Last Monday our local wine club tasted German pinot noirs. The tasting was hosted by Erlend Egeberg Aasland, a musician who tours quite a lot in Germany. For the tasting Erlend had selected personal favourites and other interesting wines.
Pinot noir has a long history in Germany under the name Spätburgunder. Today it is widely planted across the country in reaction to the effects of climate change. The tasting showed a generally high level. And for those seeking an alternative to Burgundy, the wines surely offered something, although they are not necessarily much cheaper. The aged wines were maturing well. I found no bad wines among the 12. It is just a question of style; for instance I found a few wines wines too heavily oaked or extracted. Here are four of the best:
Ahrweiler Forstberg 2018(Bertram-Baltes)
For me this was the big revelation of the tasting, and I must taste the other wines on the market. Julia Bertram is a huge fan of the spätburgunder grape and practises organic farming, spontaneous fermentation, minimal sulphur additions and no filtering. Together with her husband Benedikt Baltes she now owns 7 hectares in Dernau, Ahr. The Forstberg is a south/southwest-oriented vineyard on soils of greywacke and sandstone. The grapes were partly destemmed and fermented in large used oak.
This wine was amazingly expressive; garnet colour, a bit reductive at first, then giving way to raspberries, cranberries, herbs/cloves and a hint of smoke. In the mouth it’s highly energetic, with a delicate juiciness, integrated acidity and some structure. Long and fruity finish. Seductive and elegant.
Köningsbecher 2010(Weingut Heitlinger)
Heitlinger is one of our host’s personal favourite producers. They cultivate their vineyards organically with biodynamic practises. I have enjoyed their delicious economic pinot at several occasions. This one is a more serious grosses gewächs from the south face of the Kraichgau hills, on limestone-rich sedimentary soils.
Light red with shades of brown. Mature red berries, autumn leaves and some dried fruits. Full-bodied with good structure and concentration, some bitterness in the finish. It’s lovely at the moment, maybe at its peak. I would not cellar it.
Rheingau is a riesling bastion with a long tradition for long and winding wine names. Mineral fertilizers and herbicides are never used at J.B. Becker, and the company has carried organic certification since 2008. Hans-Josef Becker, who is currently in charge, believes in long maturations and says, ‘time is the best filter’.
Clear red with a somewhat developed rim. Mature red fruits (cherry), mushroom, a bit earthy. Full-bodied, structured with good acidity and concentrated fruit.
Weiler Spätburgunder 2019(Weing. Claus Schneider)
This wine originates from southfaced limestone vineyards in Weil, Baden. The grapes were handpicked and spontaneously fermented, and the wine aged for 18 months in big oak barrels.
Ruby red. Red fruits (raspberry, cherry), some smoke and earth. Full-bodied, fresh and juicy in the mouth, tasty, with some carbonics and a touch wood (pun intended). Due to the oak and the concentration of flavours this is for me a wine for medium term ageing.
First day in beautiful El Bierzo, now winterly cold. Descendientes de J. Palacios are kings of the hill of Corullón. We visited the steep Las Lamas vineyard, watched Moncerbal from a distance – and saw the differences in soil displayed in the magnificent cellar, made by the famous Rafael Moneo. Here I also include a video where you can watch Corullón village, then over to the El Ferro hill, where you can also spot the mythical La Faraona vineyard. Eventually we tasted the 2022 vintage. Thank you, Ricardo and Iris!
(This post will be updated with a lot more information later.)
Ricardo Pérez Palacios in front of Las Lamas (?)
A display of the soils of the Moncerbal and Las Lamas vineyards
Iris Fernández in the Las Lamas vineyard
La Faraona vineyard in the paraje El Ferro
Geographical details on the back labels
Rafael Moneo is the architect behind the stylish and practical bodega
We tasted 15 varietal trebbianos in our local wine club yesterday. Trebbiano is a name for several grapes, more or less in family with each other. Many wines had apple or pear and citrus aromas, accompanied by a certain herbal character. The tasting also showed that low yields are necessary. The wines from Abruzzo and Umbria were generally quite concentrated with high levels of acidity, while those from Lugana were mellow and easy drinking.
Here are three of the best.
