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Herdade das Servas 2013 wines with friends

December 3, 2015 2 comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Three beautiful Alentejo wines for a chat between an iconoclast and friends. Of true Alentejo character, aromas and flavours. Brave, for the strong food of this province. However, there’s another thing…

The term ‘iconoclast’ is a hyperbole. I am not a Taliban who breaks holy, unquestionable rules, nor do I make idols out of icons. Actually, I find savagery (poetic ugliness) more interesting than transparent sectarianism (because the former results from ignorance). A word is missing: “once-in-a-while-misaligned-just-because-and-also-to-maintain-a-good-level-of-sanity.”

Why this introduction? It means to prevent you from taking me for a fool or for being arrogant. The topic is how wine can be gastronomic. Should wine be “gastronomic”? Is it advantageous? Is wine only good when it must be taken with food?

This is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. I think either harmonising wine with food or not is equally valid. Going straight to the G-spot… does it give pleasure? Pleasure must be its sole purpose. The wine is important, the food is important, and… who ever is sitting with us or without us is just as important, if not more.

The Portuguese repeatedly boast about their wines for being “very gastronomic”. This praise usually follows an applause for its Mediterranean background, with a cult and liturgy of food.

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Of course I want the wine to be appropriate for the food. This doesn’t mean I despise the appropriateness of a wine, food, or utensils, but meals are most pleasurable to me when shared with friends – friendship is what we celebrate in social gatherings.

Half of me comes from Alentejo; this fact sometimes leads me to jokingly state that I am from Alentejo. Where from? From Campo Grande, Lisbon. “My” area of Alentejo has no wine. There are no vineyards in my family’s fields.

I do not drink borrowed Alentejo. But there is a specific Alentejo wine that belongs to me, and it tastes of, or reminds me of evenings by the fireplace… quiet men listening patiently as the ladies list family ties, estates and lives.

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I have been introduced to three wines: Herdade das Servas Colheita Seleccionada Red 2013, Herdade das Servas Alicante Bouschet 2013 and Herdade das Servas Touriga Nacional 2013. They were served during a meal composed only of traditionally Alentejo dishes, in O Galito restaurant, in Lisbon. The perfect match as it always should be.

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The wines that bring up this conversation are beautiful specimens from Alentejo. Harvest after harvest, Herdade das Servas has been proving to be a good bet. They all have good structure, firm tannins, and tastiness, and they all last on the mouth. I will not use descriptors, but they are obviously different… two are varietal and the other is a blend of Touriga Nacional (40%), Alicante Bouschet (30%), Aragonês (20%), and Trincadeira (10%).

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Now, to enter the outer layer of “taste”: the Alicante Bouschet left a stronger mark on me. I am not a big fan of Touriga Nacional from Alentejo; however, this variation of the grape variety in Herdade das Servas is capable of belonReserved”that Alentejo”, which I confess to long for… actually, those three wines do.

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What should I eat with them?! The classic answer works every time. I am most interested in conversations with nice people, especially with varietals. I don’t care if I will or will not be able to stand up straight; I don’t plan on driving.

You can read more about Herdade das Servas here and here.

Contacts
Serrano Mira SA
Herdade das Servas, Apartado 286
7101-909 Estremoz -Portugal
Tel: (+351) 268 322 949
Fax: (+351) 268 339 420
E-mail: info@herdadedasservas.com
Website: www.herdadedasservas.com

Tasting Port wine in Vienna

December 1, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by José Silva

Text José Silva | Translation Jani Dunne

A few years ago, I travelled up the Douro River on a bus and on a boat to visit a few estates and to taste lovely Port wines with a group of Austrians. Some of them were in a brotherhood. Given the general satisfaction and surrender to the beauty of Douro, there was immediate certainty that we would meet again. This time, I was invited by that brotherhood, St. Urbanus Weinritter Ordenskollegium, to visit Vienna in Austria and bring a number of different Port wines with me to present in a commented tasting during dinner as a celebration of the chapter meeting of the brotherhood. After we arranged a few details, I thought it would be interesting to provide a taste of every kind of Port wine so that I would not only be sending the message of quality of that unique kind of wine but I would also be transmitting how its many variations are filled with variety and versatility. Once everyone was in agreement and willing to taste a number of brands, producers were contacted and bottles were collected and dispatched to Austria in advance with instructions on how to properly store them. The Port wines travelling to the centre of Europe were the following:

