the Raw fair was postponed due to the threat of the coronavirus. But I decided to go anyway. And the first thing I did was heading for the Bar Douro, a few blocks from my hotel in Southwark. In a way I continued my Portuguese experience from last week, and started with Folias de Baco’s Douro sparkler Uivo Pt Nat, and also had Anselmo Mendes‘ vinho verde Contacto, this week’s choice is a Portuguese vinho de talha, a clay wine. Alentejo has a long tradition for this, and producer Herdade do Rocim is even hosting a talha wine festival.
They use the word amphora on the label though, not talha. It was made from the varieties antão vaz 40%, and 20 each of perrum, rabo de ovelha and manteúdo.
Winemakers are Pedro Ribeiro, general manager and his wife Catarina Vieira. The wine was made in the traditional way, in clay pots, with no temperature control. Only indigenous yeasts were used, there were no additions, nor any corrections of the must. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. It clocks in at a sympathetic 12% of alcohol.
Herdade do Rocim Amphora 2017(H. do Rocim)
Golden colour with a hint of brown. On the nose it plays with oxidation: The yellow fruits are dominating, but behind is a layer of smoke, nuts, some resin and smoke. It is dry, has some structure, and is also driven by salty minerals.
Price: Medium
Food: A variety of fish, shellfish and salads. It goes well to lighter meat dishes, like the pork cheeks that I had.
Távora-Varosa is a small mountainous DOC area bordering the Douro to the north and Dão to the south. I went there after the Simplesmente Vinho fair to visit Manuel Valente and his Protótipo project.
The region is found at the northern part of the Serra de Nave, and the names of the two major rivers are coined to form the wine region’s designation. Here is a continental climate with cold winters and hot and dry summers. This is a high place, with vines at an average altitude of 550 metres above sea level on granite and schist soils. The grapes will easily get a high acidity and tart fruit quality. That’s one of the reasons that it has for long been one of the best regions for sparkling wines in the country, and the first one to be demarcated for this type of wine in 1989. Murganheira, maybe the most emblematic winery of all, is found here.
By the Varosa river, in Ucanha, where the local Comissão has its headquarters
Manuel is found in the village Aldeia de Cima, where the “Valentes” has a 200 year long history of growing grapes and olives, and 25 hectares of various growths in total. The current generation decided in 2015 to see if it was possible to make natural wines there. -The idea is to reflect the grapes in the bottle, says Manuel, -and if you do a good job the grapes you can come away with very little intervention.
Perfect for wind turbines; here one with decoration by local artist Joana Vasconcelos (named ‘Gone with the Wind’, 2016)
And it’s clear that both rosé and white ancestral method sparkling wines show a tremendous potential, with their freshness caused by the altitude and the winds of the region. We tasted his wines, both rosé and white, still and sparkling, at the small family restaurant Tasca da Quinta restaurant in Régua.
For this column I chose the rosé pet nat, that is made with touriga nacional and tinta roriz, with an additional field blend of old vines. It comes with 4 grams residual sugar, that feels dry in this wine because of a high acidity.
Protótipo Pét Nat Rosé 2017(Protótipo, M. Valente)
Light cherry red, a dark colour for a rosé. Aroma dominated by red fruits (raspberry), with some biscuits, and also a darker, more herbal component. Some mousse, tastes dry, with a light structure and a super natural acidity.
Price: Medium
Food: Calls for food, everything from light meat via fish and shellfish to salads. We enjoyed it with Bacalhau à brás (=grilled; dried codfish, potatoes, olives and eggs).
I have just come back from the Simplesmente Vinho fair in Porto, where João Roseira is chief organizer. This year I chose to visit some wineries of the Douro valley after the fair, Roseira’s own Quinta do Infantado among them. While João has handed down the enology responsibilities to 6h generation, his cousin Álvaro, he is still in charge of viticulture.
João Roseira
Infantado has a long history; and celebrated their first 200 years in 2016. Yet they are in many ways in the avant-garde. They were the first producer to break the monopoly of the négociants in Vila Nova de Gaia, by starting to bottle in the Douro valley in 1979 and export directly from there in 1986.