Bianco Regio 2019(Cant. Margò)
Carlo Tabarrini farms biodynamically his vineyards in Sant’Enea, province of Perugia, Umbria. He works without any additions, like his parents and grandparents did. The soils are sand and limestone, and the age of the vines are close to 40 years. 8 days skin-contact, matured in steel and a small percentage barrique.
Straw coloured, slightly cloudy. Aroma of pears and oranges with some herbs. (Reductive at first, opens in the glass.) Slightly carbonic, tasty and quite concentrated, fresh acidity, and a slightly bitter and long finish.
This wine originates from Spoleto, in southern Umbria. The Mattioli family has cultivated these slopes since the 10th century, and they have made wine in the last three generations. The soil is clay with mixed content of iron and limestone, and fertilizing is compost from their own animals. Harvesting was done by hand. All wines are spontaneously fermented in cement without temperature control or additions of sulphur. This wine had two days of skin-maceration, and aged in steel. Unfined and unfiltered. Biodynamic.
Light golden colour. Aroma of yellow apples, table grapes, a touch of tropical fruits (apricot) and some herbs. Quite full in the mouth, luscious, a slight tannin, quite long with herbs in the finish.
Tïn 2018(Montesecondo)
This wine is from a vineyard in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Chianti Classico, and classified as IGT. The Messana family farms biodynamically, and the soil is chalky clay. The grapes were harvested by hand, spontaneously fermented with up to 4 weeks skin-maceration, and the wine aged in qvevri.
Light orange or amber colour. Opulent and grapey style, with a rich aroma of apricot, orange peel and smoke. Good body with just enough acidity, quite concentrated and long.
Extinto is a wine from the variety ‘pan y carne’, very rare and too special to forget.
I met Jorge Vega of Puerta del Viento in his home and bodega in the small settlement of Arborbuena outside Cacabelos in Bierzo. Here he has a small bodega that covers more or less everything in a single room. Well, I said Bierzo. Jorge is a maker of natural wines and doesn’t put much effort in thinking about the other producers or the regulations of the wine authorities. Rather he has his network of fellow artisans and his true customers. And he is an acknowledged expert, and many producers turn to him when in doubt.
Jorge is from Cacabelos, one of the main towns of Bierzo, where the consejo regulador is located. It was his mother-in-law who came from Arborbuena, and the reason that the winery is located exactly here. Jorge disposes of an estate of 15 hectares in the settlements of Canedo and Pieros, not far from the winery, and there is a total of 3,5 hectares of vineyards. Jorge never clarifies nor filters, and never adds sulphites. The fermentations are done in big old chestnut barrels, and his tinajas are from Juan Padilla in Villarrobledo (Castilla-La Mancha).
Outside the temperature was below zero, and the bodega was not much better. Still we tasted around ten samples of wines, all from the 2022 harvest. Among the wines that stood out was an appley and cidery godello with doña blanca, also with a hint of honey. In the mouth it showed high glycerine and also high acidity, thus showing a perfect balance. This wine comes under the name Bajo Velo, that means “under ‘flor'”. To name it doña blanca is however unjust to Jorge. He calls the variety valenciana, as this is the name the locals use. JaJa is a valenciana with 30 days of skin-contact. It’s has some orange peel character, complemented by flowers and a strong mineral component, and with some tannin in the mouth. YeYa is a clarete made from 7 varieties, including pan y carne. It was wonderfully fresh, with red berries (raspberry, strawberry) with flowers, fizzy on the tongue with a light structure and an “electric” acidity. It had a bit residual sugar, that contributes well to the balance. Puerta del Viento is a red mencía, with good colour, somewhat blueish, blackberry and violets perfume, a light structure and fresh acidity. And Puerta del Viento Viñas VIejas is an old vines version of the same, with darker fruit (blackcurrant), ink, with young tannins, but still very luscious and drinkable.
Then came the wine in the introduction. Extinto. The wordplay is perfect to denote this tinto, from a nearly extinct variety.