– Pink Croft
– Dry White Rozès
– Quinta do Vallado 10-year-old Tawny
– Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 20-year-old Tawny
– Quinta da Devesa 30-year-old Tawny
– Vasques de Carvalho 40-year-old Tawny
– Niepoort Colheita 1999 Tawny
– Dalva 40-year-old Dry White
– Poças Special Reserve Ruby
– Quinta do Noval LBV Unfiltered 2009
– Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage 2001
– Quinta da Casa Amarela Vintage 2011

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Vienna is a very beautiful city with monuments that bring you back to times of splendour, and where culture is all around, as the music of Wagner, Bethoven, Mahler, Mozart and many others fills the air.

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I also paid a visit to the Wachau region – still in harvest season at the time – to taste a few great white Austrian wines made from the Geunner-Weltliner and Rieseling grape varieties, and to compare them with the whites we have in Portugal.

On the day of the tasting, we visited the facilities, which had been managed by one of the finest restaurants in Vienna for a long time; it was eventually moved when they transferred the venue to a hotel management school.

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In the very comfortable and high quality facilities, the school’s chefs prepared the meal, and the students performed the service under the guidance of the dining room teacher.

In the meantime, the white and rosé wines were being chilled and the reds were stored in a room at a temperature cool enough for serving.

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My friend, Dr. Manuel Alexandre, a brother who has been based in Vienna for many long years, was a representative for ICEP (Institute for Portuguese External Commerce, now AICEP) for a long time. He brought along a beautiful old official decanter by IVDP (Port and Douro Wines Institute), that we used to decant the Graham’s Vintage 2001, which already revealed quite a bit of sediment.

The interns had been given simple instructions, enough for them to clearly understand what was intended, and the wines were appropriately served. I was very surprised, however, at the lack of Port wine glasses, which was understandable since these professionals were not accustomed to this type of wine.

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The last-minute solution was to use small champagne flutes, which provided a reasonable solution and did not affect the tasting.

The tasting began with the Dry White and the Rosé, side-by-side. The Rosé had a slice of lemon that really livened it up. The other Port were tasted during the meal, between courses and during an explanation of the wines’ characteristics, the importance of serving temperatures, and the many harmonisation possibilities for each style.

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Thus, the Tawnies, the Ruby, the LBV and the Vintage wines flowed around the tables. In this case, the comparison was made between a recent Vintage (2011) and a 14-year-old Vintage (2001) that made a very good connection with the several chocolate and red fruit desserts the brothers savoured.

Finally, to end the tasting, we tried two 40-year-old Ports (White and Tawny), which were used to toast to the brotherhood and to Port wine.

The other surprise of the night was that the one enthroned at the ceremony of the brotherhood … was myself!!

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Here is the story of our experience and also a suggestion to IVDP and to producers to organise a small event in Vienna, a country that is open to new things, that knows Portugal well, but where there is still a lot of work to do for Portuguese wine, especially Port wine.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Adelaide Tributa…a pre-phylloxera Port!

November 30, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by Olga Cardoso

Text Olga Cardoso | Translation Bruno Ferreira

If there are wines that resist time and magnify themselves over the years and even centuries, if there are wines that suffer absolutely extraordinary metamorphosis, if there are wines that touch perfection and leave the most unwary of oenophiles yielded … Adelaide Tributa is surely one of them!

This port has an intense amber color and a masterful complex aroma. Dried fruits such as figs, almonds and hazelnuts, various spices, especially nutmeg and cloves and, much, much cocoa, everything can be found in its richly aromatic and refined nose.

The palate is explosive. Dense, unctuous, deep, with a scathing and razor-sharp acidity and a perfect endless finish.

Its Baume degree (13.7) alone already indicates its old age. According to the producer’s records, this is a pre-phylloxera wine, which dates back to 1866 and comes from an original batch of five casks.

One and a half century of evaporation and a conservation in a favorable environment have reduced it to only two casks and gave the wine a vehement and colossal concentration.

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It was bottled in a limited series of 1300 unique crystal decanters, duly numbered and packaged in a wooden boxes designed by the architect Francisco Vieira de Campos. Its price, around € 3,000 a bottle, is the result of its quality and rarity, making it a product for collectors and wealthy connoisseurs.

A tribute of Quinta do Vallado to D. Antónia Adelaide Ferreira (its former owner and forever remembered as the Ferreirinha) around the time of the bicentennial celebration of her birth.

