

Arriving to Madeira can be quite exciting. Located approximately 500 kilometers off the coast of Africa, the island of Madeira is at the mercy of the Atlantic Ocean. Funchal airport is squeezed between the vast ocean and mountains that climb as high as 1,800 meters. From zero meters to almost two kilometers above sea level on an island that is only 22 kilometers wide and 57 kilometers long is a bit of a hike. You can imagine that the view when flying to Madeira is very dramatic. What makes it even more dramatic is that the airport is partially built on top of nothing. Have you ever been under a runway? Of course not, very few people have. It’s not possible in many places but in Madeira it is. So, please make sure your seats and tray tables are in their full upright position because we are about land on Madeira, hard.

Funchal is a curious city. First time I visited I thought my plane had lost its way and accidentally landed in Cuba. The exotic touch of banana trees and the humid climate made me thirsty for some mojitos, big cigars and mambo. The city is definitely not what you expect when you first arrive to the island. It’s surprisingly big and densely populated. In fact it’s probably one of the most densely populated cities in Portugal. A big part of the island is protected so the pressure on Funchal to grow inwards is significant. Real estate is scarce which is mainly due to the evergrowing tourism industry. If you’re moving around the city take a taxi. Don’t be a hero and try to conquer the whole city by walking, unless you are training for the Olympics. The city itself climbs up to 800 meters so it will be one hell of a workout.

Located on the Rua 31 de Janeiro in the heart of city, across the street from Madeira Wine Institute is the lodge of H.M. Borges. A beautiful spot for a winery I must say, in its own way. The canal in between the two streets is covered in wild flowers and shrubbery. The house was founded by Henrique Menezes Borges in 1877 and it still belongs to the Borges family.

Entering the building is like going back in time. Old mural paintings, dusty bottles, dark tasting room filled with the beautiful scent of Madeira wine is impressive. You can really feel the history and tradition. So much so that it’s even a bit eerie. But I like that. The bridge between now and then, the wine, is strongly binded within the culture of Madeira and the people living there. It creates a certain atmosphere that I think is quite unique to the island.

Going through the old wine cellars at H.M. Borges one cannot help but to think that Madeira wine is not just a beverage but a continuous effort to maintain a style of wine, the history and culture surrounding it, so that these great wines can be enjoyed for another millenium. If Madeira wine is liquid history, that makes the winemakers historians, and as such they have the responsiblity to preserve the world of Madeira wine. Easier said than done but if there’s one thing I know about the Madeirense people, especially the winemakers, is that they are persistent. I mean really, really persistent. The evidence is the wine itself. Without this persistence, stubborness or whatever you want to call it this wine style would have died out long time ago. But it didn’t and that tells us something.

Here are my picks from the H.M. Borges tasting:

H.M. Borges Sercial 1979
Surprisingly vibrant nose with a really distinctive touch of passion fruit. After a while, a good while, when the sniffing turns into tasting the Sercial reveals its classic austere character. I would say this is a very unique drop of fermented grape juice compared to a bunch of other Sercials I tasted on the trip, and not in a bad way. Youthful, nice balanced fruit with a nutty kick and a moreish finish. Very good.

H.M. Borges Terrantez 1877
Tasting a terrantez this old is definitely a special treat. This wine is from the foundation year of H.M. Borges! The wine was bottled from the family’s old demijohns and it’s not really for sale anymore. You can really feel the Atlantic Ocean in this wine. Imagine a ball of dried fruits, figs and such, tiny touch of that dusty cellar character, all covered in a thin layer of sea salt. A ball of goodness filled with a unique combination of flavours that shouldn’t really work together but has been molded by time to match eachother perfectly. Then imagine that ball being attached to one of those power generators that has a sign saying Danger! High Voltage! Such is the sheer power of the acidity in this wine. It runs through your mouth like 10,000 volts almost cutting your toungue in half, after which you’ll be screaming like Dr. Frankenstein “IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE”! Outstanding.

Contacts
H.M. Borges, Sucrs. Lda.
Rua 31 de Janeiro nrº 83
9050-011 Funchal – Madeira
Portugal
Tel: (+351) 291 223 247
Fax: (+351) 291 223 281
E-mail: info@hmborges.com
Site: www.hmborges.com

The Biolovable Wines Of Quinta da Serradinha

Text Ilkka Sirén

It’s all about character. Unique wines with tons of personality, right? It’s not good enough to make just technically solid wines, you have to have something that sets you apart. And I’m not talking about just terroir here. I mean you can have the best terroir in the world, Romanée-frigging-Conti, but if that doesn’t translate into your wines you might as well plant your vineyard on top of a huge pile of toxic waste. Ultimately nobody gives a damn if the end result is an over-polished botox wine, even if it’s “kinda good”.

Good wines are boring and great wines are never perfect. Not in my book at least. What makes a great wine truly great is the x-factor, that certain edge that will make you howl like a wolf to a full moon. Great wines are not necessarily easy or even very tasty at first. In fact they can be downright nasty. But when they reach that perfect moment and release all their potential, it’s magical.

Located in the warm bosom of Mother Nature, about one hour north from Lisbon in DO Encostas D’Aire, close to the town of Leiria lies Quinta da Serradinha. The quinta embraced organic farming early on. Winemaker and current capo António Marques da Cruz said that people were a bit skeptical back in the day when his father started converting the estate into organic. But now that organic, biological or whatever you want to call it has gone mainstream we can safely say that Quinta da Serradinha wasn’t a bunch of hippies running around with flowers in their hair but in fact they were pioneers in a movement that has since then become widely practiced.

