2005 Quinta de Cabriz Dão Colheita Seleccionada

In the good old days when our US currency still had decent purchasing power, French, German and even Italian wines were relatively affordable. However, with the dollar sinking to an abyss, good and inexpensive European wines are just hard to come by. Today, a decent bottle from these regions will cost you at least $15.

When I want a wine for casual drinking, I can't help but to go back at Portugal. Aside from producing a very wide variety of wines with distinctive personalities, Portugal also produces some of the world's finest, unique and highest value-added wines. As in the case of this 2005 Quinta de Cabriz Dão Colheita Seleccionada that only cost $8 with fairly decent availability nationwide.

Quinta de Cabriz belongs to a dynamic wine company, Dão Sul, that makes a wide range of products. Although not directly mentioned the Colheita Seleccionada, Simon Goode,wrote an excellent article describing Quinat de Cabriz's portfolio back in 2004.

Cabriz Colheita Seleccionada is a blend of Alfrocheiro, Tinta-Roriz, and Touriga-Nacional which spent 6 months in 2 year old French oak barrels. It is lightly filtered prior to bottling and carries ABV of 13%. The US importer is Aidil Wines & Liquors.

Tasting Notes:

Color: Clear Ruby.

Nose: Fresh cut pine wood, cherry and cinnamon. Quite aromatic.

Palate: High-toned cherry liqueur. Lively acidicty (although a bit high) and juicy fruit keeps it from being boring. Quite balanced. Notes of violet and some dark fruit flavors emerge as wine opens up. Tannins very light.

Body: Medium.

Finish: Short to medium. Mostly cherry and spice, notes of pine needle.

Comment:

This is a fun and lovely everyday wine that can support a wide range of cuisine. Better with food than by itself. It does has the structure to support 1-2 years of bottle aging. Extremely high QPR value.

WBW #43: Comfort Wines

Joel at Wine Life Today provided the assignment for Wine Blogging Wednesday #43:

“Choose a wine, any wine, that you love to unwind to and tell us about not only the wine but what makes the experience special and relaxing for you!”

In my mind, comfort food is typically inexpensive, uncomplicated, and easy to prepare. By the same token, a comfort wine should complement comfort food in the following ways: easy to find, comfortable to drink and light on your wallet.

In the current economic climate, inflation of wine price is down right scary!Comfort wines that are 'best bang for the buck' are not easy to come by (Well, two buck chuck does not count!). What makes the wine I am going to recommend so special is its high QPR value. Aside from being tasty, just by knowing the fact that every time when I open a bottle to share at any occassion is not going to break my bank is enough to make the drinking experience 'relaxing and special'.

The Wine: 2003 Royal Oporto Douro Porca de Murça Red

ABV: 13%, Price: $5, Importer: Admiral Wine Imports

Porca de Murça is produced by Real Companhia Velha in Portugal. The company has a very nice website in English highlighting their history, culture and products. The grapes of Porca de Murça are sourced from vineyards in the Douro region owned by Real Vinicola. The varieties in this wine is composed of Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz and Barroca. Real Companhia Velha also makes a white wine under the Porca de Murça label that sells for about the same price.

Tasting Notes:

Color: Slightly murky, medium garnet.

Nose: Fairly straight forward. Mostly candied cherry.

Palate: Albeit one dimensional, it is quite balanced. Acidity does poke out at times. Fairly concentrated flavor of ripe cherries supported by hints of oak. Light Tannins.

Body: Medium at best.

Finish: Short to medium. red fruit and slightly pepperish. As wine opens, there is also a note of black tea detected.

Comment:

Although Porca de Murça does fine as sipping wine, it performs much better with food. This wine just sings when paired with a dishes such as maple-garlic pork tenderloin.

Note: I have tasted the '03, '04 and the '05 vintages of this wine and the quality is consistent across all the vintages. The best part is that you can still find the 2005 vintage retails for $5, especially in New York City, at Astor and PJ Wine. How special and comforting is that?

WBW #38: Portuguese Table Wine with Caveats!

Lenn Thompson’s theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday 38 is Portuguese Table Wine. Our gracious host, Gabriella and Ryan at Catavino, has added a few restrictions to the game: no Port wines, no red wine from Douro, no Mateus and Lancers Rose, no Vinho Verde and no Madeira are allowed.

To play by the rules, two entry level Portuguese wines will be discussed for this WBW:
2003 Pedra do Urso from the Beira Interior region
2006 Monte das Ânforas from the Alentejano region

Wine 1: 2003 Pedra do Urso
Price paid: $3 (2006 sale at Astor but this is available in Portugal for €3)

The Beiras region is located in north-central Portugal around the highest mountain ranges of the country, Serra da Estrela. Pedra do Urso (literally means the rock of the bear) is also a popular rock climbing site near the town of Covilhã with boulders scattered all over a high plateau at over 2500 feet.

Adega Cooperativa da Covilhã is the coop that produces Pedra do Urso. Initially, sale of bulk wines is the company’s main business since its inception in 1954. Since the 70’s, it has moved into producing and bottling their own wines. Today, the coop has almost 1200 members with around 1500 hectares of vines, producing around 4 million bottles per year.