A unique wine, aristocratic, tremendously concentrated and complex. A great and sibylline port, full of shades and nuances, a true exemple of the vinous excellence that the Douro and Porto might reach.

Contacts
Quinta do Vallado – Sociedade Agrícola, Lda.
Vilarinho dos Freires
5050-364 – Peso da Régua | Portugal
Tel: (+351) 254 323 147
Fax: (+351) 254 324 326
Email: geral@quintadovallado.com
Website: www.quintadovallado.com

Goya’s painting is a “terroir”

November 27, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

What does Goya’s painting have to do with wine? Possibly nothing, but it makes a good illustration for a distant reading.

Photograms used to be spared, because each roll of film only had 24 or 36. They weren’t cheap and you had to pay to develop and blow them up and then wait. A bore!

“Oh no, I look horrible in this picture…”

“That’s a shame, it came out blurred.”

Nowadays, we have phones that take photographs, and some do high quality. We take 50 shots “just because”. We photograph food, a faux kiss in a shopping centre. We reinvent self-portraits, now called “selfies”.

Talent for photography wasn’t distributed in a democratic way. Nor was vanity! In the least, our desire to “look good” makes us ask people to take our picture or otherwise we model for ourselves.

Without turning this into a dissertation about the history of photography, the very first photograph was taken around the first quarter of the 19^th Century. Technology improved and this art then allowed portraits to become democratic and offered more moments of vanity to those who could pay for it – yes, it was a treat for bourgeois and aristocrats.

Before that, painted portraits took (and take) weeks or months. Posing for the sketch, a few touches here and there, the first layer of paint, waiting for the oil to dry, adjusting, the preferences of those depicted.

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Goya – Carlos IV family

Vanity fed many people and I would like to stress how brave the family of Carlos IV of Spain were to maintain Francisco Goya as the royal portrait artist. These Bourbon people were hideous! See how they were painted by this Spanish genius, and the formalities of the almost obscure Alonso de Mendoza.

I was too late when I fell in love with Maria Carolina de Bourbon Duas-Sicílias, based on the painting by Thomas Lawrence. She was 27… she wasn’t a Lolita, although noblewomen seemed younger when compared to folk women of the same age with a harsher lifestyle.

It’s incredible how the Duchess of Berry aged so suddenly. When she was 29, she had the sweet, naïf and blushing look of a young lady from the elite. However, is this the same duchess with whom I fell in love? Beautiful, but going on 30. Mind you, the term “Balzacian” applied to women in their thirties! Bless those creams and quality of life; the Balzacians were over 55.

And what did she look like before 27? Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun painted her… Despite the candid look in her eyes, her peaceful face, and pink cheeks, 26 years old. Did the duchess of Berry only get her butterfly wings at 27?

Where is the truth? Excellent grapes will make good wine. What wine, you ask? One created by an excellent oenologist, who works with the wrinkles and the sad-looking yet real face. One created by an excellent oenologist who hides early double chins and red acne outbreaks.

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Vineyard © Blend All About Wine, Lda

I would rather see the personality in the wrinkles and to hear the accent of a wine than to have this round and purposefully sweet-toothed perfection. Cameron Diaz wakes up half-asleep, her hair in a mess, in a bad mood, and takes ages to get ready. That’s the wine I want to drink.

That’s what you are talking about when you say the word “terroir“.

Mr. Fernando Guedes’s Legado (Legacy)

November 25, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by José Silva

Text José Silva | Translation Jani Dunne

Fernando Guedes started working at Sogrape, founded by his father, Fernando Vanzeller Guedes in 1952, and gradually climbed the hierarchy until, naturally, he took over the management, having hoisted Sogrape to the top wine-producing companies in Portugal. His three sons, Salvador, Manuel, and Fernando, each joined the company in their own times and gradually inherited their father’s responsibilities. Then, fifteen years ago, at the age of 70, Fernando Guedes, a Nationally-renowned figure, decided to retire and pass the company management down to his sons, because as he put it, “…it would be in good hands, perhaps in the best hands!” And since the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Sogrape has never stopped growing.

