Wine Fictions

 Working with wine has multiple facettes which not all of them are positive, but the final balance is definitely a positive one. One of my favourite ones is the possibility that you are given not only to know new wines but to know the people behind them. If during wine fairs that can be a rather overwhelming experience, there are also times that I have the privilege to know the producers a bit more personally. That is exactly what happened last week, where I had the pleasure to meet Steven Schmidt and his wines.  From the seven different Rieslings that I tried (from bone dry to botrytis) this Kabinett was the one that  fulfilled me in a way that many wines have not managed before.  Allied to the typical fruity notes of peach and ripe apples, the wine has an intensive and profound smokiness which confers a rather exotic and seductive touch. Also impressive was the lively minerality which helped the wine to keep its freshness to a level that you do not feel like stop d...

 In this post I have written about the influence literature can have in what we drink.  If in Lahiri's book the references to wine appear quite often, in Misericórdia by the Portuguese Lídia Jorge there is not a single reference to wine, but the book, for me, had the taste of long well-known wines and that is exactly the reason why I have decided to open this Duas Quintas white.  A cuvée of typical white grapes from the Douro valley it presents itself with nice white peach flavours allied with some floral notes of camomile and orange blossom have matched the intense and delicate narrative built by Lídia Jorge.  I know this is a rather wild approach but I did have the feeling that the delicacy and intensity that you can find in this wine matches the feeling of eternal in the narrative that I have just read. Maybe it comes from the different fermentation processes that vary from stainless steel that confers it enough freshness to oak barrels which have given it a bit ...

Portugal was going to play against Slovenia for the European Football championship and my choice to accompany the game has laid on this red from one of my favourite wine regions.  The Priorat region in Catalunya has known quite a hipe in the last years specially since it has been officially granted the DOCa in 2001. This has, of course, given it a bit more international showcase and the price of its wines has been increasing accordingly. Its llicorella soils and steepy mountains reveal themselves optimal for an almost perfect expression of Garnacha conferring it a mix of strength and minerality dominated by strong iron and balsamic notes. That is exactly what you can find in this 90 minuts. In the nose you have dominant red berries but it is in the mouth that its full expression comes to life. Vibrant tannins, somehow blood and iron taste and intensive red berries dominate this tremendously elegant wine which still has some maturation potential. Even though it is suggested that you...

 Now that the summer seems to have finally arrived in Hamburg and the temperatures are getting close to 30 degrees celsius most people around here rush to get their grills out and enjoy the nice weather. Even though it is an activity mainly accompanied by beer, there has been a growing demand for wines which can both pair the traditional grilled sausages and the warmer temperatures. This may seem particularly complicated, but there are a couple of red wines that are made to drink slightly cooled if not cold.  Governo Toscano or wines which have been submitted to carbonic maceration set themselves in the front line. Still, the wine that I want to write about does not fit in any of the categories above. One of the biggest surprises I have found when I have started working at the shop I am managing was this red Vinho Verde . I have to be honest and confess that the part of the country I come from, I have seen people drinking cooled red wines during summer but nothing that compare...

 The so much expected Football European Championship has started. All around Europe people gather and celebrate the games in some kind of, for me, strange national identification. Germany, the hosting country not only of the Championship but also mine is living exceptional days. In Hamburg it is noticeable an increase on the number of police patrolling the streets (which have already avoided worst things to happen as you can check here ), the amount of people walking around in football shirts or with painted faces or the inevitable firecrackers whenever the hosting national team scores a goal. But how does it affect the wine business? This question was first asked to me by a fellow wine seller who has complained about the beer culture associated to football and the consequent decrease on wine sales. Instead of trying to answer that, I would rather prefer to ask whether is there a perfect football wine? To the customers that have came asking for wines I tended to recommend lighter, ...

 Last Tuesday I was at a wine fair promoted by one of the biggest German wine importers at one of the premium hotels in Hamburg. With a strong focus on gastronomy and small shops it was quite a mixed public, quite different in many ways to the habitués of masterclasses. Besides the tremendous offer, there was a couple of episodes which are still living inside me and that I would like to share.  The first one, I was at a South African stand and a man behind me pushed me and screamed to the person behind the stand that he wanted to try the Shyraz. I have quickly shared with him that he should try the amazing Pinotage before the Shyraz as it was surprisingly light and fruit driven. As an answer I got a lecture on how he was working for more than 50 years in the wine business and that there was nothing I could teach him about it. I have smiled and moved away. On another stand I have asked the person responsible for it if the Ribera del Duero that I was trying was a single graped T...