Pan y carne, or estaladiña, is one of the new varieties recognized by the DO Bierzo in their new regulations. The consejo regulador tells that it is less than 2 ha. in total of the grape. This includes the 600 plants that Jorge grafted in Canedo vineyard some years ago. Prior to this he had done a great job to verifiy genetically that it actually was the variety in question, described by the acknowledged agromomist Nicolás García de los Salmones more than a hundred years ago. (A note on the side: I have in fact tasted an estaladiña before. But as Jorge points out, it is very likely to be another grape, a synonyme of merenzao, and not pan y carne.)
In my room at the parador of Villafranca I had Jorge Vega’s wine, with artisan bread and piquillo peppers made by his neighbour. My sample bottle was without label.
Extinto 2021 (Puerta del Viento)
Dark, blackish with violet hints. Concentrated aroma, young, blackcurrant, violets, ink. In the mouth it is vivid, has some structure (tannins and acidity), though nothing aggressive, hint of coffee-sweets, and a long and fruity finish.
On thursday I was invited to lunch by my friend, natural wine maker Fabio Bartolomei, in his bodega. He is now making wines in the old cooperative of the town El Tiemblo, a building he shares with collegue Daniel Ramos.
Fabio to the right, with Sinta Moreso and Daniel Ramos
Daniel was there. So was natural wine maker Sinta Moreso from Tarragona. So was a group of young aspiring chefs from here and from San Sebastian, whom Fabio has been mentoring in their hobby winemaking projects. One of them, Fernando, will from next week join the crew of star restaurant Maaemo of Oslo, by the way. The lunch went on without a strict program, people came and left. But the lunch was eventually served, and it was delicious. There was some wine tasting, of Fabio’s wines -mostly originating from El Tiemblo (Sierra de Gredos), various projects of the participants, and someone even brought a magnum of Granada producer Barranco Oscuro’s wine called 1368 in the 2003 vintage. This was another proof that natural wines can age.
Before I left Fabio and I tasted a few more wines from his cellar. Fabio’s starting point is healthy grapes, free of chemicals. Experience and experimentation tells him how to proceed in making balanced wines that are true to their terroir and that suit Fabio’s taste.
A twenty years old natural wine from Barranco Oscuro of Granada
I am in Murcia for the holiday season. I have bought a wine cupboard and filled it with a collection of wines delivered from the national chain Vinissimus. This year I bought only one local wine (and it was the same as last year, see here). But from over in La Mancha, not far away in Manchuela, I have three wines from the same producer.
Juan Antonio Ponce works biodynamically in the vineyard, and in the winery he takes a natural approach, using low levels of sulfur dioxide. The bunches are chilled and fermented without de-stemming. Freshness is another priority when working with bobal, with harvests before most of the neighbours to avoid ripe or stewed sensations.
Clos Lojen is 100% bobal from vineyards on limestone-clay soil at 800 meters. It had a short maceration and aging for 3-4 months in used French oak barrels. Buena Pinta is not a bobal. Moravia agria, a native grape from Castilla-La Mancha, accounts for 90%, and the rest is garnacha. Moravia is noted for its acidity and blends well with garnacha. It’s aged for 7 months in used 600-liter French oak barrels and bottled without filtering or clarifying. Pie Franco was maybe the first wine I tried from Juan Antonio, and immediately put him on the throne as the King of Bobal. One can wonder how wines tasted before phylloxera. Without going into further discussion I can only say that there is a timeless air over this wine, fruit of old vines bobal planted in sandy soils where phylloxera did not enter. For me a doubtless classic.
Clos Lojén 2021: Cherry red. Fresh and fruit-driven aroma of cherry and blackberry, herbs and a peppery note. Juicy in the mouth with fine tannins wrapped in fruit, and with fresh acidity. Youthful and serious.
Buena Pinta 2021: Bright ruby red. Perfumed and complex aroma with cherries, plums, flowers, herbs, and balsamic hints. On the palate it is very fresh and vivid, with evident tannins, and a slightly bitter aftertaste. Fascinating, between fragility and strength.
Pie Franco 2021: This is a more powerful wine. Dark cherry red. Aromatic, with black fruits, scrubland and also balsamic notes (eucalyptus) Structured, with mature tannins and mineral notes. A timeless classic.