But Fernando Guedes did not abandon the company; much on the contrary. He stayed active, paying daily visits to the company, and he still visits the many Sogrape vineyards, especially in Douro, one of his great passions. In one of those Douro vineyards, it occurred to him to make a unique, different wine that would set a stand. With a glance at the Sogrape portfolio, this presents a very difficult task. Fernando Guedes, an attentive, astute, keen and very sensitive man, kept insisting with Luís Sottomayor, the Director for Oenology, to make a wine from a centenary vineyard that grows on even older plateaus, whose twisted vines are almost invisible against the rough schist in Quinta do Caêdo, over in Ervedosa do Douro. Being truly passionate about this vineyard, Fernando Guedes used his sharp humour and positive attitude to press Luís Sottomayor until, finaly, in 2007, he defeated the oenologist’s resistance. The latter created a wine from the (few) grapes in that centenary vineyard. The result was surprising and rewarded Fernando Guedes’s stubornness. He proposed to the family to make an exceptional wine, which was to become his legacy for the new generations. This would act as a message, a piece of advice, a pointer in the right direction: to always search for excellence. What better name for this wine than simply… Legado (Legacy)?! Hence, in 2008, the first edition of this superb nectar was produced. It is now time to present the latest Legado, of the 2011 harvest. Carrying a great symbolic message, the presentation took place in the facilities of the old Convento de Monchique, which were the first Sogrape headquarters in Oporto.

Our transportation to this venue was… an old Oporto tram, a delightful and disconcerting idea.

The old facilities of Calçada de Monchique now host an art gallery, the chosen venue for the presentation of this new wine, where chef Pedro Lemos prepared an amazing meal. However, before that, we did a vertical tasting of the three previously released Legado – 2008, 2009 and 2010 – and the 2011 neophyte with the image of Fernando Van Zeller Guedes hovering round the room.

This allowed us to verify how this amazing wine has evolved throughout these four harvests in which the biggest difference is the year of the harvest.

At the tasting table, side by side, grandfather and granddaughter exchanged their love with tender looks, revealing how close they are. The tasting began with the 2008 Legado. Intense yet elegant, with refreshing notes of some minerality, wild plants, smoke, slightly balsamic, with an immense delicious finish… Legado 2009 is a different wine; intense, slightly floral, with balsamic notes, some freshness and delicious acidity, very ripe and integrated tannins, and a long and big finish. On the nose, the 2010 Legado is very elegant, mineral, full of freshness, notes of rock-rose and rosemary, young and restless, excellent acidity, ripe and very elegant tannins, still evolving in the bottle, but already very drinkable.

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Finaly, the Legado 2011, the big news; from an exceptional year, and according to oenologist Luís Sottomayor, the best ever. Slightly vegetal, exotic, involving, notes of smoke, humus, spices. On the mouth, it has incredible freshness and acidity; intense, ripe red fruits, complex but full of finesse, a great wine that will create a lot of buzz.

While enjoying a chilled Mateus Rosé as per company tradition, we were served fried seafood rice with shrimp, wild potatoes, crab with guacamole and alheira croquettes round the room.

At the table, along with the new purchase made in Spain, the white Santiago Ruiz Rías Bajas Branco 2014, we tasted and approved a delicious red mullet, cuttlefish and roast sauce.

The star of the evening, Legado 2011, accompanied the pigeon, topinambur and wild mushrooms with disctinction. Simple, elegant, refined.

In the end, the dessert consisted of spice bread, apples and caramel; it harmonised with the Sandeman Vintage 1968 Port.

That was the year when Sogrape left the Monchique facilities, where it could no longer fit… Another symbolic choice.

Chef Pedro Lemos came to the room to further explain the excellent harmonisations he chose, and glasses were raised several times in honour of the house, the family and the excellence of the wines.

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The children have thus been entrusted with the legacy…

Contacts
Sogrape Vinhos, S.A.
Rua 5 de Outubro, 4527
4430-852 Avintes
Portugal
Tel: +351 227-838 104
Fax: +351 227-835 769
E-Mail: info@sograpevinhos.com
Website: sograpevinhos.com

Colares wines

November 24, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

The Agricultural Reform allowed the human species to prosper. Later, it started domesticating animals and invited the cat into the family. It encouraged writing and Mathematics given the need to create inventories.

As a predictable outcome, “smart farming” was created; that in which man intervenes beyond the fieldwork. First it was bread, and then perhaps beer – some may claim that wine came first, but I don’t believe so.