I first tasted the wines of Quinta da Serradinha at a wine event in Porto. Although the wines were quite interesting they really didn’t speak to me at this kind of tasting. I felt like I was rushed and didn’t have the proper time to wrap my head around the wines. But the wines did stuck to my head and I was curious to taste more of them, but living in Finland does not make tasting Portuguese wines very convenient. Luckily I finally had the chance to visit the estate.

Driving to the winery I saw something curious and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Something quite primitive yet sophisticated. Behind a big barbed wire fence there was a vineyard. A vineyard inside a prison! I was dumbfounded. This would never happen in Finland, and not just because this country is climatically challenged. Apparently they take cultivating grapes very seriously down in Portugal. Almost made me want to rob a bank.

Anyways, arriving to Quinta da Serradinha we drove through a bunch of beautiful bushy vineyards. The winery itself looks quite, hmm, “down-to-earth”. No infinity pools or fancy fountains on the driveway. Just the essentials, rustic. The cellar is simplicity itself, stripped from all nonsense and pointless gadgets. Few vats, barrels, couple of amphoras and I think I saw a pump somewhere in the corner. You could quickly get the sense that this quinta is definitely a minimum intervention, hands-off kind of a winery. Let the vines do the talking.

We sat down in the cellar and started tasting through the wines. Barrel samples, whites made from varieties such as Arinto, Fernão Pires and Encruzado, rosé wines made in amfora which is a thing you don’t see very often. The wines offered tons of character. Some a bit funky, some very pure and elegant but none of them boring. There was a consistency of uniqueness in the wines which I found very appealing. A certain charm that made me want to taste more and learn more about these wines. But like always there was a couple of wines that really stood out.

Quinta da Serradinha “Poupa” 1999
The bird on the label is not just any vineyard pigeon, it’s a hoopoe bird also known as poupa in Portugal. This particular fellow got the top billing because he protects the vineyard by eating some of the unwanted insects thus decreasing the pressure to use pesticides. Nice little birdie.

Consisting mostly of Baga (75%). This wine is showing no midlife crisis. Developed aromas but still some nice vibrant fruit in the background. Lots of spiciness and some nice earthy tones with hints of dill. It’s surprisingly delicate but with a firm tannin grip suggesting this one would definitely find its place next to a good meal. I dare to say this must be one of the best baga wines outside of Bairrada. Very good.

Quinta da Serradinha Vinho Tinto 1989
One gets a bit wary when tasting Portuguese reds pre-90’s. Although some can age for decades, they sometimes tend to have a shorter life span. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad wines, it just means they will peak earlier which actually makes them more consumer friendly.

But I have to say that this wine surprised me. Even though it’s well matured it has some beautiful fragrant aromas of lingonberry and herbs. Lovely texture with still some of that nice Serra d’Aire freshness. Some might say this wine is over-the-hill, but that’s a question of taste. I think this wine still offers some good drinking but it’s getting to a point of drink now or forever hold your peace.

Contacts
Quinta da Serradinha
Barreira Apart. 4040
2411-901 Leiria
PORTUGAL
Tel.: (+351) 244 831 683
Mobile: (+351) 919 338 097
E-mail: amc@quintadaserradinha.com
Site: www.quintadaserradinha.com

Colares – The Most “Ridiculous” Wine Region in the World

Text Ilkka Sirén

Ridiculously awesome that is! I’ve been curious about this little wine region in Lisbon ever since I tasted one bottle during harvest in Douro back in 2008. During one wine filled dinner I tasted my first sip from Colares. It was amazing. I didn’t remember which producer it was nor the exact vintage. I just remember it was old. That was until I found a long lost picture of me holding that very bottle in my hand. Don’t be alarmed, that picture was taken 6 years and 20 kilos ago, but I assure you that’s me in the picture. But we will get back to that wine later.

The region has a long history and it is the second oldest demarcated wine region in Portugal dating back to 1908. But the history of wine making in Colares goes way way back to the days of the Roman Empire. But it was King Afonso III of Portugal who actually commanded people to cultivate vines there. I can picture him as a Game of Thrones type of a figure, drunk, screaming “MORE WINE!” while waving his sword, kind of like Tyrion Lannister. So, wine has been important to the region of Colares a long time. In the end of the 19th century the wine bug phylloxera destroyed pretty much every vineyard in Europe, except Colares.

The vineyards in that area were cultivated on sand dunes very close to the sea and phylloxera, that sneaky little bugger, does not like beaches and the vineyards of Colares survived this vinous catastrophe. While the rest of Europe was freaking out, grafting and burying toads under the vines because they thought it would help save what little they had left, Colares was doing fine. I mean people were battling these microscopic insects with vivisepulture of amphibians! Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. But for Colares this was like winning a lottery. The world was suffering from an extreme wine shortage and Colares had the golden ticket. Supply and demand – BOOOM!! I’m sure that there must have been a moment when Colares had a good trajectory to become one of the greatest wine regions in the world. But that was not meant to be.

The region has gone from being the center of the wine world, almost, to the verge of extinction where it is today. It was only when I had the chance to visit Colares that I understood why it never could be a blockbuster region. For sure the region deserves much more attention but it will never be a “mainstream wine”. It’s just too damn difficult to cultivate grapes there. It’s extremely labour intensive. I visited a bunch of vineyards this harvest that were not more than 300 meters away from the Atlantic ocean.

The vineyards are surrounded by walls made out of straw and the vines are planted in sand trenches which makes the vineyards look like a scene from the movie Dune by David Lynch. The vines are sprawling wild on the ground and when the grapes start to form they will lift the branches with these canes to prevent the grapes from rotting.

