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