Dominó by Vítor Claro

Text Ilkka Sirén

When people talk about “food friendly” wines I’ve always thought that it must be one of the most misused wine descriptions out there, right next to terroir and minerality. “This is definitely a food friendly wine”. Yeah? What kind of food? It’s a bit vague, don’t you think. Is there wines that are not food friendly? Wines that just do not go with anything. I know there is wines that might not need a food pairing to be quite enjoyable, but I have never tasted a wine that doesn’t go with any kind of food. I have also never met a winemaker that does not make food friendly wines, in his or hers opinion. Still, the words food friendly is often thrown around by wine writers and other industry professionals to describe a certain style of wine. I know this because I do it all the time too. It’s a lazy way of saying the wine is good.

Certainly there is wines that really need food to show their best. Some wines can actually be quite harsh and difficult to approach if you don’t have some food to go with it. People are used to wines that you can pop open a minute after buying them but traditionally wines that are meant to age, especially reds, have a structure that might be unappealing for most drinkers. They are not necessarily big full-bodied wines but quite tannic with high acidity and it is these two qualities that people usually associate with wines that go well with food. That being said, there is something magical, something that is impossible to measure in any way, when you combine great food with great wine and they complement each other perfectly.

Enter Vitor Claro, restaurateur, chef, winemaker. This Portuguese gastronaut runs his own restaurant Claro! in Paço de Arcos near Lisbon. He has worked in restaurants all over Portugal and London but in 2012 he opened his own shop.Apparently he caught the wine bug from Dirk Niepoort, which seems to happen quite often with Dirk. A few years went by, visiting wineries and tasting a lot of wine. An idea about making his own wine started brewing. He found two parcels of vineyards in the Portalegre region in Alentejo. Now, when I say Alentejo, forget it. Because these wines are not your typical Alentejano wines. This fairly new wine project is small, only 800 bottles each. It’s so small in fact that some might think what’s the point. In the end very few will have the opporunity to taste these wines. Not because they are too expensive but just very limited quantity. I’m sure the idea was not to create blockbuster wines but to do something different that shows the typicity of a region that is not well known even inside Portugal. Nevertheless it is a proof. A proof of the undeniable world-class quality of Portuguese wines.

Dominó Monte das Pratas 2011
This wine is made from varieties like Alicante Branco, Moscatel Nunes, Fernão Pires, Dorinto, Tamarez, Síria, Pérola and a bunch of others. Old vineyard with an average age of 70 years, located 800 meters above sea level. 1o months in used oak barrels.

Very unique nose. Fennel and green apple aromas with a nice floral kick, probably from the Moscatel. Not as aromatic on the palate but plenty of structure. Acidity like licking an electric fence. Very good.

Dominó Salão do Frio 2011
Red blend from varities Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Francesa, Moreto, Castelão, Trincadeira and others. Average age of the vineyard is 50 years and it’s also located 800 meters above sea level. 20% without destemming. 15 months in used barrels.

Strong spiciness upfront; imagine snorting a line of black pepper. A mellow liquorice finish. Austere, tight tannin grip, a rough exterior but still delicate with some nice fruit in the background. Right from the start it’s obvious this wine is too young. There should be a sign hanging around the bottleneck saying “drink me, later!”. This wine is not trying to be a people pleaser. Instead this wine holds a surprise for those who have the patience to wait. One of the most exciting red wines in Portugal at the moment. Stellar.

Contacts
Av. Marginal, Curva dos Pinheiros, Hotel Solar Palmeiras
2780-749 Paço de Arcos
Phone: 214 414 231
Site: www.restauranteclaro.com

The Douro Verde

Text Ilkka Sirén

First let me start by saying: Vinho Verde is a region, not a wine style. When talking about the wines of Vinho Verde more often than not you hear people go “Vinho Verde? That fizzy plonk from Northern Portugal?” – and it makes me want to punch people in the face. Sure, Vinho Verde is known to produce this fizzy spritzer-like crap and it does seem to be quite popular even to this day.

And to be honest I don’t mind. But one thing people should know about Vinho Verde is that it’s a big wine region. In fact it’s one of the biggest in Europe. That combined with a bunch of great indigenous grape varieties makes the region a fertile ground for new wine projects, such as Quinta de Covela. The estate itself and its wines are not new but through a series of, shall we say “incidents”, it is now being reborn.