When the harvest finally does come you can only imagine how back breaking it is to pick these grapes. You can forget about mechanisation unless you find a way to strap a bunch of grape pickers behind a dune buggy and drag them around the vineyard without hurting them.

Why make things difficult then? Well, the wines made for Colares DOC have to come from sandy soil near the beach and they have to be ungrafted. However if you want some EU subsidies the vines have to be grafted. This viticultural Sophie’s choice does not make things any easier.

After going through the vineyards it was time to taste these wines. I went to one of the old-school cellars Adega Viuva Gomes for a drink or two. They have been around since 1808 and their wines are sought after by Colares fans all around the world.

In the beautiful cellar of Viuva Gomes we tasted a range of wines from the different local producers. The bottles varied in style and age but one wine really caught my eye.

Viuva Gomes “Collares” Tinto 1934
Let me start with saying that this is not a fortified wine, I repeat this is not a fortified wine. Which makes the vintage even more astonishing. This is a red wine made from ramisco, the king grape of Colares. A fairly uninteresting grape variety outside the region but in Colares it produces wines with great personality and remarkable longevity.

The year 1934 was the year when Adolf Hitler started his reign and it’s also the year when Bonnie and Clyde were shot dead deep in the pine forests of Louisiana, just to give you a little context. It’s old. By the time you lay your eyes on this wine you will know that it’s not exactly from this decade nor this century. The light brown hue promises something matured, something that has stood the test of time. On the nose you get some beautiful earthy aromas with hints of cherry, crushed rocks and a touch of this volatile minty character.

This is a wine I like to call a “Houdini wine”. It keeps constantly evoling and changing in your glass. Every time you put your nose in the glass it’s a bit different. When you taste the wine you understand why some people are really fanatic about these wines. Just pure structure! Kickass acidity with layers, upon layers, upon layers of flavour. There’s also this beautiful salivating effect. A bit of that sea salt-like kick that makes your mouth water. A truly mind-boggling wine that is a great testament for the great potential of Colares wines.

So, back to the wine this whole thing started with. The Colares wine I had in 2008 when I was in Douro. While writing this post an old picture from that night resurfaced and after some enlarging and enhancing the picture, I found out that the wine I had in 2008 was in fact the very same Viuva Gomes Tinto from 1934. The same wine that got me interested about Colares wines and reaffirmed my belief that Portuguese wines can age like the best of them.

Now, I don’t know what will happen to this peculiar little wine region in the future. It really can’t get much smaller than it is without disappearing from the face of the earth completely, and I don’t think it will. There seems to be a newfound enthusiasm within Colares wine making scene. There is young guys like Hélder Cunha with his Monte Cascas wines that are producing some really tasty stuff and bringing some new blood to the region, so to speak. As long as there is talented winemakers like him and all the others who are currently making wine in Colares and preserving what can only be described as one of the most ridiculous yet absolutely fascinating wine regions in the world, there is hope.

Contacts
Largo Comendador Gomes da Silva,
2 e 3, Almoçageme
2705-041 COLARES
Tel.: (+351) 219 290 903
Email: chaodeareialda@gmail.com
Site: www.adegaviuvagomes.com

Colares – The Most "Ridiculous" Wine Region in the World

Text Ilkka Sirén

Ridiculously awesome that is! I’ve been curious about this little wine region in Lisbon ever since I tasted one bottle during harvest in Douro back in 2008. During one wine filled dinner I tasted my first sip from Colares. It was amazing. I didn’t remember which producer it was nor the exact vintage. I just remember it was old. That was until I found a long lost picture of me holding that very bottle in my hand. Don’t be alarmed, that picture was taken 6 years and 20 kilos ago, but I assure you that’s me in the picture. But we will get back to that wine later.

The region has a long history and it is the second oldest demarcated wine region in Portugal dating back to 1908. But the history of wine making in Colares goes way way back to the days of the Roman Empire. But it was King Afonso III of Portugal who actually commanded people to cultivate vines there. I can picture him as a Game of Thrones type of a figure, drunk, screaming “MORE WINE!” while waving his sword, kind of like Tyrion Lannister. So, wine has been important to the region of Colares a long time. In the end of the 19th century the wine bug phylloxera destroyed pretty much every vineyard in Europe, except Colares.

The vineyards in that area were cultivated on sand dunes very close to the sea and phylloxera, that sneaky little bugger, does not like beaches and the vineyards of Colares survived this vinous catastrophe. While the rest of Europe was freaking out, grafting and burying toads under the vines because they thought it would help save what little they had left, Colares was doing fine. I mean people were battling these microscopic insects with vivisepulture of amphibians! Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. But for Colares this was like winning a lottery. The world was suffering from an extreme wine shortage and Colares had the golden ticket. Supply and demand – BOOOM!! I’m sure that there must have been a moment when Colares had a good trajectory to become one of the greatest wine regions in the world. But that was not meant to be.

The region has gone from being the center of the wine world, almost, to the verge of extinction where it is today. It was only when I had the chance to visit Colares that I understood why it never could be a blockbuster region. For sure the region deserves much more attention but it will never be a “mainstream wine”. It’s just too damn difficult to cultivate grapes there. It’s extremely labour intensive. I visited a bunch of vineyards this harvest that were not more than 300 meters away from the Atlantic ocean.

The vineyards are surrounded by walls made out of straw and the vines are planted in sand trenches which makes the vineyards look like a scene from the movie Dune by David Lynch. The vines are sprawling wild on the ground and when the grapes start to form they will lift the branches with these canes to prevent the grapes from rotting.

When the harvest finally does come you can only imagine how back breaking it is to pick these grapes. You can forget about mechanisation unless you find a way to strap a bunch of grape pickers behind a dune buggy and drag them around the vineyard without hurting them.

