Quinta d'Amares Tinto 2021

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As I have moved to Hamburg about thirteen years ago, I started being invaded with a strong feeling of reliving some of the dishes that have marked my growing up in Portugal.

Some are easier than others to recreate, being strongly dependent on the ingredients that you can find.

One that has been persistently buzzing in my head is Cabidela. 

Original from the north of Portugal with different varietals in almost all the former portuguese colonies, this has been one of my all time favourite dishes. But hard do it in Hamburg.

I have asked several butchers for blood but I have been invariously looked with a mix of suspicion and fear. 

But while having a look at the possibility of buying a piglet at an asian supermarket, I have came across duck blood.  Without hesitation I bought it and immediately invited a group of friends to come over and try the cabidela. 


Being the first time that I have tried to cook it, it was not as good as I wanted it, but I was still satisfied with the final result. Sure is that I will soon try to cook it again.

With the food part solved, the following question concerning the wine to accompany it.

Being  a vinegar dominated plate it soon became obvious to me that Vinhao would be the perfect grape to accompany it due to its high acidity and freshness. 

With 30% Touriga Nacional that helps building the structure of the wine, this Quinta d'Amares is dominated by lively red fruits and slight smokiness which has met perfectly the iron notes of the blood of the cabidela amd offers a fair challege to the vinegar taste. 

I found it quite typical for a Vinho Verde red that can offer a surprising touch to a meal. The friends who have spent the evening with me were positively surprised by this lively chilled red.

This is a kind of wine that I find a tremendous potential, specially now that the market is tending to lower alcohol wines.  

In my personal case I will keep on going back to it, specially now that the winter seems to slowly fade away. 

 

 

15,5/20
Country: Portugal
Region: Vinho Verde
Grapes: Vinhao; Touriga Nacional
Winemaker: António Sousa
11%
Link: https://www.quintadamares.pt/conteudos/vinhos/show.aspx?id=278&title=quinta-damares-tinto&idioma=de 

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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