They have 46 hectares in the Covas de Douro, 4 km from Pinhão. 12 of these are organically grown, the rest is sustainable viticulture. This ruby is sourced from three vineyards called Pousado, Barreiro and Serra Douro, that cover 6 hectares on schist soil at an altitude of 250-350 meters. It is made from grape varieties touriga franca, tinta roriz and touriga nacional, as well as an old field blend that makes up 5%. There are three vintages blended together here, 2016, ’17 and ’18.
Álvaro Roseira with an impressive range
At Infantado the ports ferment longer than usual, so at an earlier stage there is less residual sugar and more alcohol. Therefore less addition is needed, and the brandy is added gradually. Consecuently the ports tend to have a natural appearance, and both sugar and alcohol are nicely balanced with the fruit. This is also the case with their Reserva Ruby. It has around 50 grams of residual sugar, and carries the term “meio-seco” (medium dry) on the label. Also unlikely for a ruby, it was bottled unfiltered.
Reserva Ruby(Quinta do Infantado)
Deep red, violet edge. Smells of blackcurrant and blackberry with plums, with notes of eucalyptus and aromatic herbs and flowers. It’s fresh for a port, nicely balanced, showing both elegance and refinement.
Tiago Sampaio is the driving force behind the Folias de Baco project. The name is mainly associated with his winery. But there is also a wine bar with that name in the center of Porto. Tiago delivers the wine, in fact they only serve his wines. I went there during the Simplesmente Vinho wine fair, together with my friend and colleague wine writer Paul Op ten Berg, a former sommelier from Den Haag.
André, Mariana and Carlos
They serve delicious small dishes, mainly torricado, with toppings of choice. Torricado is a Portuguese form of bruschetta, toasted over charcoal, soaked in olive oil, with garlic and salt). They also have set menus, under the “Flavours of Douro” designation, and a vegetarian option too.
Paul takes a closer look at the back label
I will come back to my visit to the producer. Today I just want to bring your attention to an extraordinary wine that can stand as a prime example of the new wave of Douro wines that are coming now; low alcohol, fresh acidity, high energy.
It’s made mostly from the moscatel galego grape, a local version of the muscat à petit grains. It originates in the family’s high altitude schist soils in Alijó. The 2019 had just arrived in the bar when it was served us.
Uivo Moscatel Galego Branco 2019(Folias de Baco, Tiago Sampaio)
Yellow colour. Aromas of white flowers, peach and lemon-balm, but also with some minerality. It’s dry, with a lovely integrated natural acidity, and pure flavours all the way. This is a vibrant high-energy wine. Truly inspiring.
Price: Medium
Food: We had it with the Douro plate that included toast, olives, cheeses and charcuterie, but should go to a variety of salads, fish and shellfish and much more
Esporão has been among the leading wineries of Portugal since its foundation in the early 1970’s.
The vineyard that gives birth to the Colheita
Not only are they big. Well they are; their Alentejo property is vast, the sales are good, and they have several well-known brands in the market. So when in Portugal, if I’ve had a plain bacalhau at a modest restaurant, there is almost always an Esporão at hand, such as the Monte Velho.
But they are also leading the way with many sustainable projects, such as reducing the bottle weight, fighting to stop the dam at river Tua, Douro, where they have a second winery. But more than this, then have a holistic approach, and in every aspect they seriously take the responsibility they believe that they are given.
I keep coming back to this wine. Made from touriga nacional, aragonêz and cabernet sauvignon in equal parts, the grapes are destemmed, fermented in open lagares for 10 days, and kept in steel. Eco-friendly, eco-nomic.
Credit: Herd. Esporão
Esporão Tinto Colheita 2017(Herdade do Esporão)
Deep purple. Fruitdriven (mature dark berries), plums, aromatic herbs, some lickorice. Round, juicy, fruity with some acidity.
Fernando Paiva has been one of the pioneers of biodynamic farming in Portugal, with his stylish and inviting Vinho Verde wines. I have written about them several times, like here. Following this year’s Simplesmente… Vinho fair I got the chance to meet him at his Quinta da Palmirinha in Lixa, near Amarante, where he lives.