Why make things difficult then? Well, the wines made for Colares DOC have to come from sandy soil near the beach and they have to be ungrafted. However if you want some EU subsidies the vines have to be grafted. This viticultural Sophie’s choice does not make things any easier.

After going through the vineyards it was time to taste these wines. I went to one of the old-school cellars Adega Viuva Gomes for a drink or two. They have been around since 1808 and their wines are sought after by Colares fans all around the world.

In the beautiful cellar of Viuva Gomes we tasted a range of wines from the different local producers. The bottles varied in style and age but one wine really caught my eye.

Viuva Gomes “Collares” Tinto 1934
Let me start with saying that this is not a fortified wine, I repeat this is not a fortified wine. Which makes the vintage even more astonishing. This is a red wine made from ramisco, the king grape of Colares. A fairly uninteresting grape variety outside the region but in Colares it produces wines with great personality and remarkable longevity.

The year 1934 was the year when Adolf Hitler started his reign and it’s also the year when Bonnie and Clyde were shot dead deep in the pine forests of Louisiana, just to give you a little context. It’s old. By the time you lay your eyes on this wine you will know that it’s not exactly from this decade nor this century. The light brown hue promises something matured, something that has stood the test of time. On the nose you get some beautiful earthy aromas with hints of cherry, crushed rocks and a touch of this volatile minty character.

This is a wine I like to call a “Houdini wine”. It keeps constantly evoling and changing in your glass. Every time you put your nose in the glass it’s a bit different. When you taste the wine you understand why some people are really fanatic about these wines. Just pure structure! Kickass acidity with layers, upon layers, upon layers of flavour. There’s also this beautiful salivating effect. A bit of that sea salt-like kick that makes your mouth water. A truly mind-boggling wine that is a great testament for the great potential of Colares wines.

So, back to the wine this whole thing started with. The Colares wine I had in 2008 when I was in Douro. While writing this post an old picture from that night resurfaced and after some enlarging and enhancing the picture, I found out that the wine I had in 2008 was in fact the very same Viuva Gomes Tinto from 1934. The same wine that got me interested about Colares wines and reaffirmed my belief that Portuguese wines can age like the best of them.

Now, I don’t know what will happen to this peculiar little wine region in the future. It really can’t get much smaller than it is without disappearing from the face of the earth completely, and I don’t think it will. There seems to be a newfound enthusiasm within Colares wine making scene. There is young guys like Hélder Cunha with his Monte Cascas wines that are producing some really tasty stuff and bringing some new blood to the region, so to speak. As long as there is talented winemakers like him and all the others who are currently making wine in Colares and preserving what can only be described as one of the most ridiculous yet absolutely fascinating wine regions in the world, there is hope.

Contacts
Largo Comendador Gomes da Silva,
2 e 3, Almoçageme
2705-041 COLARES
Tel.: (+351) 219 290 903
Email: chaodeareialda@gmail.com
Site: www.adegaviuvagomes.com

Colares – A Mais "Ridícula" Região de Vinho do Mundo

Texto Ilkka Sirén | Tradução Teresa Calisto

Ou seja, ridiculamente espectacular! Tenho andado curioso sobre esta pequena região de vinho em Lisboa, desde que provei uma garrafa durante a vindima no Douro em 2008. Num jantar recheado de vinho, provei o meu primeiro golo de Colares. Foi fantástico. Não me lembrava qual o produtor, nem o ano exacto. Só me lembro que era velho. Até que encontrei uma foto, há muito perdida, de mim a segurar essa mesma garrafa na mão. Não se assustem essa foto foi tirada há 6 anos e 20 quilos atrás, mas garanto-vos que sou eu na fotografia. Mas já voltaremos a esse vinho.

A região tem uma longa história e é a segunda região demarcada mais antiga de Portugal, datando de 1908. Mas a história da produção de vinho em Colares vem de muito, muito antes, desde os dias do Império Romano. Mas foi o Rei Afonso III de Portugal quem na realidade ordenou que se cultivassem vinhas lá. Consigo imaginá-lo como uma figura do estilo “Game of Thrones”, bêbado, a gritar “MAIS VINHO!” enquanto brandia a sua espada, como o Tyrion Lannister.

Portanto, o vinho tem sido importante para a região de Colares desde há muito tempo. Nos finais do século XIX, o insecto do vinho filoxera destruiu praticamente todas as vinhas na Europa, excepto Colares. As vinhas dessa área estavam cultivadas em dunas de areia, muito perto do mar e a filoxera, esse sacaninha manhoso, não gosta das praias, e as vinhas de Colares sobreviveram a esta catástrofe vinosa.

Enquanto o resto da Europa perdia a cabeça, enxertando e enterrando sapos debaixo das vinhas porque achavam que isso ajudaria a salvar o pouco que tinha sobrado, Colares estava a dar-se bem. Quer dizer, as pessoas andavam a combater estes insectos microscópicos com sepulturas vinícolas de anfíbios! Tempos desesperados pedem medidas desesperadas, acho eu. Mas para Colares, isto foi como ganhar a lotaria. O mundo sofria de uma escassez de vinho extrema e Colares tinha o bilhete dourado. Oferta e procura – BOOOM!! Tenho a certeza que deve ter havido um momento em que Colares estava numa boa trajectória para se tornar numa das maiores regiões de vinho no mundo. Mas isso não lhe estava destinado.

