May 16, 2012

The Grand Annual ViniPortugal Tasting

Yes, I still am a Douro Valley fan so the biggest Portugese wine tasting of the year (in Finland) simply cannot be missed. I'm even trying to get a documentery about the area together and hopefully head out to film in the autumn. We'll see how that goes later. Right now, it's time to write about what was the ViniPortugal 2012 experience for me. I'd like to note here that many of the wines mentioned, if not all of them are blends. The main grape varieties in these blends are Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Temrpranillo), Tourgia Franca, Sousão and Tinta Barroca. You can check the grapes and percentages for each individual wine on the producers website or by asking your local wine shop.

I arrived anxious to get my "taste on", being sure that time will run out like last year. Met up with Ilkka Sirén at the Graham's section and started from there;


Graham's (of the gigantic Symington family) had their port wine well represented. The LBV from 2007 is a nice basic port that I think everybody should taste. It doesn't offer a mindblowing experience but is good quality and works out nicely every time they come out with a new one. The tawny port Graham's offer is nice too. My tasting notes include; "fresh, peppery, hazelnuts, spicy aftertaste" The two really great things on the Symington's line up - Graham's Natura - An Organic port now available at Alko - an always welcome product and a good port with depth (tasting notes; balance on oak, depth, berries, hint of spicyness) The real gem here though was Smith Woodhouse LBV from 2000 having all good LBV qualities and letting you really use time to analyze the wine.

Off to one of my favourites; Portal. Besides the amazing computer game, Portal is a great port wine producer. We visited them last year and it was a truly memorable experience. One of the best climbs on a dodgy road from the village of Pinhão with spectacular views only comparable with the stint from Quinta Do Crasto back down to Pinhão. Portal had their marvellous Colheita port from 2000. Tasting notes include; "blackberries, oak, small well balanced spicyness, sweet, nuts" They had their red there as well and I do enjoy and recommend it - good quality for the price, but for me Portal all about port wine. Like Symington, Portal has a long history in wine and they do know quality.

After Portal I quickly noticed Secret Spot. This is a cool project by Goncalo Sousa Lopes and Rui Walter Cunha. The genius winemaking duo chooses different vineyards every time to make their Secret Spot wines. 2008 was from the Alentejo area and 2007 from Douro. Both rich reds with lots of though put into them. I like this way of thinking - choosing vineyards from where they see a good batch coming. Tasting notes for the Alentejo Secret Spot 2008; "Blackcurrant, oak, low to medium tannins, lighter body", Douro Secret Spot 2007; "EPIC depth, oak, spices, berries". The Douro version is a prime example of an underrated Portugese red wine. Not many get a note from me saying EPIC, I mean it's a real gem that is still not known well worldwide and one of those things I can take over to any wine loving friend of mine and brag about knowing something special...

Next table was Quinta Do Crasto. I've had their wines mentioned earlier so I won't go deeper into that but I definately recommend tasting the whole line up. Pure quality. Ok, lets be honest - They had the best red wine in the whole event. The Reserva - Made from only the amazingly old vines, mixing 30-something grape varieties that make up a fragile and outstanding blend that is sure worth the money. Selling at Alko for 200€ a box (of six) it is a great choice to invest in. Notes included; "EPIC, really deep, powerful, long lasting, winner material". Oh, and I promised to mention their pool every time I mention them so here it goes again; they have that great terrace style pool where you kind of think you'll swim right off the edge. Worth a visit.

Next up; CVD Companhia dos Vinhos do Douro. I recommend to check out their Oboé range of reds. They capture some of the best qualities of Douro reds. Here are my notes - Oboé Superior "fresh, adicic, perky, spicy", Oboé Grande Escolha 2009 "good tannins, powerful, black currant" & Oboé Grande Escolha 2008 "softer tannins, more subtle than 2009, rich, good balance, still great body"

By now I was checking my watch constantly and picking what to go taste with the little time left. I thought that a couple of more random and less known (to me) wineries should be on the list so I give you Quinta Do Romeu. They had the most persona in their reds in a sense. These wines were not so similar to the qualities I mentioned earlier and I had that "I can't quite put my finger around it" moment where you taste something with character, but your mind runs out of adjectives to describe it. For me, it's mostly a good thing. I mean this can happen in a negative way, but not with Quinta Do Romeu. The Menéres family has an over hundered year history in winemaking (like many Quintas in the region) and the vines are planted 350m above sea level. The WHOLE 5000ha estate is 100% organic - think about that. Notes for the reds I was bad at describing - Colheita 2010; "Interesting acidity, short taste, great stew companion" - Reserva 2008 - "Another questionmark, softer, more developed, c'mon man!". Oh, and these guys are in the Douro Superior area, which is far inland, close to the Spanish boarder. This area is well respected (hint in the title) and many producers bought spots from there a while back. Now they are all sold out and are restricting producers from buying.

I'll finish off with some port. Quevedo (Also available at Alko) had the oldest port to offer. The Colheita from 1992 was "dense, raisins, figs, softened down well, great balance" and the 10 y.o Tawny "hazelnuts, sweet but acidic, great balance". The rather small Quevedo is something to check out and the price range is not bad for a 1992 port, that is a perfect example how nicely port ages.

From the many others I tasted, not alot of them were bad wines, but I have to cut this at some point. Hopefully I'll get to taste and write about the others some time soon...
All-in-all a great experience once again! Kudos to ViniPortugal - I'll see you next year!
Ps. The material and service at the event are outstanding. Thank you for taking care!


May 4, 2012

Ice hockey wine

I mentioned earlier on Facebook that the design for the official white wine for the ice hockey world championships may have the worst graphic design in a wine bottle ever.

Well here it is:


I understand the reasons behind making these promotional wines - MONEY. At least they are not even trying to produce quality wine, just by looking at the bottle and reading the mysterious, yet lazy "Produced using grapes grown in Italy" and the well-at-least-you'll-get-drunk "it will make every game - whether win or lose - an enjoyable one!" everything starts to fall into place. I'm guessing there is enough marketing research done to determine that hockey fans have a need for wine at the event, but do not give a shit what they are drinking. Having an official event or restaurant tailored wine may be concidered a service - yeah, if it's a good quality wine made with some thought. It's a radical comparison, but hell, I'll make it - An amazingly good restaurant in Helsinki called Farang made a really good quality red with Australian producer Hewitson, of "Miss Harry" fame. Now theres an example how to do it! Unfortunately there isn't many positive examples like this, but please do correct me if I'm wrong. I would love to hear more success stories in this area.

Oh, and anybody remember that terrible HIFK Merlot from a few years back? What is it with ice hockey and bad wines?

On a side note, I plan to do what the wine tells me to. Watch an ice hockey game and get drunk. After that I can see if it was enjoyable even though Finland loses. I seriously doubt that.

Go team Finland! "yay!"

Oh, and it was awful - Sodastream ftw!