Wine Fictions

 As I am diving more and more into the world wine, there are two kinds of different approaches from the people who are around me. The ones who are afraid to bring wine whenever they are invited over to my place claiming that they can not bring any wine that can impress me and the ones who invite me saying that they have something that I definitely have to try. No need to say that I prefer the second one. That was exactly in this context that a Mexican friend of mine has written me saying that he has brought some wines from home.  I have to confess that I got immediately quite thrilled about it. Along with amazing food I had the opportunity to try really good Mexican wines and this Tierra Adentro has definitely conquered me. A cuvée of Nebbiolo and Cabernet Sauvignon it has tremendous density, very present tannins and enough complexity to make it interesting. Nebbiolo is definitely more present and confers it some pleasant cherry notes involved by a soft and persistent minerali...

 Working with wine has multiple facettes which not all of them are positive, but the final balance is definitely a positive one. One of my favourite ones is the possibility that you are given not only to know new wines but to know the people behind them. If during wine fairs that can be a rather overwhelming experience, there are also times that I have the privilege to know the producers a bit more personally. That is exactly what happened last week, where I had the pleasure to meet Steven Schmidt and his wines.  From the seven different Rieslings that I tried (from bone dry to botrytis) this Kabinett was the one that  fulfilled me in a way that many wines have not managed before.  Allied to the typical fruity notes of peach and ripe apples, the wine has an intensive and profound smokiness which confers a rather exotic and seductive touch. Also impressive was the lively minerality which helped the wine to keep its freshness to a level that you do not feel like stop d...

 In this post I have written about the influence literature can have in what we drink.  If in Lahiri's book the references to wine appear quite often, in Misericórdia by the Portuguese Lídia Jorge there is not a single reference to wine, but the book, for me, had the taste of long well-known wines and that is exactly the reason why I have decided to open this Duas Quintas white.  A cuvée of typical white grapes from the Douro valley it presents itself with nice white peach flavours allied with some floral notes of camomile and orange blossom have matched the intense and delicate narrative built by Lídia Jorge.  I know this is a rather wild approach but I did have the feeling that the delicacy and intensity that you can find in this wine matches the feeling of eternal in the narrative that I have just read. Maybe it comes from the different fermentation processes that vary from stainless steel that confers it enough freshness to oak barrels which have given it a bit ...

Portugal was going to play against Slovenia for the European Football championship and my choice to accompany the game has laid on this red from one of my favourite wine regions.  The Priorat region in Catalunya has known quite a hipe in the last years specially since it has been officially granted the DOCa in 2001. This has, of course, given it a bit more international showcase and the price of its wines has been increasing accordingly. Its llicorella soils and steepy mountains reveal themselves optimal for an almost perfect expression of Garnacha conferring it a mix of strength and minerality dominated by strong iron and balsamic notes. That is exactly what you can find in this 90 minuts. In the nose you have dominant red berries but it is in the mouth that its full expression comes to life. Vibrant tannins, somehow blood and iron taste and intensive red berries dominate this tremendously elegant wine which still has some maturation potential. Even though it is suggested that you...