This is a followup to the Beaujolais article last Friday. Today I came across two wines made by Pierre Dupond. One of the twins showed freshness and elegance, while the other was more bold and ripe. We will come back to that, but first a look at the background.
The Dupond family has its roots in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley. It began with Antoine Dupond, who was originally from Beaujolais, but began commercializing his wines in Lyon and St. Etienne in the 1860s. His son Joanny expanded the family’s estates to the Rhône area. Hervé Dupond, fifth generation, is today leading the business. Hervé has expanded production, building partnerships with nearby winegrowers and neighboring families that the they have known for generations. Each year Hervé selects the best possible plots to make his wines. A traditional method of winemaking is practiced to ensure wines produced are reflective of the land. Ageing takes place in concrete vats that allow for ideal temperatures.
The gamay grapes were handpicked and underwent carbonic maceration with indigenous yeasts. These are natural wines, both with low sulphur (one with nothing added). One is with minimal filtration, one without. To sum up: Sans Soufre Ajouté is the most fresh/acidic of the twins, while Non Filtré is the most ripe and fullbodied wine. Both are highly recommended.
Beaujolais-Village Sans Soufre Ajouté 2022(Pierre Dupond)
Dark red, blue hint. Cherry, raspberry. Medium body, fine-grained tannins, fresh acidity.
Beaujolais Nouveau Non Filtré 2022(Pierre Dupond)
Dark red, blue hint, a touch more dense than the other wine. Blackberry, eucalyptus, chocolate/coffee earthy tones. Medium-bodied with ripe fruit, a bit structured (more than the other wine), rounded acidity.
Early one morning I take the train from Barcelona. I’m on my way to Sabadell. It is not a completely normal sightseeing, because I am going on a company visit. I get off at one stop before the train arrives at the terminus about half an hour from the busy metropolis. The contrast could hardly have been greater. I walk through a sleepy suburb with brick houses and old factory chimneys. I know I am near when I pass several garages, car rental companies, and by a large parking lot is no. 10 where I can not find the company name and entrance until I have asked the workers in a car repair shop. It’s like in a romantic fantasy about the old days: I had to ask the locals for where to go.
First impression in Sabadell is a glimpse of its industrial identity
It’s almost like I’m the first tourist here. And what does Sabadell have to brag about? They have a bank, I know. And I have been told that it has been one of Spain’s most important cities for the wool and textile industry. I have an agreement with Arnau Palomero, who has the title “commercial designer” in Pulltap’s. Arnau says that one of the most important industries in the city has been metallurgy and products associated with the automotive industry. A piece fell into place! Well, to say that Sabadell is known for making one of the world’s most popular corkscrews would be an exaggeration. But still: I’m here to find out a little more about Pulltap’s wine opener and what was the reason that it appeared exactly here.
It’s unbelievable that behind door number 10 is the headquarters of a producer for the world. Two of its neighbours are Scuderia Motors, Europcar Sabadell and a big parking spot.
A bust and a photograph of Ramón Brucart Puig are displayed in Palomero’s office. Brucart, born 14 October 1937, is the only important figure in Pulltap’s pamphlet on the company and its history. But there is not much information to be found about him, and a search on the internet gives far more hits on his namesake, the motocross rider. Arnau Palomero shows me the first corkscrew for which Brucart was granted a patent in 1991. This was mentioned in the special magazine The Daily Screw in 1991 and called Pocket Hand Corkscrew. A year earlier, he had received a European patent for a similar wine opener called Puigpull. His company was then called Puig Bonich, which he ran together with his wife Marta Bonich Linares.
Arnaud Romeral in the office, overlooking some of the city’s many car companies
Pulltap’s was founded in 1996, here in Sabadell, a city of just over 200,000 inhabitants in the province of Barcelona. The company came about after Ramón Brucart contacted the Alberich and Vilarrubí families. These had previously, in 1963, founded the metallurgical company TADE-Talleres Auxiliares de Estampaciones, which is headquartered in Sabadell. Pulltap’s then became part of the TADE company, until Pulltap’s grew as a company and became independent.