A região passou de ser quase o centro do mundo do vinho, para estar à beira da extinção, onde se encontra actualmente. Foi apenas quando tive a oportunidade de visitar Colares que compreendi porque é que nunca poderia ter sido uma região de imenso sucesso. Com certeza que a região merece muito mais atenção, mas nunca será um “vinho mainstream”. É demasiado difícil cultivar vinhas ali. É um trabalho muito intensivo.

Eu visitei uma série de vinhas durante estas vindimas que não estavam a mais de 300 metros do oceano Atlântico. Os vinhedos estão rodeados de paredes de palha e as vinhas estão plantadas em trincheiras de areia, que fazem com que pareçam uma cena do filme Dune de David Lynch. As vinhas alastram-se à vontade no chão e quando as uvas se começam a formar, elas serão levantadas com umas canas para prevenir que as uvas apodreçam.

Quando a vindima finalmente chega, apenas podemos imaginar o quão árduo será apanhar aquelas uvas. Podem esquecer a mecanização, a não ser que arranjem forma de prender uns apanhadores de uvas às traseiras de um buggy das dunas, e os arrastem pelo vinhedo sem os magoar.

Porquê complicar as coisas então? Bem, os vinhos feitos para a DOC Colares têm que vir de solos arenosos perto da praia e não podem ser enxertadas. No entanto, se quiserem algum subsídio da UE, as vinhas têm que ser enxertadas. Esta Escolha de Sofia vinícola não torna as coisas mais fáceis.

Depois de visitar as vinhas estava na altura de provar estes vinhos. Fui a uma das caves à moda antiga: a Adega Viúva Gomes para beber um ou dois copos. Eles existem desde 1808 e os seus vinhos são procurados pelos fãs de Colares por todo o mundo.

Na linda cave da Viúva Gomes, provamos um conjunto de vinhos de diferentes produtores locais. As garrafas variavam em estilo e idade, mas houve uma que realmente captou a minha atenção.

Viuva Gomes “Collares” Tinto 1934
Deixem-me começar por dizer que este não é um vinho fortificado, repito, este não é um vinho fortificado. O que torna o seu ano ainda mais surpreendente. Este é um vinho tinto, feito de Ramisco, a uva rei de Colares. Uma casta bastante desinteressante fora da região, mas que em Colares produz vinhos com grande personalidade e uma longevidade notável. O ano 1934 foi o ano em que Adolf Hitler começou o seu reinado e foi também o ano em que Bonnie e Clyde foram mortos a tiro, no meio das florestas de pinheiros do Luisiana, só para vos dar um bocadinho de contexto. É velho.

A partir do momento em que pousam os olhos neste vinho, saberão que ele não é propriamente desta década, nem deste século. O tom castanho claro promete algo amadurecido, algo que sobreviveu ao teste do tempo. No nariz tem uns bonitos aromas terrosos, com insinuações de cereja, pedra esmagada e um toque deste caracter volátil mentolado. Este é um vinho a que eu gosto de chamar um “Vinho Houdini”. Está constantemente a evoluir e a mudar no seu copo. Sempre que levar o nariz ao copo, é um pouco diferente. Quando prova o vinho, compreende porque algumas pessoas são verdadeiros fanáticos destes vinhos. Apenas pura estrutura! Acidez potente com camadas sobre camadas sobre camadas de sabor. Há também este lindo efeito salivante. Um pouco daquele chuto como sal marinho, que faz ficar de água na boca. Um vinho verdadeiramente surpreendente, que é uma grande prova do imenso potencial dos vinhos de Colares.

Então, de volta ao vinho que deu início a tudo isto. O vinho de Colares que provei em 2008 quando estive no Douro. Enquanto escrevia este artigo, ressurgiu uma antiga fotografia daquela noite e depois de aumentar e realçar a foto, descobri que o vinho que provei em 2008, era na realidade o mesmo Viúva Gomes Tinto de 1934. O mesmo vinho que despertou o meu interesse pelos vinhos de Colares e que reafirmou a minha crença de que os vinhos Portugueses conseguem envelhecer como os melhores.

Agora, não sei o que irá acontecer a esta regiãozinha peculiar de vinho no futuro. Não pode ficar muito mais pequena do que está sem desaparecer por completo da face da terra, e eu não acho que o fará. Parece haver um recém-descoberto entusiasmo pela produção de vinhos de Colares. Há jovens como Hélder Cunha com os seus vinhos Monte Cascas, que estão a produzir coisas bem saborosas e a trazer sangue novo para a região, por assim dizer. Enquanto houver produtores de vinho talentosos, como ele e todos os outros que estão actualmente a fazer vinho em Colares e a preservar o que só pode ser descrito como uma das mais ridículas e no entanto absolutamente fascinantes regiões de vinho no mundo, ainda há esperança.

Contactos
Largo Comendador Gomes da Silva,
2 e 3, Almoçageme
2705-041 COLARES
Tel.: (+351) 219 290 903
Email: chaodeareialda@gmail.com
Site: www.adegaviuvagomes.com

The Life Aquatic With Monte d’Oiro

Text Ilkka Sirén

Traveling up and down Portugal is an experience. Driving through the little villages, endless number of roundabouts and beautiful landscapes is part of the fun when hopping from wine region to wine region.

Most people have this image about Portugal that it’s the land of never-ending sunshine. Sure, you can get some really good weather while down in Portugal but because the country is dangling on the edge of Europe with both feet firmly in the Atlantic Ocean the weather can get quite gnarly sometimes. This trip was one of those times.

We set out to have a tasting at Monte d’Oiro estate near Lisbon. Mother Nature might be an absolutist because she opened the flood gates the very second we stepped into the car. Our car was immediately converted into a submarine not unlike the one in that James Bond movie. The amount of water coming down from the sky was biblical. Windscreen wipers were sweeping at maximum speed, cod fishes were swimming in the opposite lane and I’m pretty sure I saw the Kraken. Surprising how difficult it is to drive when you don’t see more than one meter in front of you.

