You soon forget the strangeness of the location, and we were greeted with a warm welcome from head tutor Jimmy Smith, who - once we were all settled - introduced our tutor for the evening Simon Woods. I wasn't familiar with Simon before this event, but it turns out he's well known in the wine world having written a number of books on the subject and coordinated the International Wine Challenge in the past. He was voted International Online Wine Columnist of the Year 2010 for his blog Drinking Outside the Box. As a presenter he's very likeable, animated and inspiring, and should I see any more tastings hosted by Simon in the future I'll definitely be signing up. I enjoyed the impromptu art class at the start of the evening, which involved us all producing maps of portugal by performing a series of tears on an A4 piece of paper - making up for the fact that someone had obviously forgotten to print out some copies.
We tasted 9 Portuguese wines, and I'm not going to bore you with full tasting notes, but here are a few comments;
- Quinta de la Rosa 'Po Poeira' Blanco, Douro, 2008; oaky (but not too much), oily, Riesling-like flavour, nutty/toasty, a fresh aftertaste.
- Casa de Mouraz, Dao, Branco, 2008 (from an area where red wines usually dominate); despite its age really fresh tasting, light, grassy and acidic.
- Periquita Reserva, VR (Vinho Regional), Peninsula de Setubal, 2008; strong hints of vanilla on the nose and the palate, less fruit on the palate than the scent would have you believe, well-rounded, easy-drinking and mellow. Sam didn't enjoy this one as much as I did - I thought it went really well with the strong manchego which was served with it.
- Quinta da Falorca T-Nac, Dao, Tinto, 2007; unoaked, slow burn on the aftertaste - a food wine, acidic, went very well with the salami, and would stand up to fatty meats well.
- Alvaro Castro, Dao, Tinto, 2007; deep, rich and mildly oaky, vanilla hints and less acidic than the previous wine, with a more well-rounded flavour.
- Quinta do Coa, Douro, Tinto, 2007; mild on the nose but made up for this in taste, this had a port-like flavour to it, and was fantastic with the cheese.
- Passadouro, Douro, Reserva, 2007; warming, fruity, spicy and tannic, not as full a flavour as expected, with slight acidity.
- Azamour Petit Verdot, VR, Alentejano, 2005; we both voted this one our favourite of the evening - a deep rich fruit flavour, peppery and intense.
- Bacalhoa, Moscatel de Setubal, Colheita, 2004; on the nose you just get sugar and alcohol, but on tasting there are rich deep caramel notes, tannic but mellow and bizarrely refreshing - apparently chocolate friendly, which we'll have to try out as we've had a 2002 bottle of this languishing on our wine rack since a trip to Lisbon 4 or 5 years ago!
Simon recommended Vini Portugal for finding stockists of Portuguese wine in the UK - it's a shame UK supermarkets don't seem to stock that much of it. Overall a great couple of hours slurping, and it was great to try something new. I'm sure I'll be back for future events.
9 comments:
Glad you enjoyed the tasting Claire, and aAs for someone forgetting the maps, er, well, er... But I've done Portugal like before in a number of tastings, and it seems to be more memorable than just getting a regular handout. Hopefully see you at another event soon
Next time I'll organise colour pens!
Hi! Agreed, definitely more memorable and a great way to do it!
Sounds like a good tasting. Portuguese wines are great but the supermarkets shy away because the obscure (ie. Not Cabernet etc.) grapes won't sell themselves. Great to see Paul Symington winning Decanter 'Man of the Year' - look out for his wines.
The Wine Society's selection is decent if you're looking for more to explore.
Sounds like a fun tasting - even though I live in Portugal I would enjoy it I think - none of the wines you listed are on our day to day drinking list!
Not including Vinho Verde though......not sure about that, but I think they sell a good Qunita de Avaleda in Waitrose, at least they did when we lived in London.
Please come and visit my blog at
http://www.foodandwineportugal.com
Best wishes,
Ben
Gareth - thanks for the tips and suggestions, will try the wine society (after the next pay day!)
Ben - I agree and I think Waitrose is the only supermarket near us which stocks one or two Portuguese wines at the most (but I haven't reserached this extensively yet!).
I have not tasted yet any kind of Portuguese wine as well. By reading these comments and different reviews, it seems like it's a must try wine.I think I should try looking for some Portuguese wines near my place. i look forward to finding one.
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Portuguese wines are indeed among the best tasting wines in the world. One of my favorites is the Burmester Vintage Port wine. I also love Australian wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. I look forward to joining a wine tasting event that features wines from Portugal and Australia.
Honestly, I've never tasted any Portuguese wines yet. However, there are lots of reviews regarding the premium wines of Portugal. I am going to give it a try when I buy wines online soon.
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