Contraste 2018

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 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 for pretty sober wine tastings while choosing Portuguese wines for a tasting. I have to say that he is the kind of person who is definitely not too expansive with words but his description as a wine which is always useful to have around has arisen my curiosity and I have ended up ordering one. 

With the temperatures going down in Hamburg it is high time for more complex red wines which can adequately answer to stews, pumpkin dishes or chestnuts. 

Being so,  I have decided to open it and I was marveled with its dark red colour and its intense berries smell. In the mouth the taste of berries was confirmed in a rather velvety way. Even though it had no contact with wood it has quite a round taste and a tremendously seducing long end. Still, it keeps some sort of freshness in the palate not exhausting it too much as it often happens with wines with this complexity. 

Somehow, I think I do understand what my friend meant when describing it as a wine which is always useful to have around. More than a Fall wine, it is a wine which is incredibly versatile and can perform pretty well in different situations. Having opened it now at a time that the evening temperatures are already below 10 degrees outside has shown how much potential it has.

A wine to keep in mind.

 

17/20
Country: Portugal
Region: Douro
Grapes: Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz
14%
Winemaker: Rita Marques

Website: https://www.conceito.com.pt/beber/contraste/

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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