No tree can grow into the sky. But Brucart founded an empire
Pulltap’s in the tradition
There are a number of corkscrews on the market. We read that the first simple corkscrews may have been derived from the tools used to remove gunpowder sludge from weapons in the 17th century, including those with a metal spiral. Due to the large force required to pull a cork out of a bottle, many mechanical corkscrews have been made that use the so-called lever principle. Variants of this are models such asthe waiter’s friend, the Screwpull, the butterfly and the winged owl corkscrew (also of Spanish origin). Pulltap’s fit into this tradition.
The first corkscrew made by Ramón Brucart in 1996
When Pulltap’s wine opener has in a relatively short time become an established classic for both professionals in the wine industry and among private individuals, it is not without reason. It is made of quality materials and has a design that takes good care of aesthetics and ergonomics. With Pulltap’s, waiters all over the world know that they can pull out a cork while standing at the table, with one hand on the neck of the bottle and the other operating the corkscrew. The double joint makes the opening of a bottle an effortless process, where the force only acts in one direction. With many other wine openers, the cork is pulled against the neck of the bottle, with the risk of the cork breaking.
One of the most important partners has been, and still is, Miguel Torres, renowned bodeguero in Vilafranca del Penedès
The original model is today called Classic. The company found that it was necessary for most people to use both hands. A newer addition is a sliding knife blade that is pulled out with just one hand. This patented model is called Slider. Variants of this model are called Slider Boss and Samurai. Pulltap’s also produces corkscrew models for left-handers, with the spiral symmetrically opposite to the regular one.
Both the handle and the lever for the Classic and Slider models are made of stainless steel. The handle is lacquered and the lever nickel-plated, to achieve a protective effect and prevent rust. Slider Boss is made of aluminum with a stainless steel lever. The handle can be made in many different colors and finishes and can also have inlaid hardwood. Included are a teflon-coated spiral worm, a knife blade and a beer or soda bottle opener.
Corkscrews for the city and its football team
The entire production process takes place in the country, in the Barcelona area, with the exception of the spiral produced in France. It is a work that is mostly manual, and very slow, when printing logos and names on a form that is so complex. Arnau says that he himself has participated in this work this past week.
Imitations
Imitations have been a big problem for Pulltap’s, and they have two shelves where they display only some of all the imitations made in other countries, such as China. Arnau holds two seemingly identical wine openers next to each other. The devil is in the details, they say. Maybe it will not be more true than here. The copy from Argentina has a 30% smaller metal original, it has a finish of chrome instead of nickel – and it seems more flimsy.
Above the original in nickel, below an imitation with chrome, and 30% less metal
From the shelves of imitations
At most, Pulltap’s made 4 million wine openers annually. But due to the many imitations, they are now down to 1-2 million. They would rather use energy to further develop their own product than to try to fight the imitations. They have introduced the brand name Pulltap’s Genuine, that is engraved onto all openers. And since 2014, all genuine Pulltap’s products have come with a P engraved next to the brand name.
Pulltex is a distributor for Pulltap’s products in Europe and America. It is a large company headquartered in the Llobregat area, closer to Barcelona airport, which produces and distributes wine accessories. But they also make wine openers, and for the sake of confusion some come with the name Pulltap’s. They want to be associated with Pulltap’s, so they have taken a name that is close. Palomero nevertheless points out that the relationship with Pulltex is obviously good.
Ramón Brucart is still alive, and he is approaching 85 years of age. Arnau says that he has good contact with the company, which still has the character of a family business. But it’s time to go, as I have an appointment in Barcelona in the evening. So this time it is not time to contact the inventor himself. I imagine he could have had interesting stories to tell. But it will be next time.
On my way to Valladolid I stopped in the small Segovian settlement of Nieva. This is one of the southernmost villages within the Rueda area, and probably the one with highest altitude. Ismael Gozalo’s family has been involved in the small coop Viñedos de Nieva, and Ismael himself was one of the founders of Ossian. He sold his part there to concentrate on his own project, but kept the high-altitude pre-phylloxera verdejo vineyards. (Add to this the bodega of the Herrero family, also formerly with the coop, and you see that 4 notable wineries isn’t bad for a settlement of less than 300 people.)
Ismael was waiting outside the MicroBio bodega talking to one of the neighbours when I arrived. The bodega is located right beside the village church, and an old Dominican convent forms part of the bodega.
