Festive season wine reflections
With Christmas and New Year's there is not only a rise in the amount of wine consumption but also, in my very personal case, a long and deep thought about which wines to open to go through these days that I am not particularly a fan of.
More than just picking up the best ones I have around, it is, in fact a by far more difficult question.
For Christmas I have taken in account not only what would be cooked but also the people who would be drinking with me. Besides that there was also another important conditioner of my choices: Saudade. This festive times are often quite emotional on how much I miss being in Portugal.
That was the reason that led me to making a last minute wine order by one of the most important portuguese wine retailers in Germany. Briefly after having set my order, I have gotten a phone call from the owner preventing me from buying one of the wines as it was not good any longer.
With only a one day delay they have arrived.
If on Christmas Eve I have decided to go for reds with a bit more acidity to accompany a raclette such as the Cies 2020 by Rodrigo Mendez from Rías Baixas. This cuvée of Caino, Espadeirao and Loureiro was just what I was expecting: fresh, vibrant and mineral with a lot of character and pairing perfectly some of the Puglian aubergine pickles that I have done as well as fighting the dominant fat of the cheese.
Following it, I moved to Cabo da Roca Baga Reserva Especial 2016 from the Casca Wines project by Hélder Cunha. Very concentrated and with a lot of character, it has also revealed that it still has ageing potential. Maybe I'll buy a couple of bottles more and see how it will perform next year. This wine has really transported me to some sort of a portuguese feeling and I really missed some nice codfish at the dinner table.
In Germany the 26th is considered to be the second Christmas day and there I have gone back to Rodrigo Mendez, this time to his 100% Caino. And how can I put it? Simply amazing. Dark, with electrical tartness and very present red fruits with high salinity, it has flashed me from the first sip. Just like it did to an italian fried of mine who came over for dinner and said that it almost as good as the wines from her birthplace in Piemont.
No need to say that I believe this was the best compliment you can ever get from an italian.
On my behalf, I have become a fan of Rodrigo Mendez's work and will surely go back to his wines some time soon.
But a wine emotional trip can not be fully accomplished without a wine from my birth region, Tejo.
Half Alicante Bouschet half Touriga Nacional, this Bridao Private Collection 2019 is full bodied wine that could not be more different than the one before. Ripe plums, thick concentration, chocolate and spices have filled my mouth with a wine which was made 17km away from the place where I was born. And this is a stylistic that definitely tastes like home and has warmed my heart in this cold winter in Hamburg.
Pato has shown from the beginning an ethyl acetate note which ended up with me declaring it a flaw. Somehow this has really put me down as I was looking for an astonishing Bical to celebrate the last day of the year with a very good friend of mine.
My only consolation was that it was still, somehow, to taste the bright acidity of the grapes which could have made my day.
Still digesting this annoyance, I ended up drinking this Heritage Brut from Antech and get on the sparkling mood that often accompanies new year's eve.
Even though it is definitely not my favourite celebration, its clear and pronounced brioche notes have offered me a festive feeling which has lasted till outside the world seemed to come to an end due to the endless fireworks.
When everything finished, I went to bed, hoping to soon get spiritually into 2026 and start thinking which wines to drink next Christmas.
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