{"id":17,"date":"2010-02-11T17:21:42","date_gmt":"2010-02-11T11:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=17"},"modified":"2010-02-13T13:45:12","modified_gmt":"2010-02-13T07:45:12","slug":"17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/portugal\/17","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Ahmed’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah<\/a>Just on my way back from Sarah Ahmed’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines tasting. Having done this job last year, I know how difficult it is to narrow down this selection to just 50: Portugal must be the most underrated wine-producing country on the planet. Sarah is pictured right, with one of her favourite whites.<\/p>\n

Sarah’s selection was excellent. I think we have quite similar tastes in terms of preferred styles, opting for precision and elegance over raw power. But while there was inevitably some overlap with last year\u2019s top 50, I made a few new discoveries from her selection. And this year saw more whites than ever before, which I think is a good move.<\/p>\n

My favourites from the tasting?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Quinta das Bageiras Garrafeira Branco 2007<\/strong> from Barraida was brilliant. For me, it was the pick of the whites, with precision, minerality and complexity. Also stunning were the\u00a0Quinta de Saes Reserva Branco 2008<\/strong> from D\u00e3o and Dirk Niepoort’s\u00a0Redoma Reserva Branco 2008<\/strong> which will likely age brilliantly. I should also mention the superb\u00a0Po de Poiera white 2008 <\/strong>and the dense, bold\u00a0Pera Manca Branco 2007<\/strong> from the Alentejo.<\/p>\n

I was really taken by the\u00a0MJC Colares 2005<\/strong> with its sappy, fresh cherry fruit profile. Lovely wine in a lighter style, and nice to see something from this tiny appellation. Filipa Pato’s\u00a0Lokal Silex 2008 <\/strong>was probably the red wine of the tasting: beautifully precise and perfumed with elegance and power, like a great Burgundy. Her dad’s\u00a0Vinho Barrosa 2005 Barraida<\/strong> is an incredible wine, too: dense, structured, spicy with a hint of mint and eucalypt \u2013 massively concentrated. Filipa is pictured below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Falorca’s T-Nac 2007<\/strong> shows how beautifully perfumed D\u00e3o Touriga can be. Alvaro Castro is a Portuguese legend, and his\u00a0Pellada Reserva 2006 D\u00e3o<\/strong> showed really well, with power, concentration, freshness and elegance. Also from the D\u00e3o, a new wine to me was the dense, taut, Touriga-dominated\u00a0Vinha Paz Reserva 2005. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To the Douro.\u00a0Niepoort’s Redoma Tinto 2007 <\/strong>is fresh, bright and focused with some stern structure hiding under the pretty fruit. This will age very nicely. Jorge Borges (above<\/em>) was present showing his\u00a0Passadouro Reserva 2007<\/strong>, and it’s a brilliant example of the Douro at its best, with a tight minerally core to the focused, structured dark fruits.\u00a0Quinta da Crasto’s Vinha do Ponte 2007 <\/strong>is a remarkably complex wine, albeit one made in quite a ripe, forward style with noticeable oak. Still, there’s no doubting its complexity and interest. It was nice to be able to try a back vintage of\u00a0Quinta do Vale D Maria<\/strong>, the 2004. This is opening out and developing, and is now sweetly fruited and elegant \u2013 probably the right time to drink it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Alentejo selection showed well.\u00a0Herdade de Grous 23 Barricas 2008<\/strong> is surprisingly light and fresh with some elegance. The\u00a0Malhadinha Tinto 2007<\/strong> is a superb wine with amazing purity of rich, ripe fruit. I was really impressed by the\u00a0Sao Miguel Descobridores Reserva 2007<\/strong>, which showed beautifully poised cherry and blackberry fruit. But the two stars from this region were the wonderfully fresh, finely poised\u00a0Mouch\u00e3o Tonel 3\/4 2005<\/strong> and the almost impossibly dense\u00a0Grande Rocim 2007<\/strong>, a varietal Alicante Bouschet.<\/p>\n

Overall, a very exciting tasting with some really impressive wines, showcasing the excellence and diversity of the modern Portuguese wine scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just on my way back from Sarah Ahmed’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines tasting. Having done this job last year, I know how difficult it is to narrow down this selection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[350],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-portugal","tag-portugal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}