Pedra do Urso is a red blend using grapes such as Marufo, Periquita and Touriga Nacional among others. It is not filtered and bottled 12 months after harvest. ABV is 12.5%

Tasting notes:

Color: Light ruby.

Nose: Port like aroma upon opening. After 30 minutes, aroma of red fruit pops out with a metallic (iron) undertone. Hints of smoke with continuous presence of bret (in a good way).

Palate: Sour cherry and salty olive flavor, hints of leather supported by bright acidity and light tannins.

Body: Light but smooth.

Finish: Short with primary red cherry notes.

Wine 2: 2006 Monte das Ânforas Tinto
Price paid: $6 (at Astor)

Vinho Regional Alentejano is located in the south east of Portugal, near the border of Spain. It is often referred to as the ‘bread basket’ of Portugal. Fertile lands are reserved for wheat growing while poorer soil is used for olive tree, oak and vineyards. In contrast to the hilly Beiras with cool climates, Alentejano is mostly flat plains where the climate is much warmer.

Monte das Ânforas is an entry-level wine produced at Herdade das Ânforas, one of the four wineries owned by Bacalhôa Vinhos de Portugal S.A. According to notes from the producer:

“The vineyards are located in three regions that are very well suited to Alentejano wine production: Portalegre, Borba and Moura. … the grapes are picked and quickly transported in small trucks to our “Monte das Ânforas” cellar in Arraiolos, where each grape variety, from each vine, undergoes separate vinification in small tanks (10 T). Part of the wine is then aged in Portuguese oak casks before it is bottled.”

2006 Monte das Ânforas Tinto is a blend of 40% Aragonez, 30% Trincadeira, 10% Alfrocheiro.
ABV is 13.5%.

Tasting notes:

Color: Dark ruby.
Nose: Cherry aroma in kool-aid style with a spearmint undertone, slightly alcoholic nose.
Palate: Soft and supple, fruit forward with flavors of high-toned cherry and raspberry jam, hints of rose petal. No noticeable tannins and very low acidity.
Body: Light but round.
Finish: Short and peppery with slightly bitter aftertaste. Fruit flavor is mostly cherry.

[Note] We finish this wine in 2 days. On the 2nd day, the flavor profile of Ânforas has actually changed to resemble a light Beaujolais with more intense cherry flavor and pronounced spiciness.

Comments:
Interestingly, the website of Bacalhôa offers food pairing recommendation on most of their wines. For Monte das Ânforas Tinto, they suggest Grilled Octopus with potatoes. However, there is no food pairing suggestion for Pedra do Urso on the producer's website.

Pedra do Urso is much more traditional in style when compared to the Monte das Ânforas which has ‘in your face’ style fruit. Although both wines are drinking well now, Pedra do Urso can be cellared for 1-2 more years without seeing any significant decline. On the other hand, Monte das Ânforas has relatively low cellaring potential based on its lack of acidity.

In spite of their relatively monolithic flavor profiles and lack of character, there are far worse plonks from around the world at this price point. Are these 2 wines good? Not really! Are these 2 wines a true representaives of what Portuguese wine is about? Absolutely NOT! However, considering the price paid, both Pedra do Urso and Monte das Ânforas do provide good QPR values and fit the bill as simple 'Portuguese table wines'.

These wines DO complement a variety of food dishes of rich flavors due to their relatively low alcohol content. As an experiment, we took them to dinner with friends in a Chinese restaurant and ordered food such as chicken in scallion ginger sauce, sweet and sour pork chop, pan fried T-bone steak, stir fried vegetable with dried squid, casserole of eggplant cooked with salted fish and chicken. Both wine showed well in pairing with the above dishes.

2002 Cardeal Dão Reserva

Caves Dom Teodosio S.A., a big wine bottling and producing company in Portugal, produces Cardeal Dao Reserva. This wine is made from 100% Touriga-Nacional from the Dão region. It is fermented in stainless steel vat. Bottling and subsequent bottle aging takes place in the company's Rio Maior facilities. This wine is released only after aging in the cask and bottle for a couple of years.
ABV: 13%, Price paid: $10

Tasting notes:

Color: Medium ruby.

Nose: Dark fruit (plum) initially. With air, faint floral aroma and notes of caramel appears.

Palate: Not very complex. Consistent delivery of luscious dried plum, hints of dried herb and wood. The acidity is lively with a slight touch of vegetation on the mid-palate together with heat at the back of the throat. Tannins is very integrated.

Body: Medium at best but very soft and smooth. Not much structure.

Finish: Medium with persistent fruit. Hints of earthiness.

Comment:
Cardeal Reserva is a versatile every day wine. Given its characteristics of lively acidity, abudence of fruit and integrated tannis, it should compliment a wide variety of dishes.
This wine is consumed over a 3 day's period. The best showing is on day 2 when every element comes together nicely.
Also, it would be interesting to keep a couple of bottles around to see how it develops in the next 2-3 years.