Man tasted and was happy when he tried the result of a mix of water and barley seeds forgotten or neglected in some container. Using that grain, Man may have experimented with other ingredients. One thing is certain (!), which is the effect of alcohol as it induces a change in our state of consciousness, the driving force behind producing these drinks.

So far, so good, summarised down to the bone. Dilemmas come with difficulty, when the answer isn’t so clear although some of the evidence may be correct. A big mystery for me is Colares red wine.

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Carrying Grapes

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Adega de Colares

The region, within the Metropolitan area of Lisbon, was registered a long time ago, but it won when it was nominated in the 19th century. Not surprising, seeing as the plague of phylloxera decimated European vineyards. Aphid do not survive in the sand, and the soil is sandy in Colares.

Colares red wine is mostly produced from the Ramisco grape variety. When it’s young, it’s incredibly rich in tannins; they used to add white wine to it a few years ago, especially from the Colares Malvasia variety.

Adding red and white wine made it all so much easier. Modern times “created” the rush. Wines used to have their cycle and everyone accepted that. They drank it young and knew they needed to wait until it reached its zenith.

Eça de Queiroz, the writer, was well travelled and a cosmopolitan. He got terribly bored in the countryside. He was a diplomat and knew the lights of Europe’s developed cities. Portugal was hillbilly town. Queiroz’s work is loaded with wine quotes, and Colares are some of the most common mentions – perhaps the most highlighted.

Eça de Queiroz was part of a group of intellectuals, called Vencidos da Vida (Disappointed in Life), which brought light to Lisbon “village”, and Realism as a form of art and literature. The 70s Generation, another name for the “club”, filled their bellies in O Leão d’Ouro restaurant, right by Rossio station in Lisbon. The venue is still there. Inside, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro painted the most famous moment of those discussions.

Growing vines in Colares is painful because they’re low and you need to crouch down or sit on your knees to work… That did not discourage the 70s Generation’s bourgeois and aristocratic figures – the folk worked hard and there they were, motionless for generations.

But this effort is important. I will add something: (at least) ten years must be added after the hard work on the vines before you can drink it… Only a wonderful result could explain this. However! …

Colares wines

Eça de Queiroz

Who could have thought of storing some Colares wine? Only a crazy fool! A compulsive poisoner! Someone mad for revenge! I shall explain this with a statement that is claimed to be by Eça de Queiroz: “Either this wine is ruined or it is a new Colares.”

Winemakers know the cycle of evolution that wine moves through until it can be revealed. However, only a madman would save a drop of new-born wine from Colares. An angel must have whispered in his ear to save it, for one day it would be drunk with great pleasure.

I am an unconditional fan of wine from Colares, and the sharpness in Eça de Queiroz is sublime… only when I tasted a new wine, a new-born, did I comprehend the dimension of the statement claimed to be by this writer.

Fortunately, I have drunk as far as the 1911 vintage… and…

See more about Colares here and here.

Pôpa Fiction – three wines given to crime and seduction,Quinta do Pôpa

November 18, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Good evening, welcome to my place. Have a seat; I will serve you some wine in a moment. Tonight, we dine in the living room. I’m feeling groovy.

– We all are!

– In the living room?! Preppy-boy’s gone mad!

– Shut up, Pedro. Let me finish. I feel this groove and…

– We all do!

– Well, seeing as you all answered back in a chorus this time… I shall sulk and dance my way to the kitchen to bring you some appetisers. I’m glad the good vibes are unanimous.

[Once back in the living room]

– Why has nobody turned music on yet?! Are you trying to upset me? We have three wines for tonight… and there’s some logic to them. They come in a sequence… Bibbidi! Bobbidi! Boo!

[Everybody is dancing to You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry… Pulp Fiction].

– Wow, the party has only just begun and the rug is already drizzled with red… hurrah!

– What are we drinking?

– Hot Lips 2012. Let me change the track… Why Don’t You Do Right by Katherine Turner… [Who Framed Roger Rabbit]

– Roger Rabbit! But tell us more about the wine…

– It’s red…

– Yup!

– That’s obvious.

– Come on, tell us!

– Douro.

– Oh, come on!

– Duh!… Didn’t you get it yet? We have to be careful… walls have ears. They could be listening in on us… the grape varieties are secret.

– L-O-L.

– Look, the bottle’s finished. What should I open now?

– That one… that one over there. It says In The Flesh 2012.

– Cool!

– Play Bryan Ferry’s Slave To Love…

– Whoa! From Nine 1/2 Weeks… Wow!