The wine Frágil is made in damajuanas
He has been called a “verdejo alchemist”, for his creative ways to deal with this grape. Everything has root in tradition, it has to be said. I was there when I tracked down the roots of the area’s tradition for sherry-like wines. Here you can read the one article among three, the one that deals with Ismael’s EvoluciÓn.
EvoluciÓn is stored longer under flor than the dorados of the other producers’ wines. Therefore, one might call it pálido rather than dorado. Surely it is that it is also made after inspiration from the historical wines from Rueda. Because of a longer time under flor it is lighter than the others in colour. It is aromatic, with hints of ripe apples and plum and a yeasty flor characteristic. It is a very fresh wine with good concentration, vital acidity and a sweetish fruit sensation. Dry in the mouth, and good length.
After the Simplesmente… Vinho fair I visited some producers in the Vinho Verde region, according to a schedule made by festival general João Roseira. On Tuesday following the fair I was in the northern subregion of Vinho Verde, called Monção e Melgaço. Constantino Ramos was one of the greatest revelations on the whole trip, making superb, stylish, natural white and red wines. Valados de Melgaço does not make fully organic wines, and some with cultured yeasts, but is also very much of interest.
Constantino Ramos
Constantino Ramos was born in Vouzela (Dão-Lafões). After his education in pharmaceutical sciences in Coimbra he went back to the countryside, and after a few harvests in nearby Dão and Douro and one at De Martino in Chile, he came to Melgaço in 2013 to work with Anselmo Mendes, one of the great personalities of the alvarinho world.
Old vineyard near Melgaço
In 2015 came the opportunity to work a small vineyard over 70 years old, in Vale do Mouro. He started to make Zafirah, a red wine made with minimal intervention. I put it in the category of great, low-extraction, saline wines with a clear Atlantic touch that you can find from lower Galicia (Rías Baixas and Ribeiro) to the northern coast of Portugal. Remember, the Rías Baixas subregion of Condado do Tea begins just over the nearest bridge, and the historically important Ribeiro is also very close. These regions share grape varieties, and soil and climate are also similar. So if you think of red Vinho Verde as dark and meaty, maybe somewhat spritzy (and made by the vinhão variety), you have by now understood that this one is different.
Vinha da Candosa, a centennial vineyard
-Old vines is not a common concept in Vinho Verde country, says Constantino. Nevertheless, currently he is in the process of recovering old vineyards, again in his words, -to give more credit to the reds from Monção and Melgaço, which were in the past very famous and compared to the wines from Burgundy and the Bordeaux clarets.
What about alvarinho, the emblematic and “inevitable” grape of the subregion? He continues: -Of course because I was working with Anselmo Mendes [Mr. Alvarinho] it was difficult to resist also producing an alvarinho wine. But it had to be something that could clearly show my vision of the variety in this specific terroir. So, using a small vineyard planted at about 250m high, I created Afluente. The name means tributary, metaphorically something that leads to, something that pushed me a step further.
Constantino has since long had his personal projects, his own wines and wineries for whom he consults, in addition to his “day job” at Anselmo Mendes. In January this year he took the chance to dedicate all his time to his personal projects. Of his own wines he makes 8.000 bottles annually, but he wants to increase a little.
Brancelho grapes in the same vineyard
We arrive in Riba do Mouro, a high altitude hamlet belonging to Monção. It has a cooler climate than the rest of the subregion. Here in Vale do Mouro was formerly a glacier, and therefore there is a great complexity of soils, granite, quartz, feldspar etc. The topsoil is only 40 cm down to the mother rock. Constantino says he prefer not to buy fields: -As I want to give something back to the people I prefer to work with the people. It’s something of an ethnographic project, driven by passion. -I have always been fond of reading. It helps you understand, gives you context.
Constantino has always worked organic. -Even the old viticulturists have a habit only to spray with copper, he says.