Fernando Paiva tidying up a little as he passes
From the 2017 vintage he uses the unlikely element of chestnut flowers. They grow just outside the door, and he adds them to the press, and they act as an anti-oxydant, so there is no use of added sulphites.
Lixa is in the sub-region of Sousa, where there is less rainfall than further out to the coast, but also moderate compared to the continental inland. So we could say it’s a zone in between. This place is excellent for a grape like azal, that is difficult to ripen, and that makes up half of this wine, together with arinto.
The chestnut grows just outside the winery door
Quinta da Palmirinha Branco 2017
Light straw coloured, tiny bubbles. Floral and fruity, with some citric notes. In the mouth it’s in a way mellow, but with a fine citric touch, dry, with a lovely minerality.
I have known André Pereira for many years, but for some reason his wines have never featured as a “wine of the week”. His wines are all well-made and of splendid value, and you can read about some of them in this post.
André Pereira
The farm Quinta do Montalto has belonged to his family for 5 generations. It comprises 50 hectares of vines, olives and other crops. It’s found in the municipality of Ourém, that is actually belonging to Leiria, but most of the wines are still classified as regional Lisboa.
Even if the 17 is already in the market I chose the 2015 vintage here, because this is the one I enjoyed last. And it’s not always necessary to drink the last edition. One is not better that the other; they are different. This one has lost its young blueberry character, but it’s nevertheless a superb, fruity wine that will last still a couple of years. The 2015 vintage of this wine was made from aragonêz and castelão in equal parts. The fermentation was natural, and it was made in steel. It’s certified organic and vegan.
Vinha da Malhada 2015(Quinta do Montalto)
Red cherry colour with some sign of evolution. Smells of red and dark berries, lightly spicy and some dried fruits start to show. Still fresh and luscious in the mouth, with an integrated acidity.
The Real Wine fair brings together small independent vine growers from all over, to celebrate their talent, and to illustrate the diversity in the world of artisan winemaking. This year the number of participants was around 160. The fair is organised by British importer and distributor Les Caves de Pyrène, with help from many good friends.
In addition there are guest speakers for the seminars, and it’s possible to buy delicious food from the many food stalls set up for the occation. The city is bustling with activity in the days leading up to and during the fair, with many of the producers participating. And there are pop-ups, take-overs or what you like to call it when a restaurant has guest cooks from other restaurants.
“So much wine, so little time…”, a favourite quote about the fair
I will try to cover some of this in three chapters. Here are some of my most interesting findings from the fair itself. In the next article I will talk about Simon J. Woolf’s seminar and his book. Last article will be from wine bar Terroirs, who received visitors from Norway.
Here are just a few of the many good wines I tasted. To prevent the Nile from crossing its banks, the rules of the game are: Pick 5 countries, 3 producers from each, then one special wine. Please search elsewhere on this blog, and you will find that most producers are already mentioned here.
UK
We start at home in the UK. Not far away in East Sussex and Kent we find British organic wine pioneer Will Davenport. From his Davenport Vineyards he offers well-made whites and sparklings. A new producer for me was Ancre Hill Estates, over in Wales, that showed sound winemaking and exciting results. Really expressive, and completely natural, were the wines of Tillingham, near Rye in East Sussex (not far from Hastings). The driving force is Ben Walgate, who also acts as cellar master and winemaker. All his ferments are wild, and he works with steel, oak and clay. He has some really interesting work with Georgian qvevri going on. But now…
PN Rosé 2018(Tillingham Wines): A pét nat of mainly ortega variety (68%), the rest müller thurgau, dornfelder, rondo and pinot noir. The grapes are sourced from a number of growers, so there is also a mixture of soils and elevations. It was fermented in ambient temperatures. No filtration, fining or sulphur additions. The colour is salmon pink, has some natural sediment; a fruity aroma including gooseberry, rhubarb, some yeasty notes; refreshing acidity, easy drinking.
Serena and Ben of Tillingham
Austria
From Austria there were many splendid wines to chose from, and I could have written a long piece of praise only about the three chosen ones. Sepp of Weingut Maria & Sepp Muster were there with delicate orange wines and much more. Claus Preisinger has become a favourite with his stylish grüners, other whites, and his ground-breaking blaufränkisch reds. The “prize” goes to Christian Tschida this time, for his many superb offerings from the hot Neusiedlersee area.
