Cellar talk (4 Viewers)

[swag]

One of the great things about the culture of good wine drinkers is they typically share their best stuff rather than drink it alone.

Now most of my wine drinking these days are Portuguese lots which are under €15 and delicious. But while in Cali over the holidays, I probably had the most expensive thing I ever put in my mouth.

One of my best friends shared his birthday gift with us (he’s been a head of surgery and his wife is a som, so it’s extraordinary but not unthinkable). It may have not been an oldie like the ‘77 Warre’s Vintage port my ex-neighbor shared with us on NYE. But knowing nothing about it, my wife (a Napa native) said it was the best wine she ever drank.

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[Post Ironic]

I was hoping for a naked stripper for the sushi plate, but that will do nicely.



Canada and the ice wine thing. It’s alright, but I can’t do that stuff regularly.

I hate ice wine. It’s the Niagara region specialty in Ontario. It’s cloyingly sweet. Kind of disgusting imo

 

[.zero]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabe...a-trip-to-pico-island-in-the-azores-portugal/

@swag any familiarity?

 

[swag]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabe...a-trip-to-pico-island-in-the-azores-portugal/

@swag any familiarity?

I had heard about it but long forgot about it. Thanks for the heads-up. That creepy trans lady with the large Planet of the Apes forehead writes about Portugal all the time for Forbes.

I've been around the wine growing area of Pico. Below are photos I took of some of the island's vineyards in 2010. The wine growing there is incredibly tough, hence part of the expense: everything is retained within a lattice of rocky walls to hold up to the winds, and the root systems are largely above ground. If you're looking for a similarity, how they grow Malvasia in the Canary Islands has some of the same challenges -- though there they dig pits into the volcanic soil for wind protection. (Still not as crazy as some of the wine growing in Colares, Portugal about a 45 min. drive from me, where the vines are also above ground but in sand. And the wines are great, btw.)

Two great white grapes that grow in Pico are Arinto and Verdelho varietals, which are both excellent. Portugal has enough great white wines, and they have a lot of great seafood, that have convinced me to no longer be an all-reds-all-the-time kinda guy.

The challenge with Pico is the good stuff is a good €20-25, which is normally above what I splash out for. Still worth it. But I can also get good Arinto without the additional shipping costs from the islands on the continent. I had a great Arinto + Chardonnay from the Lisboa region last night with a dinner of Azores tuna that cost me €12.

 

[Bjerknes]

5 more days of my dry Halfuary. I really miss my Sunday vino.

 

[Buck Fuddy]

This might end up being my favourite thread!

I mostly drink Italian wines. Or a nice German riesling, for example.
It's not that I don't like others per se, but I "know" most about Italian ones, so I can usually predict what I'm going to get and if I'm going to like it. I never buy wines that I'm not familiar with without tasting them beforehand. Chances of a random French wine for example being any good are pretty slim, imo.

And while I tend to drink slightly more white than red wines (60 - 40, give or take), my favourites of the last few months are all reds:

The 2012 vintage. Just brilliant.

A very positive surprise. I expected it to be ok, but it was way more than that. Very, very smooth.

Not "just a Barbera" if you ask me. Extremely good.

I'm really starting to like primitivo's & negroamaro's lately. As far as price vs quality is concerned, it's difficult to top them imo. And this one is a great example of that style.

 

[swag]

I looooove Travaglini. It's a great example of how a lovely Nebbiolo made in Piemonte outside of the tipico DOCGs delivers the goods for a fraction of the price.

What's wild is in Portugal there are practically zero American wine imports. But we get quite a few Italian imports (though not as many as I saw in the US). So as a fan of Italian wines, please keep the recommendations coming.

 

[Buck Fuddy]

Some of my favourites of the past few months:

Excellent Barbera.

Probably the best Italian Riesling I ever had.
Disclaimer: I drank this one while I was in Turin, so that may have influenced my judgement a little bit.

In a word: amazing.
The herbal tones in this one are just

 

[swag]

I just noticed the creepy S&M/paedo overtones of this thread title... but of course I would.

 

[swag]

OK, since I've been in Portugal for four years now, some inside dirt as I am finding my way.

Note that Portugal is the #1 wine-consumption-per-person country in the world:
https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/which-countries-drink-the-most-wine-ask-decanter-456922/
But we typically have it with meals here. It's rarer to just uncork a bottle for the fun of just that.