– Just the thought of Kim Basinger…

– And me instead of Mickey Rourke.

– I never got what women see in him…

– Tough luck! Girl stuff. Never mind. Tough!

– What’s up with the wine?

– What do you mean, what’s up?!

– It keeps ending…

– Open that one now… Is everybody ready? Let’s go!

– Wow! It tastes delicious! What is it?

– You don’t want to know…

– Psycho!

– Take that disc out and play this one, please.

– What is it? Good choice.

– What is it? …What?

– Push It To The Limit.

– Paul Engemann?!

– Yup!

– Scarface!…

– Yes!

– Nailed it! Tell me, what are we eating?

– You have to figure it out for yourself. This dinner’s a crime fiction.

Besides “formal” wines, Quinta do Pôpa have a conceptual side and, until now, it has amusingly been called Pôpa Art Projects. The first were Lolita and Milf. For this occasion, we had the second episode; this idea is a toast to the world of seduction, crime and the cinema.

The bottles in this trilogy (Pôpa Fiction) contain one litre, a little tease… or rather, a slight stifling of ideas. Each wine has its own name and label, which feature Mário Belém’s artwork.

Hot Lips 2012 is a greedy wine; relaxed, thus, dangerous. I recommend having it before a dinner date… That’s it – smooth and sexy.

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Now the second, In The Flesh 2012, is the most “substantial” on the mouth. It’s meetier. “A bad egg,” say the sibling vintners, Stéphane and Vanessa Ferreira. Exactly… it does slip down easily, but a few appetisers can only do you good. Say hot appetisers like puff-pastry nibbles, smoked sausages and some cheeses.

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The third wine in the gang is The Grape Escape 2012. It’s a sort of Al Capone. It demands respect and must be taken with strong and powerful food. It’s a little more rustic and food friendly.

To drink them all in one occasion is funny and logical, because there’s an evident evolution in the style of the wines, from the easiest one to drink to the one that shakes up the table.

All you have to do is fantasise a little and you’ll see a detective plot being “written” in front of you – orally – as every person at the table adds a bit. Then, and if there’s any strength left, play Cluedo – one of the most amusing games to play when you’re inebriated.

Contacts
Quinta do Pôpa, Lda.
E.N. 222 – Adorigo
5120-011 Tabuaço
Portugal
Email: geral@quintadopopa.com
Mobile: (+351) 915 678 498
Site: www.quintadopopa.com

Adega Matos, An Old-Fashioned Wine Cellar

November 17, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by José Silva

Text José Silva | Translation Jani Dunne

Lamego is a very old city. It’s full of history, and gastronomy is very important. Smoked sausages range from salpicão [thick pork sausage], chouriço and alheira [bread, garlic and mixed-meat sausage]; the excellent presunto [prosciutto], the typical bolas [meat cakes] made with thin-crust dough; be it sardines, codfish, presunto or the most popular: mixed meats. These products are still processed in the same way today, which is a big tradition in the city of Lamego and the surrounding region. Some proper eateries, however, have maintained their excellent food based on the regional recipe book and use many of the products above.

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Behind the Sé de Lamego [cathedral], in a narrow granite-stone street, we can easily find one of those establishments, Adega Matos. It’s a very simple venue with a small window and a long counter at the entrance.

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The room in the ground floor is small yet cosy and welcoming; the walls display a few panels of tiles and in the back we find the very organised and tiny kitchen where the owner bosses pots and pans round. She uses the oven a lot, which is traditional in the North. Up in the first floor, a bigger room hosts a higher number of customers. Tables are laid simply and the service is quite personalised, under the [other] owner’s guidance, as he leads us through the house’s different specialties.

This couple has been managing this kitchen for over 35 years, although it existed for longer and is one of the oldest in the city. The aroma floating around the room with the tables sets us up for the good stuff, which will eventually come to our table.

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The bread and broa [corn bread] arrived straight away along with a few delicious appetisers: codfish buns, well-sliced ham, a delicious and crunchy meat bola, gizzards, eels, fried small river fish and sardines in pickling brine.

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The vegetable soup of the day was, of course, a part of this meal.

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Then we had the choice of a damp and tasty Bacalhau à Brás [pulled cod fried with toothpick chips], a decent piece of cod roasted in the oven or an excellent Polvo à Lagareiro [roast octopus with potatoes].

