Wine Fictions

There are times that I think that to be in the wine business has more to do with an insane passion for the product you are handling than anything else.  Having recently been at the 2026 edition of the Vinoble in Jérez de la Frontera, Spain, I was amazed with the amount of projects I came across which revealed a tremendous audacity and authenticity and that try to imprint a new character in the wine world.   This is what fascinates me the most about working with wine.   The passion that you can feel when you are facing a unique product which reflects a certain terroir, a particular view of a winemaker and an almost life philosophy is something that I can only recommend.  It is this passion that has led me to start importing wines to Germany. More than a business idea, it is an impulse of sharing with others wines that I find  peculiar and that can awake emotions. Just like this Amphora by Hugo Mendes. With tremendous freshness and saltiness, this i...

  The gothic idyllic location of Convento de Sao Francisco in Santarém was chosen to host the 8th edition of  Tejo a Copo  where 28 producers of the Tejo region were given the opportunity to show their work. Being born in Santarém, for me it was a great opportunity to come across what's happening in the region where I was born.  Even though there were quite some wines which still tended to show an old fashioned and sort of boring expression by the use and abuse of international  grapes that do not really reflect the specificities of a fascinating terroir, there were also some really good and fresh winds of change. Among some really interesting late harvests, sparklings or low intervention wines, there were also the ones which, in my opinion, have managed to reflect the different sub regions of Tejo. One of them was this Bathoreu Trincadeira 2023.  Juicy and elegant with dominant black berries it has also presented some fascinating freshness, promising a go...

 There are certain things in the wine world that puzzle me and the fact that Hugo Mendes is not represented in Germany is one of them.  Since I have came across his work and consequently met him in Santarém that I have the feeling that there is a high potential not only on his work but also on showing how Portugal is going through a wine revolution, redefining its own parameters as well as adapting to a quickly changing market and drinking habits.  From the projects that I was given the opportunity to try lately, I want to highlight my recent fascination with Pet Nats coming from the vinho verde region. If the one from Quinta de Amares has already conquered a fixed spot on the wines that I often go back to, today it was time for me to come across the one by Casal de Ventozela.  Made of Loureiro and Fernao Pires ( this last one quite an uncommon grape in the north of Portugal, I have to say) it has very decent citrus fruits allied with some white tea and a tremendou...

 One of the things that I miss the most from a near past is how spontaneous I would just meet someone and enjoy a glass of wine in a garden. With Spring flowering around and the temperatures considerably raising making Hamburg emerge from the lethargy of the darker months, you feel a complete different vibe all around the city: people tend to smile more, the parks start getting filled with people playing games and grilling. There is a general positive feeling all around. It was in this almost idyllic context that I was invited for a glass of wine outside.  I find it funny how there is an oiled logistic of glasses and coolers to take and soon I was sitting in a bench with a privileged view over a blooming cherry tree.  Somehow, these are the kind of moments that make you feel the world is still in order and everything will be just fine. From the wines tasted, I would like to highlight this Vin Jaune from Marcel Cabelier.  After having recently been completely fascinat...

 The other day I was at a tasting with some work colleagues from other shops belonging to the company to which I am working for. Being for the first time invited in this circle, I soon realized that I often tend to taste with people with whom I have similar references leaving few place for surprises.   The evening was very pleasant and after a soul warming round of Riesling we have gone to some unexpected Zinfandel with high acidity, wines from direct concurrence shops or some nature wines. On my behalf,  I was tremendously predictable and brought Quinta de Saes Reserva  white, which has impressed most of the colleagues as it drove them to tip on Burgundy as we have tasted the wines blind.  With the evening coming to an end, one of the colleagues has invited me and some others to go to his mom's place as she did not live too far away and he still had  some wines to share. Currently studying to become a sommelier he soon dived the conversation into supe...

 One of the main goals of going through a formal wine education is to learn the typical style of a certain region and why certain grapes are the most adequate to reflect a certain terroir.  That being the Dao region in Portugal is often presented as Burgundy, Alentejo as California or the Douro as being the portuguese Bordeaux. In the latest also Rioja is presented as an alternative to Bordeaux. Being so, when buying a bottle from a given region you may be almost sure that you are getting a pre established kind of wine that you can correlate with former experiences you had. But climate change, new drinking tendencies and new approaches to wine making, among others, have been revealing new and fascinating wines that show a new facet that still translate the specificities of the terroir.  This was exactly what happened with this Altitude 430. Produced by one of the most iconic Douro houses, this Altitude is a cuvée dominated by a pretty unknown grape named Tinta Francisca a...