Afluente with padrón peppers and bacalhau in Tiro no Prato restaurant, Viana do Castelo
After a visit to the most important vineyards we appropriately enjoyed his wines in a local context, a meal of bacalhau and partridge in the Tiro no Prato restaurant near Viana do Castelo, where Constantino lives. The Afluente 2020, an alvarinho fermented and aged in used barrels, was perfect with the bacalhau with onion, garlic, black olives, flat potatoes and olive oil. The wine had a pale yellow colour; an aroma of apple, citrus, wet stone more mineral than perfumed, actually; glyceric in the mouth, energetic, and with a superb integrated acidity.
Zafirah we had with local partridge
Zafirah 2021 is a field-blend from five plots of more than 50 year old vines on granite, with varieties like brancelho, borraçal (caíño), espadeiro, vinhão and pedral. It was skin-macerated one day before alcoholic fermentation, then light filtering and a bit sulphur added. It clocks in at 10.5% alcohol. Red cherry colour; red and wild berries (raspberry, blackberry); fresh in the mouth, saline. Like the white wine it went well with the bacalhau, and was a perfect pairing to partridge with a rich rice.
Juca 2021 is a tribute to his wife’s grandfather, who has helped Constantino a lot. It originates in the centennial vineyard of vinhão, brancelho a.o. The skins are soaked in steel and it’s carefully pumped over. The alcohol is 10%. Dark blackish blue, slightly carbonic; dark fruits (blackberry, blueberry), some licorice; it’s juicy, not especially tannic, with a fruitiness all the way. We can maybe look upon it as a luxury version of the dark Vinho Verde style.
Valados de Melgaço
Artur Meleiro picked me up in the Sousa subregion, and as I still hadn’t received my luggage after arriving in Porto three days ago he kindly offered me a shopping trip to Braga city. Then we continued north, had lunch in a Melgaço roadside restaurant, before we finally arrived at Quinta de Golães. Then after some vineyard sightseeing we arrived at the winery by the bridge bordering Spain.
The fresh, lightly bubbly Q. de Golães 2019 at a restaurant O Adérito
Artur himself was born in Melgaço, one of the two villages that give name to the sub-region. He moved back from Lisboa in 2016 to concentrate fully on this project, after having also lived in Braga and Porto. The family vineyards count on 4 hectares (3,5 hectares alvarinho, the rest trajadura, loureiro and red varieties) Today the production is 30.000 bottles, while the ideal for the future he says is 50.000.
Valados at Quinta de Galães
Monção e Melgaço is warmer than the rest of the region during the day and colder in the night, he says. Because of the mountain ranges it’s leaning more to a continental climate. .
Ramadas are used for red varieties at Quinta de Galães
Valados de Melgaço is Artur’s project, associated with his cousin Pedro Kock. It encompasses Quinta de Golães, so today they offer two ranges, with those two names respectively.
For the white wines the grape is almost exclusively alvarinho. 60% is in fact purchased, in addition to the grapes from the family vineyards. But the bought-in grapes come from farmers who share the same philosophy, soils/altitude etc. Artur tells, with this traditional viticulture one has to use pesticides. A neutral cultivated yeast is also used (except for the reds).
Alvarinho
The aim is to produce elegant and balanced wines, that is faithful to the alvarinho variety and the Monção and Melgaço terroir. I can say that I liked the Golães red and white, as simple and fruity everyday wines. The Valados range was true to what we think of as terroir. I chose three of these wines here.
Espigueiro, a traditional small house for storage of grain
Valados de Melgaço Reserva 2019 had a few months on the lees with batonnage during a short while. Light yellow colour; expressive concentrate aroma, yellow apples, some anise; quite full and structured in the mouth, with a slightly bitter grapefruity aftertaste. Valados de Melgaço Grande Reserva 2016 is a truly serious wine, but though it was three years older and even more concentrated it was lighter in colour than the reserva. It aged on lees in inox during 46 months, with batonnage in the first 12. Fresh fruit, yellow apples, melon, some balsamic notes; supple concentration and a long finish and good citrussy acidity all the way. Should I pick one favourite it would still be the Valados de Melgaço Natura (Vinificação Tradicional) 2019, a wine made with less sulphur, and nothing added until the end of fermentation. It had 8 months ageing on lees in steel, with batonnage. Yellow colour; aroma of pear, flowers, fennel and a touch of clementine peel; juicy and grapey in the mouth, good, integrated acidity.