We did however manage to find the estate and even the rain stopped, for a short moment. After taking a quick look at the vineyards which are located just in front of the winery we went to the cellar and had a quite an extensive tasting from white to reds, new vintages and old vintages. While we were sipping through the wines Mother Nature continued protesting outside and the rainstorm turned into a thunderstorm.

We were joined by José Bento dos Santos, a metal broker in previous life who acquired the estate of Monte d’Oiro in 1986. He was kind enough to offer a vinous refuge from the ghastly weather outside. The quinta is well-known for producing food friendly wines from not just Portuguese grape varieties but also Syrah, Viognier and Petit Verdot.

We tasted through several flights of wines and after a while a pattern started to emerge. The wines were consistenly good, restrained in aromas and driven by acidity and structure. Lisbon’s wine regions are generally quite cool compared to Alentejo for example. The Atlantic influence is very present often giving the wines freshness and loads of drinkability.

If there’s one thing I took back from this tasting it was that the wines of Monte d’Oiro age fairly well. Even though some vintages were showing better than others, which is normal, the wines hold to their guns and kept showing great character.

My two picks from the tasting:

Quinta do Monte d’Oiro Reserva 1999
Syrah based red with some big cojones. Beautifully matured aromas of black olive tapenade, herbs and red berries. Smooth tannin structure and still some nice vibrant acidity. A wine that could still go for many years. Very good.

Quinta do Monte d’Oiro ‘Homenagem a Antonio Carqueijeiro’ 1999
Slightly more developed than the Reserva. Showing more of that rustic “barnyard-y” aromas but still with some lovely perfume of cherry and spices. Reminds me a bit of Saint-Joseph wines. Drink now or wait a couple of years but make sure you have some good food to go with it.

After the tasting it was time for dinner. Mr. Bento dos Santos is a gastro-enthusiast to put it mildly. Apparently the man is on first-name basis with Paul Bocuse, among many other accolades. To put a long dinner shortly we had what was according to the host the best beef in Europe, awarded by some sort of a beef magazine. Who knew there was a magazine just for beef? Well, the dinner was absolutely delicious of course. What made it even more delicious is that we had five different rums as a digestif. I did not object. All in all a great insight to one of Lisbon’s finest wineries and it was, despite the horrible weather, well worth the visit.

Contacts
Freixial de Cima
2580-404 Ventosa Alenquer
Tel: (+351) 263 766 060
Fax (+351) 263 766 069
Email: geral@quintadomontedoiro.com
Site: www.quintadomontedoiro.com

A Vida Aquática Com Monte d'Oiro

Texto Ilkka Sirén | Tradução Teresa Calisto

Viajar por Portugal é uma experiência. Atravessando as pequenas aldeias de carro, um sem número de rotundas e lindas paisagens fazem parte da diversão de saltar de região de vinho em região de vinho.

A maioria das pessoas tem esta imagem de Portugal: que é a terra do sol que nunca acaba. Com certeza que poderá apanhar tempo muito bom quando estiver em Portugal, mas porque o país está pendurado na beirinha da Europa, com os dois pés firmes no Oceano Atlântico, o tempo pode tornar-se bastante difícil, às vezes. Esta viagem foi uma dessas vezes.

Partimos para uma prova na Quinta Monte d’Oiro perto de Lisboa. A Mãe Natureza consegue ser uma absolutista porque abriu as comportas no exacto momento em que entramos no carro. O nosso carro converteu-se imediatamente num submarino, à semelhança do carro naquele filme do James Bond. A água caía do céu em quantidades bíblicas. Os limpa-pára-brisas limpavam à velocidade máxima, os bacalhaus nadavam na faixa oposta e eu tenho quase a certeza de ter visto o Kraken. É surpreendente o quão difícil é conduzir quando não se vê mais de um palmo à frente do nariz.

Conseguimos, no entanto, encontrar a propriedade e até a chuva parou, por um breve momento. Depois de darmos uma espreitadela às vinhas, localizadas mesmo em frente à adega, fomos até à cave e tivemos uma prova bastante extensa, dos brancos aos tintos, das colheitas mais recentes às mais antigas. Enquanto beberricávamos os vinhos, a Mãe Natureza continuava a protestar lá fora e a tempestade transformou-se em trovoada.

Juntou-se a nós José Bento dos Santos, broker de metais numa vida anterior, que adquiriu a propriedade Monte d’Oiro em 1986. A quinta é conhecida por produzir vinhos que acompanham bem a comida, feitos não só de castas Portuguesas, mas também de Syrah, Viognier e Petit Verdot.

Provámos vários patamares de vinhos e passado um pouco, começou a surgir um padrão. Os vinhos eram consistentemente bons, contidos nos aromas e guiados pela acidez e estrutura. As regiões de vinho de Lisboa são geralmente bastante frescas em comparação ao Alentejo, por exemplo. A influência do Atlântico é muito presente, dando com frequência aos vinhos frescura e tornando-os muito bebíveis.

Se há uma coisa que eu trouxe desta prova foi que os vinhos de Monte D’Oiro envelhecem bastante bem. Apesar de alguns anos se mostrarem melhores que outros, o que é normal, os vinhos mantêm a sua pose e continuam a mostrar grande carácter.

As minhas duas escolhas da prova:

Quinta do Monte d’Oiro Reserva 1999
Tinto baseado em Syrah com grandes cojones. Aromas maravilhosamente amadurecidos de tapenade de azeitona preta, ervas e bagas vermelhas. Estrutura de taninos suave e ainda alguma boa acidez vibrante. Um vinho que pode continuar durante muitos anos. Muito bom.

