Some months ago, Wine Spectator said that this supertuscan was only “Full-bodied, soft and round. In-your-face style. Slightly overdone this year. Best after 2005.”
I have to admit that this “overdone” and “in your face” are not really correct because the wine we tasted last friday was absolutely perfect and was worth more than 88 points!
But hear and see for yourself…even for a sommelier it’s not easy to hide when you really like a wine you are tasting!
Click here for the video tasting with english subtitles

This time we are at Catavino with the hard theme Portuguese Table Wines with Caveats!. For achieving bonus points I discovered here in Oldenburg, Germany, two wines I never heard about (only in my study books!) and never tasted like a Ribatejo and a Bairrada. I tasted the famous Quinta da Logoalva Da Cima Reserva 2001 made by Afrocheiro Preto, Castelao Frances, Cabernet and Syrah and the outstanding Marquis de from Bairrada made of the misterious Baga grape.
For the Lagoalva, I drunk the wine with a german goulash withouts spices and with bacon-knodel. The wine was a Reserva 2001 and was still fresh and acid so the fat of the knodel was perfectly balanced and the alcohol (13,5%) and the tannins present but not so hard, were ideal for the liquid from the goulash. The smell remembered me the one of a young brunello.

Notes of cherry, black pepper, vanbilla and cinnamon, leather. Then some other more typical warm wine notes like plum and strawberry jam.
The taste was not so hard as I thought with good and gentle tannins and a fruity finish n which was more present Afrocheiro or Periquita than the Cabernet or the Syrah. Definitely not bad, even for a 18 euro (I bought it in a shop in Germany).
Not counting for this WBW I managed to taste a “infamous” VinhoVerde, from Vidigal, made only of Alvarinho and I must admit that was really fresh (almost carbonated) and with a pleasant taste of apple and citrus. Here too, not bad at all for a 4,5 euro wine.
The other red one Portoguese wine I tasted was more interesting for it was the not so common Bairrada DO with the Marquis de Marialva Reserva 2001. . This time I found a stranger wine, lot less international than the other with an aroma ten times less for intensity. But the lack of aroma was well balanced with a wonderful and full taste of good wine with a strong body, well balanced tannins and a fruity, yet simple, finish. I found the Bairrada maybe a little bit less complex at the nose but a more honest wine in the palate. Just about the different you can taste between a good old school Chianti and an internatial Chianti made of Sangiovese and Merlot (that I HATE!).
This bairrada had smells of cherry, of blackcurrant, of sweet tobacco and a strange violet smell that reminded me of Tuscany. The aromas were maybe more typical of a warm climate than the Lagoalva but I found this wine interesting for its strange feeling and mixing of the smell with the tasting.
At the end of the day, the Lagoalvo was almost perfect (89) and smooth wine for everyone taste, but I must admit that I found more honest, interesting and, in my not so long experience, more “Portuguese” than the other.
but for explaing this I thing that CaTavino is more useful than me!

Another Supertuscan, this time made with Sangiovese Cabernet Merlot and a little bit of Petit Verdot. But this time we have a light and enjoying wine, not too concentrated and simple to drink and to make food pairings with. Click here for the wine video tasting subtitled in english!
Merlot and Cabernet unites for giving a good wine for evenings with aroma ranging from jelly bean merlot and black currant and red pepper for cabernet sauvignon. But the jelly bean here is not so strong to make flee the merlot haters all over the world…

This started as a joke from my wife’s parents…but it ended like a good and formativa tasting! It’s always difficult to find good and old German Riesling due to a too recent discovery of the fantastic aging possibilities of this grape variety. Here it is how it was! Shiny and deep gold color. On the nose lime and ceddar mixed with sagebrush and pine sap. On the palate, golden apples, ginger and minerality, apricot, raisins and a sweet note of honey.
Click here fot the overstream subtitled wine video tasting!
The fruit is still very present and gives the wine an unexpected vitality. A lot of acidity left makes a good balance with the low alcool (8%). A great body gives a sensation of complexity and fruitness to the wine but in the end it gives a good example of what it is “mineral” for a german Riesling. We tried to drink with fresh pasta and zucchini but we preferred it with the sweet zuccotto ice cream cake that we tasted after the pasta. Look out in Germany for wine like these, often they comes out with a vary affordable price since in German they prefer to drink younger (and not so fantastic well balanced) Rieslings!
And if you ask for a good start, try Mosel Saar Ruwer in the beginning and when you are ready, check out for the fantastic Rheingau Riesling, expecially the one with the Erstes Gewaechs label on the bottle…
Note for the not-so-german, “Erstes Gewachs” stands for “Grand Cru“.

Here we are with a “typical” Cab-based supertuscan, this time coming from an ancient DOC like Chianti Rufina. Here Frescobaldi produces the world famous Castello di Nipozzano Riserva and the cru Montesodi based mainly on Sangiovese. But the terroir here has proven to be good for another grape variety like the Cabernet Sauvignon, here as its best yet a little bit too young…(will be perfect in 2-3 years)
Click here for the Mormoreto video tasting subtitled in english!
Sempre un grande vino da Frescobaldi questo Mormoreto che piacerà a tutti gli amanti del Cabernet Made in Tuscany…per tutti gli altri sapete cosa aspettarvi…mirtillo, more, marmellata e una certa eleganza che ha bisogno di un paio di anni di affinamento in più. Comunque per essere un 2003, suona fresco e delicato, per niente facile con quel caldo!