A fabulous day's tasting in Lisbon
Flew to Lisbon first thing this morning for a weekend of tasting Portuguese wine. I was invited out by leading Portuguese wine magazine Revista Vinhos for their annual three-day tasting event, which brings together Portugal's top wine producers for a large consumer tasting.
I was picked up from the airport by Luis Antunes, a buddy who writes for the magazine, and we headed over to the conference centre where the tasting was being held. There we did a bit of tasting, before enjoying a fabulous informal lunch - the tasting event has several 'kitchens', all operated by leading chefs, and for a few Euros you can have a small portion of one of their dishes. Mario Sergio of Bageiras (Bairrada) gave us a bottle of one of his wines to help wash our lunch down with.
After this, it was down to some serious tasting, which lasted from 2 pm until I quit exhausted just before 8. Tasting conditions were pretty good, and the place didn't get crowded until early evening. I tried some realy fabulous wines, and I'm now exhausted. I have about an hour before it's dinner time, but we won't be tasting - rather, we'll be drinking.
Because I'm selecting the Top 50 Portuguese wines for the tasting at the Portuguese Embassy in February 2009, this sort of event is particularly useful. Picking just 50 wines is going to be tough. I've made a special effort to get up to speed with Portuguese wines this year - this visit is my fourth trip to Portugal this year, and I have another visit in a couple of weeks.
I think after all this research I should do a short book on Portugal's best wines!
Labels: Portugal
7 Comments:
I'm looking forward to some notes of yours from this tasting. I was there last year and there were plenty of really good wines, both in the around 10 Euros range and the premium. Any gems you found?
Mats L
The idea of the Portuguese wine book is a good one. There's not much up to date available on the producers making non-Port, other than what slips through in the Wine Advocate.
Luis A is great - I've spent a little time with him here in the US. I trust his palate implicitly. Good taste in music too!
DF
Hi Jamie,
It was nice to meet you...im also very curious to see some notes on some of the wines...glad you enjoyed the Qta. das Bágeiras Garrafeira (White)...As i said Bairrada makes wonderful wines!!!
regards,
Pedro Guimaraes
Mats, Pedro, full notes to follow soon I hope.
DF, Luis is fun - crazy and wild, knowledgeable, great to hang out with and has a really good palate.
If you pass by Lisbon, and you appreciate good wine and particular places I can suggest you Chafariz do Vinho.
Jamie, I was also at the fair (for the the 4 days). I wish I knew you were coming.
I'm looking forward to seeing your notes and compare to mine!
How do you get invited to this Portugal tasting at the Embassy? I am in the process of setting up a Portuguese wine company and would welcome some contacts
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