The wines started to get some national and international attention back in the day when Nuno Araújo bought the estate in the late 1980s. He was among the first in Portugal to start implementing organic and biodynamic viticulture. With their unusually “modern” labels and interesting grape blends, the Covela wines became well-known in the Portuguese wine geek scene. In 2008 Quinta de Covela fell in the hands of a bank. I don’t remember which bank it was, doesn’t really matter because we all know what happens when things fall in the hands of bank. It all goes to shit. Needless to say the bank didn’t bother to do anything with the estate so it was completely neglected. That was until 2011 when Tony Smith and his business partner Marcelo Lima salvaged the estate. And I must say, since then the rise of Quinta de Covela has been quite impressive. In a few years it has gone from being almost completely forgotten to the wine producer everybody is talking about.

Photo by Ilkka Sirén / All Rights Reserved

Quinta de Covela is a Vinho Verde producer, yes, but the quinta is located not more than 500 meters from the Douro river. Which I think is quite interesting and something you can detect in the wines. They have the granite soil of Vinho Verde but the climate of Douro. At first I thought “great, a Vinho Verde wine without the freshness”. But like always with wine it’s not that simple. It does give the wines an unique character but instead of being very ripe with tons of tropical fruit and all kinds of tutti-frutti elements, I would say the wines are actually a bit restrained. It’s the inexplicable magic of le terroir.

Photo by Ilkka Sirén / All Rights Reserved

 

I think one of the smartest things the new owners did was to get enologist Rui Cunha to work with them. Rui, who also works with Aphros (Vinho Verde) and Secret Spot (Douro), had worked previously with Covela for many years so he knows the place well.

The cellar is a beautiful house with high ceilings, pink walls and these amazing old concrete vats. Small but quite practical-ish. Due to the lack of space they have piled the barrels on top of each other and attached some kind of a valve-apparatus to the bottom of the barrels for racking. Where there’s a will there’s a way, right? The estate covers 49 hectares, of which 18 hectares are planted with vineyards. While Covela is well-known for their white wines they do make a few red wines as well. Besides Touriga Nacional they have planted a bunch of international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Not quite “Super Tuscan” but maybe a Super Douro Verde?

Photo by Ilkka Sirén / All Rights Reserved

Here’s my picks from the tasting:

Covela Edição Nacional Avesso 2013 (White)

One cannot talk about Covela without talking about the Avesso grape. This badass variety from Minho is rarely seen on its own but in the right place and in the right hands this little grape can make some seriously delicious wine. Edição Nacional Avesso: bucket full of mineral water, citrus, crushed rocks and a few slices of orange peel. Good stuff.

Covela Escolha 2013 (White)
Interesting blend of Avesso, Chardonnay, Viognier and a bit of Gewürztraminer. Starts off a bit like that iPad game Fruit Ninja. The fruits fly all over the place; combos of pear, peach and lime. But suddenly it all gets blitzed by a slash of acidity that cuts through the fruit like an overpaid plastic surgeon. Nice lingering flavors with a dry and sharp finish. Definitely has some promising gastronomic aspects to it.

Photo by Ilkka Sirén / All Rights Reserved

About the reds… The Covela Escolha Tinto 2005 was a beauty. Well matured wine with classic “barnyard meets a leather strapped gag ball” -aromas. Tasty stuff! The Covela Reserva 2012 on the other hand was a bit awkward. Obviously still a baby but with 18 months in 100% new oak I’m not sure if it will ever be my cup of tea. Rui said the percentage of new oak will be less in the future. He just didn’t want to buy second hand barrels because he wanted to be sure about the quality. Looking forward to it, but in the meanwhile I will happily keep drinking the oh so delicious Avesso.

Photo by Ilkka Sirén / All Rights Reserved

Contacts
Quinta de Covela
William Smith & Lima Lda.
S. Tomé de Covelas
4640-211 BAIÃO
+351 254 886 298
info@covela.pt
www.covela.pt

Tawny à la Ramos Pinto

Text Ilkka Sirén

Anyone who has visited the Douro Valley knows that driving there can be quite exciting, and by exciting I mean downright scary. But traveling in the valley, going up and down the hills and visiting vineyards is the best way to learn about the brutal hard work that goes into cultivating vines there. It’s easily one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world but at the same time one of the most labor intensive when it comes to actually making some vinho.

