More Grand Portuguese Tasting

If you've read the first bit, you'll know that I was doing a bit of name-dropping at the same time as talking about the wines concerned - if you haven't, what were you thinking of, dear me, go back and ingest. Those who know me well will realise that the name dropping was only necessary because the people mentioned are important to wine in one way or another and not because of my ego. So there's more of it to come... read on!

Walking around and looking at some of the wines on show, I was transported back to the days when we first started working with Portuguese wines and were the new kids on the block, with unusual offerings, naivety and enthusiasm. Some of the properties we used to represent or had discussed representing were at this Grand Tasting, including one of the estates we had had a bit of success with, now in the hands of new owners after falling from grace and into the clutches of the banks. Before you ask, of course it's tempting to go back into this world, with its good people and wonderful products; were I not impecunious I would seriously consider it, for the sheer pleasure of the wine business. But I am without serious funds and it is not an easy market to be profitable in, so for now it must remain a favourite subject for discussion, appreciation, criticism but, above all, enjoyment.

One thing I was able to do at the tasting, at least partly, was to rectify the injustice that I inflicted on Domingos Alves de Sousa when tasting his wine as mentioned in my February 11, 2017 post (I have yet to write properly about them, despite promising to do so... apologies, will rectify soon); the wines were being shown here by his daughter and I was able to finally taste their ports and re-taste a couple of their big reds - and to tell her how much I'd appreciated meeting her father earlier in the year.

Richard Mayson wrote probably the definitive book on Portuguese Wine in the 1990s (Portugal's Wines and Winemakers), a carefully researched labour of love, helped partly by his good command of the portuguese language and partly by his sheer enthusiasm for his subject. I have known Richard since he used to work at the Wine Society as a buyer many moons ago when I was trying to interest them in buying my wines, alas unsuccessfully. Richard has now, despite finding the time to write several other books and articles on wine, expanded his activities to owning a Quinta in the Alto Alentejo area and, together with winemaker Rui Reguinga, producing and marketing wine and he was here, charming as ever and proudly showing his babies to the world. Their new white wine Pedra Basta white was full and round on nose and palate, the Duas Pedras 2013 red was all soft roses on nose and palate, gluggable, the Pedra Basta 2013 more serious, deep purple colour, ripe red fruit on nose, creamy, juicy red berry fruit on palate, bit of tannin. More serious still are the Pedra Basta Parcela Granito 2014 (95% Syrah, 5% Viognier), purple, young, raspberry & cream on nose, woody fruit on palate (overoaked or just needs time?) and the Pedra e Alma 2011 with its deep colour, damson nose, slightly hot, spicy, tannic palate and a long

but hard finish, needing perhaps a bit more time.

Vinho Verde is one of Portugal's great glories at the top end of the scale, complex and alluring, at times flowery and approachable, at times steely and austere, always bone dry. Proper Vinho Verde has never been particularly easy to sell because of the easy drinking cheap stuff marketed under the same appellation by the big companies, sweet and spritzy, and very cheap; this is a great pity, as the real stuff is delightful, serious and hugely enjoyable. I tasted a few but was not massively impressed by much, other than the prices asked, which in some cases suggested a retail price level of over £20 on the shelf in the UK, at which level there is an immense amount of choice. Perhaps their market in Portugal will accept these prices, but elsewhere they surely cannot compete. Am I missing something here, I wonder.

Julio Bastos is the owner of a spectacularly beautiful Quinta in the Alentejo, and he makes some excellent wines there. We worked together briefly when he used the trademark 'Quinta do Carmo' for his wines, long since sold (to the Lafitte Rothschilds, I believe), but in the year 2000 he started Dona Maria wines and he was showing these, varying from straightforward everyday white/rose/red to serious big reds that the estate is most famous for. The everyday Dona Maria White 2015/Rose 2016/Red 2014 were all well-made, easy-drinking in style, surely commercially successful, at least in Portugal. A step up were the Dona Maria Amantis Reserva 2014 white, a powerful yet delicate white from Viognier, and 2012 red with a good, deep colour, sweet red berry nose, balanced palate with a long-ish finish. The Dona Maria 2013 varietals (Touriga Nacional & Petit Verdot) were awkward, with the TN a bit  bland and the PV chunky and woody on the palate, after a delicate creamy nose promised more. The Dona Maria Grande Reserva 2011 was a biggy, deep and purple with hardly any edges, a creamy plum nose and palate, long but a bit hard, perhaps lacking the sheer balance and elegance of the Quinta do Carmo 1985 as I remember it. Or perhaps it is still in its infancy?