Laissez-Faire 2015(C. Tschida): This is a blend of pinot blanc and riesling (though I think it used to be a varietal riesling). Made in big barrels, no racking, no no…Christian is hinting to the laissez-faire philosophy, isn’t he? The wine is yellow with orange hints, slightly pétillant; very fruity, appley with hints of anise and fennel; super acidity reach the tongue, it’s rich, plays with oxidation. Very interesting, and very enjoyable drinking.
Christian Tschida (right) with Jimmy “just a friend”
Spain
Spain is one of my preferred countries, and very well represented on this blog. It was nice to see Pedro Olivares again, and taste his diverse portfolio of wines from sea level to 1700 meters in Murcia, Jaén and València. It’s always a pleasure to taste the cool wines of Pedro Rodríguez of Adegas Guimaro in Ribeira Sacra. Daniel Jiménez-Landi of Comando G has worked hard for the Gredos (or: Cebreros) region, since he crossed over from the family farm in Toledo. For many years now he brought to the limelight some of the most elegant, mineral and simply inspiring wines that the country has to present. I use this opportunity to express my deepest compassion for all that is lost in the recent terrible fires (vineyards, trees and land).
El Tamboril 2016(Comando G): This wine outside the program is sourced from a 0.2 hectares vineyard of garnacha blanca and garnacha gris on sandy quartz and granite at 1.230 metres. It’s a result of the latest harvest. Whole bunches are pressed into concrete eggs, before 10 months in old French oak. The wine is light yellow; aroma of wild flowers and herbs, mature apples, some ginger; full, concentrated and long, with super acidity. A great modern Spanish white.
Dani (left) with his friend and fellow Gredos vintner Alfredo
Portugal
Portugal has a similar position for me, and I taste some of the wines quite often. Pedro Marques’ expressive, natural Vale da Capucha wines from the north of the Lisboa region are always worth a re-taste. The same can be said about Vasco Croft’s Aphros range from the country’s northernmost region Minho. Herdade do Cebolal on the Alentejo coast, in the southern part of Setúbal, was new to me. Luis had brought several interesting wines from small plots with a variety of soils.
Imerso 2015 (sea version)(Herdade do Cebolal): The main focus of interest this time was a wine that had been aged 10-18 metres under water, in collaboration with a professional diver that knows the coast intimately. We also tasted it alongside an “on land-version”. And it must be said that the underwater wine was softer, more elegant. Maybe the maturation is faster. The colour was cherry red; aroma of plums, with a vegetal component; round in the mouth, quite polished.
The underwater version of Imerso alongside its “on-land” counterpart
Georgia
We now move out of “the old world” and into an even older wine world. Well probably. Anyway, Georgia has long traditions, and a long unbroken tradition of wines made in qvevri, big clay pots. When we also take into account the country’s orange wines it’s no wonder that Georgia has become such a wine pilgrimage destination lately. Iago Bitarishvili from the Kartli region offered some demanding wines. Some were aromatic, some with an intriguing mix of waxy texture and bitter taste. These wines I want to re-taste. Iberieli is a family producer (named Topuridze) located in Guria to the west and Kakheti to the east. Like the two other producers presented here they use the most familiar Georgian grapes like mtsvane, rkatsiteli and saperavi. They have also taken up the tradition of qvevri making. On to something more familiar: I have tasted Pheasant’s Tears’ wines at several occasions. But this was the first time I had met John Wurdeman, the man behind the label.
Tsolikauri-Vani 2018(Pheasant’s Tears): This time I tasted just a few wines. A really interesting wine was the Tsolikauri-Vani. Tsolikauri is a widespread variety in the west. It has a light skin, and John tells it gives fine acidity, good for semi-dry and semi-sweet wines. Vani is a place, and if my memory doesn’t fail me it’s here that the wine comes from. The winery is in Kakheti though. The wine is light in colour, with just a hint of orange; aroma of white flowers, apples, tea, some citrus; it’s quite waxy in the mouth, well-balanced and, needless to say, with a good acidity.