In the meat section, there was more to choose from: charcoal-roasted alheira, thin pork steak or veal steak also grilled over charcoal.

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For more substantial courses, we can choose from oven-roast lamb or veal, which come with marvellous also roast potatoes and a delicious oven-rice, which is served in an iron pot; irresistible.

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Just as irresistible was the “lazy rice” [watery] with salpicão, a very typical dish in this region, which is prepared with precision in Adega Matos; generous round slices of delicious salpicão, the rice was indeed “lazy” yet gummy, and red beans; wonderful. They have wine from private producers and some wines in the region accompany this type of food very well.

The same happened with the Três Raposas Colheita 2010 Tinto: it was structured, had volume on the mouth, and felt strong; really good.

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As for dessert, we tasted a few sweets such as custard – either with cinnamon or with a broiled top – a very well prepared chocolate mousse and delightful fritters, which were crunchy and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. A quick chat with the owners transported us to times gone by, back to the story of the house, to the traditions behind the cuisine they practice, the quality of the products they use and the paramount need to preserve this immense heritage that is a part of Portuguese popular culture. A walk in the city’s fresh air is compulsory…

Contacts
Rua Trás da Sé, 52
5100 Lamego
Tel: (+351) 254 612 967
Mobile: (+351) 968 894 170
E-mail: restaurante_lamego1@sapo.pt
Website: adegamatos.no.sapo.pt

Azores Wine Company, rarities born in the middle of the Atlantic

November 16, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Pedro Carvalho

Text João Pedro de Carvalho | Translation Jani Dunne

I have closely followed the work of young oenologist António Maçanita as much as I can. Not so long ago, I heard he was in the Azores, and his first wines were going to start budding from there. This project eventually turned into a sort of lifesaver for some of the grape varieties that inhabit the archipelagos whose Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004. And hence Azores Wine Company was born, between vineyards they rented and 99-acre pieces of land they bought in Pico, São Miguel, and Graciosa. The efforts undertaken to literally save some varieties before they were forgotten in time are worthy of praise; for example Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho and Terrantez do Pico. According to the last study, the latter had only produced less than 100 plants. This exclusivity goes hand-in-hand with a certain rarity observed in smaller productions that barely make it to the tables of all of those interested in getting their hands on it.

The wines they produce are separated into two ranges: Rare Grapes Collection, composed by varietal wine, where the Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho, Terrantez do Pico and Volcanic Series appear together with Rosé Vulcânico and Tinto Vulcânico. I was lucky enough, and I can even say I had the privilege to taste a few of these wines, seeing as the Terrantez do Pico, for example, was only enough for 380 bottles. One thing they all have in common comes from the maritime breeze and an inevitable – and why not just say it – acidity that feels somewhat accentuated; perhaps due to the volcanic soils. That same acidity accentuates the minerality and salt level, which are common to all the wines. They deserve to and must be tasted and drunk with some care, as they always enclose the conditions in which they were born.

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A better example of what I just mentioned is the Rosé Vulcânico 2014, poor in colour and light in alcohol, it unleashes aromas of very present and very clean red fruits and, in the background, a few notes of the sea as well as the inevitable presence of a note of iodine and salinity. This factor, the pinch of salt you feel on the palate, is what brings an element of surprise and may even drive some connoisseurs away. Otherwise, it reveals enough intensity to shine when drunk with oriental-style food.

Two Arinto dos Açores of the 2014 harvest were out for tasting – neither is in any way similar to the continental Arinto; one of them fermented on lees and is thus called Arinto dos Açores “Sur Lies” 2014. The more electric version, an Arinto do Açores 2014, exhibits enviable finesse. It is much less compact, although the acidity must highlight the citrus notes that merge with the mineral flavour, and once again, in this case, the saline aftertaste highlights the finish. On the almost opposite end, “Sur Lies” bets on all of the above although it further enhances everything a little bit. Let’s say it has built up more muscle. Anything that comes in a shell will beautifully harmonise with these two wines at once.

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For the end, I will leave the one I consider to be the star of the company, Terrantez do Pico 2014. Coming from one of the 380 bottles produced, it makes a better cupboard wine than a garage wine, and all the better if it’s under controlled temperature because it will hold up well for a good few years. A delicate and refined complexity encircles the blend; it presents quite varied citrus notes, from the riper to the more bitter ones, including nuances of light tropical characteristics. Its exuberance is little to none, yet it seems to need some time to develop, because it’s still closed-in at the moment, while taken over by mineral austerity and an aftertaste of the sea breeze.