I was in a car going from the Vinho Verde Region towards the Cima Corgo to visit Quinta do Bom Retiro, an estate that belongs to Ramos Pinto. Instead of taking the path we came, and knew, we took a more “direct” route. Which turned out to take much longer. You’d think Portuguese of all people would know how to navigate (shout out to Ferdinan Magellan). Anyhow, when we finally arrived we were greeted by João Nicolau de Almeida, one of the great pioneers of port wine. His studies on the Douro grape varieties and planting methods, not to mention decades of wine making, have had a significant impact on the port wine scene. I was curious to meet him and get to know Ramos Pinto a bit better. Ramos Pinto was one of my first connections with port wine, ever since my wife brought home one of their semi-erotic posters. “Alegria” I believe it was called. And when your wife brings home a poster with naked women drinking port, you can’t say no, right? At the Quinta do Bom Retiro we quickly cleansed our palates with Champagne and continued with an interesting tasting with João and his cousin Ana Rosas who is a winemaker at Ramos Pinto. The subject for the evening: tawny port. On the table were their 10, 20 and 30-year-old tawnies with some cask samples that would go into making these wines. Enough to make my mouth water.

I think tawny ports are way too often overlooked. Many seem to be fixated on vintage ports and tawnies are somehow automatically considered as lesser wines. But I think if people would know what it really takes to make a great tawny port they might feel different. Take the 30-year-old tawny for example: we tasted cask samples dating back to 1909 and it’s wines like these that play a role in the final blend. Just the fact that you have been able to keep a wine for a century is nothing short of amazing, and to use that wine all these years later to make one kickass tawny port is pretty cool. It’s like the winemaker travels back in time to pick a certain wine that will balance the blend with its own unique character and make it perfect. “Vintage is a wine, tawny is a port wine”, João says and smiles. Don’t know about that but it certainly is the mother of all blends.

Consider this: the grapes come from Douro, OK. But here’s where it starts to get a bit complex. The grapes are usually sourced from several different vineyards that vary in size, location, soil, altitude, age, planting and farming methods, etc. Oh, and did I mention that the vineyards are planted with mixed varieties? That means there’s a bunch (many times an unknown amount) of indigenous varieties in one vineyard with different flavour profiles and ripening process. The grapes are then harvested, probably plot by plot and the harvest date obviously changes for each vineyard every year. Then the grapes are processed and vinified at the winery with different methods: from old school lagares to more modern stainless steel vats.

When you make a tawny blend and use wines that are 100-year-old you can be sure that the way of making wine has evolved through the years, although the fundamentals are pretty much the same. A hundred years ago temperature control was not what it is today. Then the wine will mature in wood that vary in type, size and origin. Over-oaked wines are terrible but it’s all about balance. Tawnies are heavily influenced by the barrel aging but the marriage between the wine and wood is usually well balanced. Now, the wine can stay in the barrels for any number of years as a vintage dated wine or it can be blended somewhere along the way. The final tawny doesn’t necessarily consist only of single harvest wines (colheitas), but can also have different batches of already blended wines. So, a tawny port is literally a blend of blends. In the end it’s the winemaker and/or master blender that takes all of these components, put them together and create the ultimate blend. It’s an interesting and powerful position to be in. Like making the Mona Lisa from a big puzzle of smaller paintings. That is the art of blending. This was a simple version, in reality it’s even more complex. It’s this kind of passion and craftsmanship that makes the port wines so great.

Here are some of the cask samples we tasted:

40-year-old: dried fruits with a distinct spiciness and a touch of vanilla, has a bit of that volatile nail polish remover aroma, elegant and extremely drinkable.

60-year-old: a big handful of caramel and nutty aromas, concentrated with lots of power but a nice acidity to balance it out.

1924: quite dense structure, sweet peppery notes with burnt sugar and hints of “come to mama!”. An outstanding wine with some serious sex appeal. Wow!