John Wurdeman, with Gela Patalishvili
In next chapter from the Real Wine fair we will follow the orange wine track and also move over to other continents.
The 7th edition of the Simplesmente… Vinho fair is over. This is an arrangement in Porto for individual, artisanal wine producers with a focus on natural and sustainable farming. The venue is Cais Novo, a renovated 18th-century palace only a few meters from the Douro river. This time 101 producers participated, mostly Portuguese, a few visitors from Spain, and some that had travelled longer, in fact all the way from Brazil. There was food, there was music, and among the specially invited were Os Goliardos (Silvia and Nadir), who are very active on the country’s wine scene, especially in Lisboa. The fair is organized by João Roseira, himself an important producer in the Douro region.
There were many producers that I knew from before, but also some revelations. I will be back with more. For a start, here are just a few of the many Portuguese highlights of the fair. I will try to limit myself to one wine per producer (although you will see that this is a difficult task).
António Marques da Cruz
António Marques da Cruz, is 5th generation farmer at Quinta da Serradinha in Leiria, in the DOC Encostas de Aire. The quinta encompasses 6 hectares of vineyard on clay-limestone in an Atlantic climate. António has a good hand on both sparkling, white, rosé and red wines, and he can make wines that last. His 1999 baga is a wine that really stands out. I started the fair with visiting his table (or: barrels, that is what they use here), and what could be better than to start this tour with his Serradinha Castelão 2017. Quite dark, young colour; very fruity with cherry, plums; mellow in the mouth, luscious and fabulous drinking, with a fresh, natural acidity.
João M. Barbosa
João M. Barbosa was formerly with the big Dom Teodosio company. Now he carries on his family’s long tradition. He is located near Rio Maior in Tejo, but he has also vineyards in Portalegre, Alentejo, around 6 hectares in total. He brought a nice sparkling and a red Escolha, and I also fell for the Ninfa Colheita Branco 2016, a barrel-fermented white from sauvignon blanc and fernão pires. But as my one wine here I chose Ninfa Vinhas Velhas 2016, a no-oak, “no-nothing”, natural wine, a field blend dominated by castelão (accompanied by trincadeira, camarate, alicante bouschet and others). The grapes are grown in calcareous clay soils, in a Mediterranean climate with Atlantic influence. The south-facing exposure enjoys a good sun exposure. The yields are low, that result in concentrated grapes and ageworthy wines. The wine shows a good cherry colour; an earthy nose with blackberry, cherry and some balsamic notes too; tasty, with ripe tannins, and a luscious freshness.
Pedro Marques (left), journalist Jamie Goode taking notes (at the opening dinner)
It’s always a pleasure to taste Pedro’s wines. He’s always down to earth, absolutely honest about his wines, and explains in detail the challenges of each wine. The farm is located in Turcifal, in the Torres Vedras municipality of the Lisboa region. It’s only 8 km from the sea, has a clay-limestone soil, Atlantic climate and a couple of his wines are aptly called Fossil.
Among the whites there was a fabulous version of the Fossil 2017 (both rich and tasty, and also lots of acidity), the unctuous arintos – and the Branco Especial, an interesting solera wine (a blend of 4 vintages, now aged in botti, big barrels from Barolo), with its amber colour, yellow fruit, flowers and apricot, and a structured palate. I really liked the Vale da Capucha Palhete 2017 from castelão, a light red wine; yeasty, flowery, with red berries, raspberry, a light CO2 pressure, and fruit all the way. I have written about the reds several times. They are of course good, and a wine like the red Fossil didn’t disappoint in the 2016 vintage either. But the Vale da Capucha Vinha Teimosa 2014 you haven’t read about here. It’s made from touriga nacional and tinta roriz. 2014 was a very cold vintage, with a lot of rain. The wine is dark, with blackcurrant, green pepper, beetroot, and some earthy notes, and a type of balsamic note that Pedro thinks can be caused by a fungus that in a way “belongs to the vintage”.
