Dois Terroirs 2017

-

 From one of the most exciting wine producers in Portugal there is this Dois Terroirs which, has the name reveals, is a mix of both continental and oceanic climates.

These two terroirs are, in fact, not too far away from each other and express one of the things I find fascinating about Portuguese wines: you can have a huge variety of climates inland due to its large sea front and the mountains which cut most of the Atlantic breeze. 

This was probably the reason that made the Danish Hans and the American Carrie Jorgensen move to Portugal and start a pretty successful wine project in the country.  

With a strong design which is easily recognizable they have managed to establish a continuity in the market due to the quality of their wines and its visual impact. 

But how important can design be?

It is true that the eyes also buy and the aesthetics of a bottle can, in fact, play an important role. When I was back at the university in Lisbon, I had a friend who have sworn me that for a successful date you should always buy a Chaminé due to their design. 

With this Dois Terroirs I had my 3 years old daughter asking me to always have the label turned to her as she found it so beautiful, even asking whether in Portugal all the princesses looked like this one.

I think this is a good example on how design can work.

As I have said before, this wine combines grapes from two different terroirs in order to create a unique wine, being the role of the winemaker absolutely essential in this creation process. In fact creation may well be the most adequate word to define this wine. Somehow, the enologue plays here as some sort of alchemist which calculates in the right measure different elements in order to create another one. 

When I have drunk it, I found it a refreshing young wine with persistent red fruits that make it an incredible versatile. The more complex and intense Aragonez and the fruity Syrah give the wine a balanced and fruity structure that it is possible to find in other wines from the same producer and these mix in an incredible and provoking way with the Pinot Noir offering it an irreverent touch. 

All in all it is a incredibly interesting wine that it is worth exploring and that is already inviting Spring to come.

Also inviting is the powerful use of words that Mahogany Browne does in this amazing When Fannie Lou Hamer said:

I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired 

           She meant
                      No more turned cheek
                      No more patience for the obstruction
                      of black woman’s right to vote
                      & plant & feed her family

           She meant
                      Equality will cost you your luxurious life
                      If a Black woman can’t vote
                      If a brown baby can’t be fed
                      If we all don’t have the same opportunity America promised

           She meant
                      Ain’t no mountain boulder enough
                      to wan off a determined woman

           She meant
                      Here
           Look at my hands
                      Each palm holds a history
                      of the 16 shots that chased me
                      harm free from a plantation shack

           Look at my eyes
                      Both these are windows
                      these little lights of mine

           She meant
                      Nothing but death can stop me
                      from marching out a jail cell still a free woman

           She meant
                      Nothing but death can stop me from running for Congress

           She meant
                      No black jack beating will stop my feet from working
                      & my heart from swelling
                      & my mouth from praying

           She meant
                      America! you will learn freedom feels like
                      butter beans, potatoes & cotton seeds
                      picked by my sturdy hands

           She meant

           Look
           Victoria Gray, Anna Divine & Me
           In our rightful seats on the house floor

           She meant  
                      Until my children
                      & my children’s children
                      & they babies too
                      can March & vote
                      & get back in interest
                      what was planted
                      in this blessed land

           She meant
                      I ain’t stopping America
                      I ain’t stopping America

Not even death can take away from my woman’s hands
what I’ve rightfully earned




16,5/20
Country: Portugal
Region: Alentejo
Grapes: Aragonez, Syrah, Pinot Noir
13,5%
Winemaker: N/A
Website: https://cortesdecima.com/en/wines/dois-terroirs-tinto-en/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luckert Müller-Thurgau 2021

-
Image
 There are grapes which tend to be seen as not prestigious as others.  Müller-Thurgau is, somehow, one of them. Created by the Swiss Hermann Müller as a crossing between Riesling and Madeilene Royale, it is still associated with low quality half-dry wines which were tremendously popular in Germany during the 70s and 80s.  Even though a long time has passed since then, it is interesting to see how most customers politely deny my recommendation whenever I do it.  In fact, it is quite hard to sell it to people aged between 30 and 50 as it may recall some bad memories of wine they may have tried with their parents.  The most positive side of it is that younger generations do start having a different approach to it, specially due to its flexibility to match spicy dishes and more exotic cuisine.  And that's exactly where this Müller-Thurgau has shown a tremendous depth with elegant ripe apples, nutmeg and a slight smoky note which made it tremendously interesting...
Read more

Guado al Tasso 2021

-
Image
 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...
Read more

AOP Maury Ambré Louanges 1932 Chateau de L'Ou

-
Image
 How important is the history of a wine? Even though I always assume the challenge of trying to be impartial in my personal evaluation of a wine, I also have to confess that I barely achieve such goal as I tend to let myself seduce by all kinds of extra information which may influence my tasting. I am just too sensitive to the worlds you can build around a particular world which is a bottle of wine. Going directly to the wine in question, the fact that it was a 1932 harvest has directly awoken in me an almost uncontrollable world of expectations. Tasted at a recent event of Wines of Roussillon in Hamburg it came as the biggest highlight of a very eventful evening.  Composed of Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc it has revealed nice dried apricots, dates and some bitter almonds coated by an acidity which imposed a tremendous freshness to a wine which is over 90 years old.  In a way, it presented itself fresher than a 2002 tasted right before. Only having been bottled in 2022...
Read more