Quinta do Casal Monteiro is another property we used to represent, when it was under the ownership of the Margaride's family and at the forefront of Ribatejo (now Tejo) winemaking. The estate was at the time beautifully laid out and organised, with no point more than 10 minutes drive from the winery, important to protect the quality of the fruit in such a hot area. Sometime after we ceased our activity - and so lost touch - the family hit hard times; the current owners bought the estate from the bank and are busy reinvigorating it. I tasted two of their white wines, both 2016s, one a blend of Arinto and Fernao Pires which I found fresh, slightly medicinal, herby and longish, the other a blend of Arinto and Chardonnay which had a delicate nose, a rather chunky mouth redolent of pears and with a long aftertaste. Neither were spectacular, but both were decent, well priced and have potential. Arinto, incidentally, is a grape variety that in my opinion can make excellent wines of unique character, but needs to be handled with care.

Clark Foyster wines import an assortment of interesting wines from different places, including Portugal, and it is run by my friend Lance Foyster MW, whose love and understanding of wine is second to none. Lance seeks out good,

individual producers who love what they do, go the extra mile but also have commercial potential - wine merchant cannot live on love alone! I tasted some of his wines, well, quite a few actually, starting with a Vinho Verde 2015 Deu La Deu Alvarinho (a grape variety much in fashion, especially the Spanish version - Albarino - and considered by many, but not necessarily by me, the best for Vinho Verde), which had a delicate, distinguished Alvarinho nose, but was a bit hard on the palate, long if slightly bitter finish, a food wine from the cooperative at Moncao. Next was another Vinho Verde from Anselmo Mendes, a Muros Antigos Loureiro 2016, restrained on the nose but exuberant on the palate, big, beautiful and long. The Muros Antigos Alvarinho 2016 had the typical Alvarinho nose , harder on palate with a long finish; much better, to my mind, was the Contacto 2016 Vinho Verde Alvarinho which was softer, finer, more distinguished and complex, in every way a star. I was also quite take by a Dao white - Ribeiro Santo Automatico 2016 - with delicate fruit on nose and palate, clean and fresh, very dry but delicately complex and long. Red Douro wines from Quinta das Tecedeiras came next, Flor das Tecedeiras 2014 having a deep colour and being floral, light and clean, while the Quinta das Tecedeiras 2014 Reserva showed a very deep ruby colour, a refined raisiny nose, ripe strawberry on palate, spicy, tannic, long. Even better was the Boa Vista Douro 2013 Reserva with a deep colour, ripe red fruit and oak on the nose (it spent 12 months in new french oak barrels) and palate, and a long and elegant finish.

Part of the Clark Foyster portfolio is a Tejo property that I briefly represented in the early 1990s, Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima, famed for their big red wines. Their rose I found good, but commercial and unexciting. Their Barrel Selection red 2015, full of tannic red fruit, strawberry and rosewater was good, but the Dona Isabel Juliana 2013, made with Alfrocheiro, Touriga Nacional and Tanat grapes, was big & dark, with a refined restrained nose of ripe red fruit & oak, full, round & tannic on palate, long and good.

Lance has recently taken on a Madeira producer (H.M. Borges) whose wines (Boal Colheita 1995, Malmsey Colheita 1998. Tinta Negra Sweet Colheita 2005, Sercial 1990, Verdelho 15 year) were all excellent, showing amazing complexity and concentration with varying degrees of sweetness - quite stunning! If you have never tried good wines from Madeira I urge you to seek some out, as they are something special and represent excellent value, but may not survive for long in these short-termist times...

There were plenty of other wines on show, of course, and I tried :

1. Quinta da Soalheiro wines, of which the clear star was the excellent Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas 2015 Alvarinho from the Minho region - a big mouthfull, complex & long, good stuff.
2. Vinho Verde Via Latina Escolha 2016 from a union of 7 cooperatives of the V.V. region, well-made commercial stuff.
3. Covela white wines (Vinho Verde and Minho regional) of which the Reserva White 2013 (Avesso, Chardonnay, Arinto) stood out with its slightly golden yellow colour, chardonnay and oak on nose, rich on palate, long and clean.
4. Quinta do Regueiro Vinho Verde Reserva 2016 Alvarinho, subtle and typical, long if unexciting, and 2016 Trajadura & Alvarinho, softer, more approachable, flowery, long hollow finish.
5. Quinta de Curvos Vinho Verde, Superior 2016 (Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura) had a flowery nose & palate, the Loureiro 2016 had a creamy grape fruit character, dry and long, the Curvos Alvarinho 2016 had a burst of green (mirabelle?) fruit on the nose, long with a soft & complex palate. Finally the Curvos Colheita Selecionada 2016 (Avesso, Loureiro) had a very subtle perfumed nose, subtle and complex palate, finishing long.
6. Pocas Colheita 1996 Port, lovely tawny colour, raisiny sweet nose, toasty walnuts/complex/sweet palate, good.
7. Dalva Porto Colheita 1995, attack of burnt sugar on nose, powerful but a bit simple, lacking that extra dimension I expect from a good Colheita port.

At some point, unfortunately, my stamina, legendary as it is, failed me (along with the enamel on my teeth!) and I had to retreat from the tasting tables. My next big tasting is of Greek wines on the 25th of April, and I hope to report on that shortly thereafter. Be patient, my readers, all three of you...