The Great Big Portuguese Tasting
There’s a lovely write up in this weeks Oxford Times http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/foodanddrink/wine/features/9025360.Smiles_back_after_palate_pummelled/ Thanks to everyone who came along last week-end and tasted Portuguese wines we hope you enjoyed them and saw just how good and diverse the wines are.
Bairrada
Bairrada, named after the Portuguese word for clay (“barro”), is situated in central Portugal. People have been growing grapes here since at least the 10th century when the region gained independence from the Moors. Today there are approximately 4700 registered growers and many sell their grapes to cooperatives. The smallholdings are very small: an average
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Dão
Hard to pronounce correctly (Lesley Phillips wouldn’t have too much trouble with a Ding Dão) and hard to understand it seems at first as if the idea of buying a wine from this region to the south better known regions of the Douro and Vinho Verde is for a few crackpots. It’s true the signs
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The Douro
I have only been to Portugal once. It was in 1987 and I was 15 years old. I remember it well as I met a lovely girl called Sarah with whom I had been getting on very well indeed. I was playing a game of tennis at our hotel with my brother and Sarah had
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Alentejo
Situated towards the south of Portugal in the area immediately north of the Algarve, Alentejo’s main contribution to the wine industry was for many years cork production. This was a land where cattle ranches were vast and wine production tiny. Over the last fifteen years or so all that has changed. Winemakers, such as Australian
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Portuguese Grapes
One of the greatest strengths of the Portuguese wine industry is also one of it’s great weaknesses. On one hand Portugal has a brilliant range of high quality wine grape varieties capable of making wines that not only offer quality and value but which also offer real interest. On the other hand in a country
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Esporao with David Baverstock
S H Jones will getting a small amount of David’s Esporao Reserva Tinto & Branco later this week.
Why Portugal?
Portugal is one of the most celebrated areas of production in the wine world, but when you think of Portuguese wines, it’s rarely for table wine. Everybody knows Port and to a lesser extent Madeira, but there is an ever-developing still wine scene deserving of your consideration. During the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar in the
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A year in the trade…
People often ask me: what are you doing in my garden? And only slightly more often: What’s the best way to learn about wine? Wow! Now there’s a question. At this point I’ve only been able to come up with one decent answer: Get a job in the trade. Now clearly I‘m being more than
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Clos L’Oratoire
Located on the north east slope in St Emilion, and like d’Aiguilhe owned by Comte Stephan von Neipperg where just ten hectares of vines produce this Grand Cru Classe’. 90% Merlot with the balance both Cabernet varieties which add power and structure to the blend. 2007 Clos l’Oratoire Light but still a little bit showy.
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