And Portugal is small but incredibly dense. For such a small country, the diversity is pretty insane. There's over 250 native grape varietals here. You travel 5-10km over, and you can be in a completely different wine ecosystem: flavors, grapes, soil conditions, rain, practices, etc.

With all that diversity, blending is massive here, though not exclusive. Not uncommon to find winemakers coming through Portugal on a tour of duty to learn blending.

A lot of stuff is small -- often family -- production, so only the biggest producers seem to bother to export. So it's harder to find the "good stuff" on the international market, though it exists.

And Portugal labor being cheap, the country has a pricing challenge. Most of the wines will end up in the under $20 bucket and people will think they're just quantity wines. But you can get amazing wines for €10 and up. So when there are international wine competitions, most everything ends up in the cheap category.

Most probably know about the Alentejo wines -- from the robust reds to the rounded whites. The Douro wines are famous also, tend to have higher alcohol, and some of the best ones are table wines made by the children of famous port houses. And vinho verde is great... I love Alvarinho, but I also am a big fan of Spanish Albariño up-rivier.

Some of the things that have really surprised/impressed me are the wines from Bairrada. Practically unknown outside of Portugal, they typically consist of Baga or other local varietals and have a lower (12.5%) alcohol content. This makes them more feminine, complex, and subtle...like a good pinot noir. Vadio, some of Neipoort's stock, etc. produce great examples here. Also António Guerreiro.

Some wines in the neighboring Dão region also fit the surprise mold. Like I'm into Vinha Paz a lot lately.

Bairrada is also know for sparking wines, which can actually be pretty good. (Some sparkling Alvarinhos are good too from up north, like Soalheiro.)

 

[JCK]

I just noticed the creepy S&M/paedo overtones of this thread title... but of course I would.

Of course it had to be you.

 

[Buck Fuddy]

OK, since I've been in Portugal for four years now, some inside dirt as I am finding my way.

Note that Portugal is the #1 wine-consumption-per-person country in the world:
https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/which-countries-drink-the-most-wine-ask-decanter-456922/
But we typically have it with meals here. It's rarer to just uncork a bottle for the fun of just that.

And Portugal is small but incredibly dense. For such a small country, the diversity is pretty insane. There's over 250 native grape varietals here. You travel 5-10km over, and you can be in a completely different wine ecosystem: flavors, grapes, soil conditions, rain, practices, etc.

With all that diversity, blending is massive here, though not exclusive. Not uncommon to find winemakers coming through Portugal on a tour of duty to learn blending.

A lot of stuff is small -- often family -- production, so only the biggest producers seem to bother to export. So it's harder to find the "good stuff" on the international market, though it exists.

And Portugal labor being cheap, the country has a pricing challenge. Most of the wines will end up in the under $20 bucket and people will think they're just quantity wines. But you can get amazing wines for €10 and up. So when there are international wine competitions, most everything ends up in the cheap category.

Most probably know about the Alentejo wines -- from the robust reds to the rounded whites. The Douro wines are famous also, tend to have higher alcohol, and some of the best ones are table wines made by the children of famous port houses. And vinho verde is great... I love Alvarinho, but I also am a big fan of Spanish Albariño up-rivier.

Some of the things that have really surprised/impressed me are the wines from Bairrada. Practically unknown outside of Portugal, they typically consist of Baga or other local varietals and have a lower (12.5%) alcohol content. This makes them more feminine, complex, and subtle...like a good pinot noir. Vadio, some of Neipoort's stock, etc. produce great examples here. Also António Guerreiro.

Some wines in the neighboring Dão region also fit the surprise mold. Like I'm into Vinha Paz a lot lately.

Bairrada is also know for sparking wines, which can actually be pretty good. (Some sparkling Alvarinhos are good too from up north, like Soalheiro.)

I don't know anything about Portugese wines, but I did go to a Quinta Do Crasto tasting a while back. Not bad.

 

[swag]

Crasto has a great estate and great wines (and port). They are pretty exceptional for here.

 

[X Æ A-12]

I just noticed the creepy S&M/paedo overtones of this thread title... but of course I would.

Finally a place for my avian role reversal fetish

Spoiler