Quinta do Monte d’Oiro ‘Homenagem a Antonio Carqueijeiro’ 1999
Ligeiramente mais desenvolvido que o Reserva. Mostrando mais daqueles aromas rústicos, de celeiro, mas ainda com algum agradável perfume de cereja e especiarias. Faz-me lembrar um pouco os vinhos Saint-Joseph. Beba agora ou espere um par de anos, mas certifique-se que tem boa comida para o acompanhar.

Depois da prova era altura do jantar. O Sr. Bento dos Santos é um gastro-entusiasta, para não dizer mais. Aparentemente trata Paul Bocuse por tu, entre muitos outros elogios. Para resumir um longo jantar, nós comemos o que foi, de acordo com o anfitrião, a melhor carne da Europa, premiado por uma espécie de revista de carne de vaca. Quem diria que havia uma revista só para carne de vaca? Bom, o jantar estava absolutamente delicioso, claro. O que o tornou ainda mais delicioso foi que nós bebemos 5 tipos diferentes de rum como digestivo. Eu não levantei objecções. Em suma, um grande insight para uma das melhores adegas de Lisboa, e que foi, apesar do tempo horrível, uma visita que valeu bem a pena.

Contactos
Freixial de Cima
2580-404 Ventosa Alenquer
Tel: (+351) 263 766 060
Fax (+351) 263 766 069
Email: geral@quintadomontedoiro.com
Site: www.quintadomontedoiro.com

Cume here!

Text Ilkka Sirén

I’m not a great cook I can tell you that right now. I mean, I like to cook but I’m just not very good at it. At home I cook everyday. That wasn’t always the case though. Not many years ago I could hardly boil water. It was only when I got my first child when I really started to cook different foods, not just popcorn.

At first I didn’t really enjoy it much. I was lazy. But little by little I started to get the hang of it and nowadays I love to cook. In fact I might even like making food more than I like eating it. Well, let’s say it’s 50/50. Cooking for me is very therapeutic. I like taking my time when preparing food, listening to some sweet tunes and, of course, drinking wine. I’ve noticed that it’s almost impossible to make food without wine. I have tried and failed many times.

This time I decided to make “pollo alla cacciatora” chicken stew. I got the idea from non other than Jamie Oliver. Every time I’m in Portugal I hear people saying that I look a bit like Mr. Oliver. Personally I don’t see it but hey, if I look like him I might as well cook like him, right? The recipe told me to make the chicken swim in half a bottle of red wine. I have a personal rule that if the chicken gets to have wine, so will I. So, half a bottle for Signora Pollo and half a bottle for the chef. Add some salt, black pepper, bay leaves, garlic, squashed cherry tomatoes, couple slices of anchovies to bring a bit of that briny tang to the sauce, olives, rosemary sprigs and sim sala bim, into the oven it goes.

While the chicken was stewing it was time to marinate the chef. It was a job for some wine from the Douro. I had a couple of bottles from Quinta do Cume I wanted to try. The wines come from a little town called Provezende, located on the northern side of the Douro river and about 600 meters up the hill. Lovely little place that has bakery that makes some jaw-dropping bread. The wines of Cume however were completely new to me and I was eager to taste them.

Quinta do Cume Reserva Branco 2011
This wine consist of mainly Malvasia Fina but probably has a touch of Rabigato and Viosinho as well. 30% of the wine has been in French oak barrels for only 3 months. You can detect some spiciness from the oak but overall I think it was well integrated in the wine. It is so easy to get over-oaked wines so I’m glad that the winemaker Jean-Hugues Gros was very subtle with it. In addition the wine has delicious fruit, that classic tropical mango action with some sexy minerality that I often find in good Douro whites. Slightly viscous and good acidity to back that up. Impressive.

Quinta do Cume Reserva Tinto 2010
When the chicken stew was ready it was time for the red. A blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz would go nicely with some hearty food. Smelling the wine was like getting hit with a fist, but instead of an actual fist the hand would be made entirely out of berries. BOOOM – black eyes by blueberries. Intensive smell with some toasted oaky aromas coming through. Nice texture, tannins for days and some great black raspberry aromas. Definitely needs some food to go with it unless you like to get you ass kicked by 75 cl of fermented grape juice. Good.

Contacts
Quinta do Cume
5060-261 Provezende
Portugal
Tel: (+351) 91 445 7550
Email: quintadocume@netcabo.pt
Site: www.quintadocume.pt

Shades of Autumn

Text Ilkka Sirén

If there is one thing I know, one thing I’m absolutely certain of is that winter in Finland is inevitable. As a season it is not my favorite. But not because of the snow, that might sometimes be waist deep. It’s not even the cold which can reach -40°C in some parts of Finland. It is the darkness that really takes it out of me.

But autumn I like. In some way I even like it more than summer. The nature in Finland is beyond beautiful when the fall colors start to appear. There is something really magical in this season. Fresh sunny days, leaves on the ground, longs walks in the forests….aah, nice!

The crackling sounds of a wood-burning sauna just might be the most relaxing sounds on this planet and it is something I associate with the dark nights of autumn. There is also something about autumn that makes me unusually thirsty for good wine. Not that I need many reasons to drink wine but the cozy-fireplace-hey-let’s-snuggle atmosphere of autumn really makes one want to sip wine like there is no tomorrow.