José Perdigão (right)
José Perdigão of the quinta that bears his name has a rosé that I have enjoyed for many years now. This time he brought a very nice strawberry/peach-coloured pét nat, that I can’t remember to have tasted. But almost as emblematic as his rosé is the white Encruzado, now in its 2017 edition: Light golden; pear and white peach aroma with citrus and elderberry; fresh, vibrant and quite structured in the mouth.
Cabeças do Reguengo was a discovery for me last year, with their lovely orange wine Luminoso (this time in the 2018 vintage), the no SO2 red Felisbela (also 2018), the structured rosé and the “normal” Alentejo blend Courelas da Torre, both in plain and reserva versions – all from the northern, cool end of the region. Let’s just have a look at the basic blend Courelas da Torre 2017 this time, from aragonêz, trincadeira and alicante bouschet: Dark cherry colour; mature berries, a touch of lickorice; full in the mouth, with tobacco, some spice. Very nice, and should be popular among all kinds of audiences. I didn’t taste their Cabeças range this time. (But you can read this piece from last year’s fair.)
Miguel Louro
Also in Alentejo Quinta do Mouro of Estremoz is a more established producers, one of the very best and respected of all. Delicious were the concentrated yet smooth, old barrel-fermented white Zagalos 2016 (from alvarinho 50%, arinto 30%, gouveio and verdelho), the light, somewhat fragile red Zaga Luz 2017 (a typical blend) and all the stylish reds that we have loved since many years. But let’s have a look at something called Erro, from “error”. In this unusual series there are three reds, called 1, 2 and 3, and this white Erro B 2015. It started out the usual way, but here the press broke, and the must was left with the skins. There is always some early picked arinto blended in, thus it’s marked by a tough acidity. The colour is yellow; the nose shows yellow fruits, peel; it’s complex and structured, with a superb acidity in the lingering farewell.
Vitor Claro
Vitor Claro is a former chef who started winemaking after a trip to Portalegre, Alentejo where he fell in love some vineyards, more than 80 years old. These are located at 650 meters of altitude and facing north.
The wines were indeed inspiring, such as the Destino 2018, a good acidity moscatel, and Claro 2018, a light malvasia. I ought to mention the Foxtrot Dominó 2017, made from the white moscato grapes that were not used for the white wine, and alicante bouschet, a “very” red grape (including coloured stems). The result is light red, quite mellow and with fine-grained tannins.
The one wine selection this time would be the Dominó Silvo Frio 2016, made from a field blend of classical Alentejo grapes: grand noir, trincadeira, tinta roriz, castelão, and also a white, arinto. The vineyards is mainly granite with some quartz. Fermentation is 50% whole bunches, and for the rest, whole grapes are macerated in inox for 60 days. The grapes are then pressed, and after fermentation the wines is aged in old Burgundian barrels and lightly filtered before bottling. The wine shows a clear red colour; fresh red fruits, some herbs and spice; good structure, and a fine acidity, but there are also nice fruit behind.
Tiago Sampaio
I tasted through the whole range from Folias de Baco, and Tiago Sampaio presented one wine more creative than the other. Among the best were the Uivo 2018 from alvarinho, with almost no colour at all, but lots of flavours dominated by pears, the Uivo Xpto Branco 2008-2018, a light orang, lemon peel scented, concentrated wine with 10 months of skin-contact and aged under flor – and a 100% botrytis, 5,5% alcohol, amber, honeyed, sweet wine called Uivo LH+. But our selected wine this time is Uivo Renegado 2018. This is a field blend from a centennial vineyard with around 40 different varieties. They were fermented together, mainly in cement. The wine is pinkish in colour; aromas of strawberries, seaweed maybe; smooth and luscious in the mouth, with a long, natural acidity. It’s easy-to-drink kind of wine, but the age of the plants secures a concentration back there too. The best of two worlds.
Vasco Croft of Aphros Wines brought most of his wines. I visited him after the fair (a report to come), so here I will stick to my original intention and talk about only one wine. (Read also about his Palhete in a post from last autumn.) But now: Phaunus Loureiro 2017 was fermented in talhas (clay pots) and aged for 7 months on lees. It’s light, slightly turbid; aromas of green-yellow apple, yeast, minerals; quite full, sappy, and with a good acidity from the variety.
