Wine Fictions

After having come across the red Barahonda  in a wine tasting with some colleagues and being considerably impressed by it, I have decided to try the white one as soon as I have seen it for sale.  The choice of grapes for this one promised from the very beginning  to be a rather pleasant and easy drinking wine due to the citrus taste of Verdejo mixed with the more flowery Sauvignon Blanc.  And so it was, resulting in a pleasant balance of soft citrus and white flowers which invade your palate from the very beginning.  One of the things that has most impressed me in it, was its persistent but fresh ending, revealing quite some seducing youth making it quite flexible in gastronomic terms or even to be enjoyed solo. This capacity of being drunk on its own reminded me of one of the most iconic American poets which has set the bases for some of the basic feelings that you may still identify in the American society nowadays, Walt Whitman. It was quite an interesting re...

 A wine tasting at the Instituto Cervantes in Hamburg in the iconic Chile Haus building.  This is, probably, one of the best settings for the presentation of one of the most interesting wine projects in Spain: Grandes Pagos is a project which started in 2000 and aims to give visibility to small projects around the country which stand for their high quality.  Seven wines were selected in order to show the diversity of a territory where different soils and people work in a mix between tradition and innovation achieving astonishing results.  Before getting to the wine which has impressed me the most, I would like to share the magnificent introduction done by the Riojano writer Andrés Pascual which has guided the public in a passionate literary journey which has revealed the intimate relation between the Spanish culture and the ancient culture of wine. From García Lorca to Quixote I have to confess that this was one of the most inspiring talks I have heard these last t...

In order to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of the most iconic Portuguese singers of the 20th century, Adega Mayor has made a special edition of 3 bottles with illustrations by three Portuguese illustrators. Having a neighbour for dinner the other day, I have decided to open the one with the illustrations by Tiago Albuquerque (the first one on the left).  After some polite comments about the label and how southern Europeans tend to be more aesthetical than northern Germans and being truly interested when I have told him that this wine belongs to a coffee company, the time has finally came to open it. Its vivid red colour has also seduced my guest from the very beginning and its intensive and somehow fresh taste of red berries and light  tobacco and leather notes was the perfect match for an Autumn risotto with mushrooms and pumpkin.  Even if it has not impressed me as much as some other wines from the same winery (such as their marvellous Reserva or the fascinating Vi...

 Just like it happens with books or music, a wine recommendation can play a decisive role on how you model your friendships. I remember a couple of cases of looking at someone after having read a book they recommended and thinking: oh, that's the sort of person you are. For the best and for the worst.Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are - that could be a pretty wise saying, specially for someone like me who has previously worked on a library. A similar thing happens with wines.  There's the people who vividly recommend wines swearing that a certain wine is the best thing ever made since the old Romans, the ones who say it in a rather discreet way, the ones who simply command you to buy a certain wine. No matter the way people use to recommend a certain wine, just like what happens with books, there are certain people that you trust more than others. In the case of this Contraste, it was a rather discreet recommendation from a friend of mine that I often meet ...

One of the main advantages of living in Germany is to have a relatively easy access to wine from different regions of the world. This allows an almost infinite possibility of deepening our knowledge about not only the regions, but also about its specificity and grapes. This was the major reason that took me to buy this Tenuta del Morer. This and a pretty nice conversation with a worker from an Italian import supermarket in Bonn who has recommended it to me. As soon as the wine invaded my glass I was fascinated by its pale straw colour and by its intense perfume that seemed to fill the whole living room.  In the mouth it revealed itself different than I expected but rather fine and elegant, revealing a firm body with delicate complexity of tastes from bitter almonds to light citrus. Its ending was rather long and seducing, making it a perfect match for seafood.  Being Friulano also known as Sauvignon Vert there were a lot of aspects concerning this wine that became clear to me....

 There are a lot of excuses I can think of to try to justify why I have opened this Reserva so early, but none of them sounds strong enough to hide the truth that I could not wait any longer to open a typical  Douro wine now that the Autumn seems to have settled in Hamburg. Somehow the upcoming of the new season arises in me the nostalgic wish of feeling dark berries allied with decent woody vanilla notes. It is, for me, a perfect match for the falling of the first golden and reddish leaves which start covering the streets of the city. Sometimes wines just manage to correspond to our inner mood and reflect the multitude of feelings that may invades us at a determined time. Even though I have to recognize that it was definitely too early to open this wine, it has also answered in almost perfection to my expectations. A predominant Touriga Nacional with its particular reaction to wood contact has granted me the satisfaction that I was looking for.  The other traditional gra...