Contacts
Rua dos Biscoitos, Nº3
São Mateus
9950-542 Madalena – Pico Açores
Website: www.azoreswinecompany.com

Quinta da Alameda, an Old Vineyard in Santar

November 13, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by José Silva

Text José Silva | Translation Jani Dunne

Carlos Lucas and Luís Abrantes chose “Antiqvvm”, a restaurant in Porto, to present the first Quinta da Alameda wine, made on their property in Santar. These two entrepreneurs are old friends and, although they have ventures in different industries, they decided some time ago to buy Quinta da Alameda together, a well-known property in Santar, which is in the heart of Dão, with great tradition and a few very old vines. Alongside planting new vines, these old vines were cherished and worked on so that they would produce very good grapes, which in turn would make high-end wines. It seems as though this final goal was achieved on their first year, although in a very small amount, given the age of the vines. Later on, the entrepreneurs will recover some of the architectural heritage in the farm and build a cellar where grapes will be processed and turned into wine and where the wines will be stored for ageing and bottling. One of their goals is to evolve into organic production while also protecting the environment.

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In this presentation, oenologist Carlos Lucas joined the restaurant’s chefs, Vítor Matos and Ricardo Cardoso, and together they engineered the harmonisations they felt were the most appropriate, always including an element of surprise, as we always have received from Vítor Matos’s teams.

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In a beautiful, elegant, refined venue, where Rosa Teixeira ensured everything was perfect; we were welcomed with the Ribeiro Santo Blanc de Noir sparkling wine, which had already been tasted. It was yellow, with some evolution, very elegant, with very fine bubbles and a soft bead. Dry, with aromas of straw, toast, and some nuts, it has volume on the mouth, very balanced acidity, it’s very engaging, and it paid the Antiqvvm snacks excellent company.

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At the table, we moved on to white wine, Ribeiro Santo Encruzado 2014, an amazing grape variety, a citrus-colour wine, crystal-clear. Very elegant and silky, some intense white fruits, slightly dry, refreshing. Complex, intense, but velvety, balanced freshness and acidity, some white-fruit pulp with a silky lasting finish.

It went down with some a marinated salmon, coconut, strawberries, avocado pear, coriander, nasturtium and trout roe; on the side, a surprising scallop tartar with chilli pepper and citrus fruits, a pearl of the Encruzado and glasswort.

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A lot of freshness, intense yet balanced flavours, Vítor Matos’s expertise on our table. Yet, before the star of the evening came out, there was time for a surprise: a wine that was still in the cask, presented in a bottle with a temporary lable, Jaen 2013. Made from a difficult year, it is already a very interesting wine that surprised even its author – something Carlos Lucas made a point of expressing. A soft garnet, very clean, beautiful red-fruit aromas, notes of smoke, silky. Good volume on the mouth, very, but really very elegant, velvety, notes of dark chocolate, excellent acidity, a lasting finish, a great Jaen.

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To keep the grouper with ox tail and Tuscan truffle sauce company, a cuttlefish-ink and giant prawn ravioli, morel [mushroom] emulsion, and squid and fennel tagliatelle.

And now, the star of the evening, Quinta da Alameda Reserva Especial Red 2012. In a very well-designed bottle, a sober and elegant label, it has an intense shade of ruby, very clean. Floral, with notes of red fruits, rockrose, pine tree. Great acidity, refreshing, intense, a lot of fruit, balsamic notes, eucalyptus, silky, very ripe and bold tannins, a very long finish; an extraordinary wine to drink right away or to store for many years. That was, after all, the second surprise of the evening!!

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It did a great job when accompanying the veal loin, which was slightly smoked with trumpets of death [mushrooms] and boletus-mushroom vinegar, old balsamic, a parsnip and spinach cream, pistachio bread and spice sauce.

This very complex dish made a good match for such a fantastic wine.

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We ended the evening with a reserve Tawny Port by Quinta das Tecedeiras, which accompanied a disconcerting dessert: pumpkin with cottage cheese and pudding served in a pot, which Vítor Matos later watered; on the plate, a black carrot tart, toasted almonds, tangerine sorbet, beetroot cream and foam, vegetables with elder syrup. Speechless…

Dão is still a buzzword!

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