We end our journey on Madeira, but not in the more normal way. Super producer of long-living madeiras Barbeito has made their first white table wine, called Verdelho 2017, with the designation DOP Madeirense. Winemaker Nuno Duarte explains that while verdelho is typically grown on the north side of the island, sercial (who makes up 4% of this wine) is cultivated in the south. The verdelho grapes were foot-trodden in lagares, and 30% aged in new French oak, the rest in steel.
The wine has a golden colour; aroma of apricot and pear, a bit waxy, but also with a nice citrus (lemon) zest; though it’s in a way mellow it’s very fresh with a good acidity too, and a saline finish. You can feel the tension of the Atlantic in this wine.
I had just read about the wine bar that Pedro Caiado opened six months ago, when he phoned me to ask about one of the producers that can be found in several posts of this blog. But it was only yesterday that I got a chance to visit his Portuguese place.
Let’s just conclude that he has managed to establish a fabulous place. It’s the kind of wine bar that I like, with a strong focus on natural wines, and small, well-elaborated bites to go with them. Quite unusual is that the food also is mostly organic, and from local producers.
Pedro is from the Portuguese surfer’s paradise of Peniche, where the winds always blow. But love, what else, brought him to Norway. When I was there he was accompanied by Lise, newly employed, who hails from northern Norway, but has been living abroad for many years, mostly London. Lise has specialized in fermenting, she uses it in some of the dishes, and is also planning to offer courses.
Lise and Pedro
The wine list obviously contains Portuguese producers, such as Conceito, Aphros, Mouraz and Pellada. But there are also some of the classics within the natural wine world, such as Cornelissen (Sicilia, Italy), Gut Oggau (Steiermark, Austria), and the French Matassa, Ganevat, Riffault and Robinot, all of whom (Portuguese and “foreign”) should be known to readers of this blog. And there are also up and coming names like the Spanish Ismael Gozalo, Alfredo Maestro and Bodegas Cueva, also well covered here, and Chapuis Frères (Bourgogne, France) and Stekar (Slovenia).
It was a late Friday lunch, and I was going to a jazz jam with dinner immediately after this, so I limited myself to three wines from the by-the-glass selection. To go with them Pedro suggested eggs in olive oil with fresh sour-dough bread, ricotta with basil, sunchokes and stingray.
I came a short while before they actually opened after the break, so I was offered a cup of coffee, a fresh African highland style selected by Norwegian barista Tim Wendelboe.
The first wine was from Moravia, Czech Republic (see a recent post). Gewürztraminer 2017(Krásná Hora), a 6 months skin-contact white. Not straigh white, that is, it has a red-ish hue. The aromas include gooseberry/raspberry, citrus and some rhubarb, and it has quite concentrated flavours and good acidity.
Next out was Nat Cool 2016(Niepoort). Niepoort is “everything” in Portuguese wine: The house is a traditional port wine producer, and as such a star within several categories such as colheita and garrafeira, but really not bad (read: average) in the other styles either. Dirk Niepoort has taken it further, and has now establish himself as a top in several Portuguese regions, and abroad too, like the neighbouring Ribeira Sacra of Spain, and in Austria, as his former wife is from there. This wine is from Bairrada, from the variety baga, made in cement. And it’s really is cool: Light cherry red, almost rosé, smells of strawberry and raspberry, and it has a light touch of tannin. It was served chilled too, which is a good idea.
A cool bairrada with ricotta, basil and roasted sunchokes
Vale da Capucha is the producer I talked about in the beginning, so it was only natural that I ended this session with a wine from my friend Pedro Marques, who runs that winery. Fossil Tinto 2015 is the current vintage of this touriga-dominated blend, that also exists in a white version. Fossil is an appropriate name, as the winery is located in the Torres Vedras area of the Lisboa region, only 8 km from the sea, and was in ancient times under water. Dark red, smells of dark and red berries, herbs, and it’s a little spicy too. In the mouth it shows a fine, natural, integrated tannin grip and ditto acidity.
Fossil red and stingray
While sitting in the inner side of the bar I could see Pedro serve all kinds of customers with true respect and patience. I have the greatest confidence that this tiny wine bar has a future place in a city with many good restaurants and bars already.