A quick getaway to the countryside after an intensive work trip is just what the doctor ordered. I picked up a friend of mine from the Helsinki airport late one evening and as we were driving through this thick fog the bottle I had left on the car floor started to attract attention amongst the thirsty travelers. My friend reached for the bottle and it turned out to be a rosé sparkling wine from the region of Távora-Varosa. This peculiar mountainous wine region shares a border with Douro in the north and Dão in the south. It’s quite remote and most of the vines grow at 500 to 800 meters above sea level.

Anyways, this bottle that was on the car floor was half empty before we got to the cottage but when we did finally reach our destination and settled in, I had a chance to taste it before it vanished.

Terras do Demo Touriga Nacional Rosé Bruto 2012
Some rosé bubbles are quite delicate and fresh, some are a bit meaty with more flesh around the bones. This wine is right smack in the middle of those two styles. At first glance it got me thinking “it’s not exactly champagne now is it?”. Ignorant, I know, but to the point. After a while this turned out to be a very decent sparkling wine with some good bang for the buck. The bottle promises too much for sure. I mean it’s a very pretty bottle. The necklace is exuding prestige and so on, dress to impress. But the liquid inside is more down-to-earth. Nice creamy mouth feel with a tasty sour lingonberry finish. Sitting in the end of the pier, watching the sunset, this wine can offer a delicious and unexpected treat from this curious little DOC.

Contacts
Moimenta da Beira
Sernancelhe
Vila Nova de Paiva
Sátão
Site: www.terrasdodemo.pt

Quinta de Santiago meets Crayfish

Text Ilkka Sirén

We Finns are known for all kinds of weird traditions. We invented and host annual world championships for Wife-Carrying and mosquito killing. We have competitions for throwing rubber boots and cellphones. We celebrate midsummer by disappearing to the countryside to drink amongst ourselves. On 1st of May we drink lots of homemade non-alcoholic mead. We of course invented sauna which we use weekly. We even had World Sauna Championship to see who can sit the longest in an increasingly hot sauna, but then some people died and we had to stop. We also invented Santa Claus. I mean not invented, he is real. Just saw him a couple of months ago.

In the winter time we go swimming in the lake or ocean by making a big hole in the ice. We Finns drink the most coffee in the world and we’re pretty good in ice hockey. We’re not big wine drinkers, yet, but beer we like. Finland is called the land of thousand lakes but in fact we have closer to 200,000 lakes. In the end of August many people have crayfish dinner parties where people, simply, eat crayfish and get absolutely hammered. This is a story of a night like that.

As you can see from the picture above I attended my first crayfish dinner party when I was only three weeks old. The tradition of crayfish dinner parties is deeply rooted in the Swedish minority in Finland but nowadays is celebrated by all. The crayfishing season starts in Finland every year at 21st of July at noon but usually people start having them in the end of August when nights are getting darker. Usually the evening starts like pretty much any other night in Finland, with warming up the sauna. I was in charge of that and while it was heating up we prepared the crayfish in the kitchen. The crayfish are kinda like mini freshwater lobsters bombed with dill. You usually have them just with some white bread. But the real trick is learning how to properly eat them with out slitting your wrist with the special crayfish knife. Trust me it gets a bit tricky after a couple shots of akvavit.

So, after some hours of relaxing in the sauna and swimming in the lake it was time to start the dinner. We start by pouring everyone some akvavit, a spicy booze from Norway. Then the singing starts. We sing a well-known Swedish drinking song called Helan går. The song means “all at once” and it literally says that if you’re not going to down your shot all at once you’re not going to get even a half of the glass. So we sing, we drink and we pour another glass. Then we start eating. My wife brings out her delicious creamy mushroom soup and I grab a bottle of Quinta de Santiago Alvarinho Reserva “Segredo da Avó” 2013 from Monção e Melgaço. Now, I usually wouldn’t go first for the reserva but I thought that the rich creamy soup would need something a bit sturdier. The wine has had some skin contact and a touch of oak aging. It paired beautifully with the mushroom soup. The crisp acidity balanced nicely the full-bodied texture of the soup while also bringing some nice citrus and soft spicy aromas into the mix. On its own it seemed a bit awkward and young, which it was, but with food it blossomed.

Then we poured another round of akvavit and the singing continued. This might not be the best way to ensure you detect all the nuances in a wine but boy is it fun. Next up was the main dish, la écrevisse, the crayfish. My mother-in-law carries two big plates full of these little buggers which inspires me to sing another drinking song. And yes, another shot of akvavit. I stumble into the kitchen, pick a bottle of the Quinta de Santiago Alvarinho 2012 (previous wine’s little brother) and head back to the table. Meanwhile my father-in-law had poured another round of shots and down it goes. At this point the crayfish shells are flying all over, noisy slurping sounds echo in the room, noisy laughing and some more singing. The atmosphere is rowdy but everyone is happy. I serve the alvarinho while trying not to get stabbed with the crayfish knife. The reserve was a solid food pairing, very nice. But this young alvarinho with the little red devils was something superb. The crayfish are full of this salty dill water which combined amazingly well with the alvarinhos fresh peachy character and the saline-like kick in the finish. I didn’t know this producer well before but this definitely got me interested and I look forward to tasting more of their wines in the future.

After we devoured the crayfish it was time for dessert. I remember there was port wine and maybe a song or two. When it was all over, well after midnight, it was time for round two of sauna. Nothing like a 90°C steaming sauna session as a digestif. The laughing, singing, drinking and all sorts of disorderly conduct continued to the break of dawn. It was a proper Finnish bacchanalia. Luckily we do it only once a year.

Contacts
Quinta de Santiago
Rua D. Fernando nº 128
Cortes, Monção
4950-276 Mazedo
Mobile: 917557883
email: wines@quintadesantiago.pt