1909: a very inviting nose, almost perfume-like, reminds me of this sticky lollipop candy I used have when I was a kid. Beautiful aromas but lacking a bit of structure, but since it’s going to a blend it can get that extra kick of acidity from some other wine. There’s also this curious flour dough aroma coming through.

100-year-old: there’s a dessert in Portugal called “drunken pears”, pears soaked in brandy, this sort of reminds me of that. Maple syrup with a dash of cognac-like swag. The acidity is like a rusty chain saw in your mouth. Love it.

Contacts
Ramos Pinto Portugal
Av. Ramos Pinto, 380
4400-266 Vila Nova de Gaia
Portugal
Tel: (+351) 223 707 000
Fax: (+351) 223 775 099
E-Mail: ramospinto@ramospinto.pt
Website: www.ramospinto.pt

M.O.B.

Text Ilkka Sirén

I remember having a late dinner in the Douro valley at Quinta do Vale Meão last year during harvest when Xito first told me about this MOB project with a boyish grin. He assured me that it had nothing to do with the Portuguese mafia. I wasn’t entirely convinced. But what does MOB mean then?

I’m tempted to offer Tupac Shakur’s version but something tells me I shouldn’t. In this case MOB stands for Moreira Olazabal Borges and it’s the new Dão joint venture of winemakers Jorge Moreira (Poeira), Francisco “Xito” Olazabal (Quinta do Vale Meão) and Jorge Serôdio Borges (Wine & Soul). These three well established winemakers are all based in the Douro Valley but have joined forces to produce a wine in the Dão wine region.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. These guys are just going make another Douro-style wine in Dão and it will all end in tears. Not quite. This wine clique has great knowledge about the different wine regions in Portugal, so it’s not like they don’t know Dão. In fact, the idea with this project is to produce wines with a pure Dão identity which usually means delicate fruit and more acidity driven wines. The MOB gang leased a vineyard Quinta de Corujão in 2010 from the eastern part of Dão close to Serra de Estrela, the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal.

This vineyard lies 500m above sea level and I can assure you it gets quite cold in there. It is not the hot surfing paradise that you often see in the Portuguese postcards, it’s something quite different. It’s even quite different from Douro which is not that far away and the wines are consequently totally different animals.

Joint ventures have always been a bit of question mark for me. Maybe it’s the lack of personal commitment, too many compromises and big egos or because they are made just for publicity, money and world domination but in many cases these sort of wines just do not deliver. And usually you end up paying more for these wines too. But sometimes, not very often, you really get the best of both worlds or in this case best of three worlds.

M.O.B. White 2012
Dão

Before I start raving about this wine I should say that I really enjoyed the color used on the capsule. I don’t usually pay too much attention to capsules and such but I just liked it. Maybe I’m getting soft?

This wine is a blend of Encruzado and Bical, both great examples of the vast richness of grapes in Portugal. The viscosity combined with some light “saltiness” and crisp acidity makes the whole experience quite mouth-watering. A bit of a character already and with some time it might develop into a proper go-go juice. I have to say that this wine made me very happy. It’s because of wines like this the unique grape varieties of Portugal are getting the attention they deserve.

I suggest you pour an extra glass and leave it on the table for a while because this wine opens up and develops some interesting riesling-like aromas. Tasty stuff!

M.O.B. Red 2011
Dão

The grapes include an intriguing blend of varities: Touriga Nacional, Jaen (Mencia), Alfrocheiro and Baga. Ripe strawberry, Pepsi cola and dill which I usually associate with Jaen. Seems a bit more focused on the palate. Nice spicy finish. A tad disjointed but a good wine that doesn’t put up much of a fight going down the throat. This wine actually reminds me of one of those flash mob dance things that you see on YouTube. All the grapes came together, they knew more or less how the boogie were supposed to go down but it’s a bit awkward and not perfectly synchronized. But who cares it’s a flash mob so everyone puts on a show and in the end everybody has a good time. And who knows, with some years practicing their moves in the bottle these grape varieties can come together and perform a world-class Gangnam Style instead of slightly erratic Harlem Shake.

Contacts

Jorge Moreira / Francisco Olazabal / Jorge Seródio Borges
EN 17 27, 27, 6290-261, Rio Torto Gouveia, Guarda