a bit of portugal (#2)

Last Wednesday I had a great opportunity to attend a tasting of Portuguese wines...all of which were unavailable in BC (some were available in Ontario and Quebec). While there were some pretty expensive and really great wines, I found that most when converted from Euro's to CanDollars were very reasonably priced..and most of them were really fantastic wines! I hope to see some of them carried in the BC liquor stores very soon. Hint Hint *wink* to all the importers and sellers who were there on Wednesday...

This tasting really got me thinking about Portuguese wines and a bout how little they're talked about in the general wine media. Because of this, they tend to be pretty cheap for good quality wines (and that makes me a huge fan of these wines). Unfortunately I also know very little about them. Last week we had a small segment on Portuguese wines in class but it really didn't even skim the surface of all there is to learn about Portugal and their wine making industry. Definitely an area worth exploring a little more in my mind.

There were a few wines at Wednesday's tasting that really stood out in my mind but it seems that for future tastings I will have to refine my note taking system since for a lot of the wines I tasted I seem to be missing some vital information.
So I don't have the price point for any of these and I forget which wines are available to my Ontario and Quebec friends but hopefully they'll be available in BC soon and I can write about them in more detail.

Dom Divino Red 2005 wine from UDACA in the Dao region of Portugal (I forget the price and I forget if it's available in Ontario or Quebec)
This is definitely one of my top wines of the tasting. It was a nice ruby colour with cherry and spice on the nose. On the palate had a nice fruity flavour - of baking and warm fruits. Overall well balanced and nice on the tongue with no aspect overpowering the others.

Lote 44 Red, Syrah based Blend with a local portuguese grape called Aragonez, which happens to be a grape variety better known as Tempranillo.
From the Estremadura region in Portugal, which is about half way up the portuguese coast. Although I couldn't find this wine on the tasting for the program, word of it went around the room and people started visiting the table to try it out. It even took me a while to find it online and figure out who the distributor is and all that info. A very elusive wine but one that my taste buds will never forget. I have no idea how much this wine would go for if anywhere in BC ever did start selling it but definately my favorite wine of the show.
It had notes of candied/preserved cherries as well as some pepper on the nose and the palate. Nice light to medium body and smooth, easy tannins that helped to smooth out and elongate the feeling of this fantastic wine in the mouth.

Whites:

Fonte Do Nico Light 2009, from Pegoes region Pretty much all of the white wines i liked came from this region/producer. Most are dominated by the Fernao Pires grape with a fair bit of Muscat as well as some other varieties. The muscat definately adds some fantastic ripe fruit character to all of these whites.

This wine I found to be crisp and flowery on the nose and very light on the palate with hints of refreshing fruits like watermelon. A Very simple, refreshing, hot summer deck on the lake wine.

Caves de Pegoes 2009, also from the Pegoes region Very stone fruit/peachy on the nose with some minerality which transfered well to the palate. Nice refreshing acidity and body. Again, a great warm summer wine. Slightly more complex than the Fonte do Nico.

Sto. Isidro Branco, again a Pegoes wine. I don't know the vintage. Great nose on this wine. Very ripe fruits like red apples along with some nice tropical notes like bananas or papaya. For the palate, my notes are ripe applesauce juice, good crisp acid and light to med body, yummy....which makes me think I enjoyed this wine :D

The wines and the ports(red and white) at this tasting were pretty fantastic but what made the day so wonderful for me was the Moscatel sweet wines. I know some of the Portuguese Moscatels are fortified as well as sweet wines, I'm don't think all of the wines at this tasting were. They were however all very sweet and very yummy!

My tasting notes for the Moscatels are kind of sporadic but they generally had flavours of candied pears or canned peaches and as they aged showed characters reminiscent of caramilization or sweet candied orange rinds. The wines I tried on Wednesday are not as of yet available in BC but I know some of them are available in Ontario and Quebec from the Favaios Label, from the famous region of Douro in Portugal. I know at least one of the really good ones (unfortunately I forget which one) goes for $13 in Ontario. Sweet deal!!! Beats the price of icewine for sure.

Well folks, that concludes my little trip to portugal. I hope you will find Portuguese wines in all their variety and flavours as exciting as I did and I hope to review more of them in the future (individually, with more extensive notes).