Andreza Reserva 2016

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There are wines which end up becoming iconic either due to their quality, for the role they have played in a certain moment in history or for their successful marketing as it has happened with Casal Garcia or Monte Velho in the Portuguese case. These wine end up being part of the collective imaginary that can always be talked about whenever you meet fellow citizens.

But there are also some other wines that you come across in a rather fortuitous way and that grow into your personal history to an extent which can be equivalent to the social phenomenon of the above mentioned. 

These wines often grow inside you and you end up following their evolution throughout the years  as well as a growing curiosity for the other wines produced by the same company or enologue.

This is exactly what has happened with the Lua Cheia wines.

About seven years ago I have organized a wine tasting where the Lua Cheia em Vinhas Velhas ended up being the star of the evening, surprising everyone present due to its smoothness and character reflecting the excelency of the terroir due to its old vines. 

With such a nice experience, I have kept on trying different harvest years always being positively impressed and last year, at the very last wine tasting before the first lockdown, I have decided to take this Andreza Reserva. Even though it is always risky to take a wine we do not know to a wine tasting we are organizing, I somehow felt that it was worth taking the risk. That ended up being worth it as it was one of the favourites of the evening. Most of the guests who have shown a deep interest about Douro and its wines and I incredibly interesting talks have arisen around it.

This Andreza gathers the best of two worlds: on the one hand is a fruity and juicy wine, with strong notes of vanilla and on the other hand it translates the complex mix of flavours that typical Portuguese grapes can offer. 

If we sum to this its contact with French oak barriques we have a wine that can always brighten up the meal or event that you are experiencing. 

This is definitely a wine with which you will be playing safe and that I will keep on buying, expectantly seeing how it will develop in future harvests. 

Just like it happens with wine I often find myself coming back to some safe poets such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti which has just died yesterday at the age of 101:

I am signaling you through the flames.

The North Pole is not where it used to be.

Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.

Civilization self-destructs.

Nemesis is knocking at the door.

What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?

The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.

If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.

You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words....



 

 

17/20
Country: Portugal  
Region: Douro

Grapes: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz

13,5%
Winemaker: Francisco Baptista
 Website: https://luacheia-saven.pt/

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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