QUINTA de SAES TOURIGA NACIONAL 2016 DÃO

Álvaro Castro - QUINTA de SAES - TOURIGA NACIONAL

So yes, everyone knows me as this ‘promoter / lover’ of Portuguese wines.

You see me, I have no vested interest with the Wines of Portugal. Yes I have been very fortunate to travel to the wine regions of Portugal, top to bottom, on several occasions. What I have seen and tasted, the people I have met and spent time with on these travels are deserved of a greater spot light at the ‘World of Wine Table’. It still amazes me when I have guests, who are totally ‘colonized’ by the brands of Chardonnay and Cabernet, wonder at the quality and character of these wine of Portugal. It’s like how many guests wonder at me doing what I do in the world of hospitality with wine. Your mind and palates have been ‘colonized’! To your detriment. You get me.

Here is a bottle of wine I recently enjoyed over a period of 24 hours. Yes…if a wine has the endurance and the structure, a well made wine will show all sides of itself over this time and more. It’s like spending a week with a new friend. So this Touriga Nacional from Álvaro Castro, one of the great protagonists for quality Portuguese wines stands up to the reputation of the maker. A master of his craft and terroir.

You can google him, I have yet to meet him but have tasted many of his wines over the years.

Sweet violet floral notes, with aroma of fresh picked sun-warmed dark berries and currant still dusty from the field. Caramel apple. Underlined by chocolate and the natural sweetness of dried dates. The palate comes around with all of the above but slightly more savoury cum a soft bitter herbal note of pine and sage. Tasting the wine too cold shows a bitter angle, left to warm up to the environment reveals a gentle balance and fruit that is all pleasing but teasing.

This wine is a tremendous example of Touriga Nacional. As a benchmark for balance in aroma and palate, this wine sets the bar very high.

Note: Dão is an appellation at elevation with a continental climate and variation in soils somewhat different from the rest of Portugal. Some say this is the birthplace of Touriga Nacional.

Chimère of the Langhe : Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo 2018

Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo 2018.

It is with fond memories that I revisit this wine from Marco Porello, his Nebbiolo from Roero, Piemonte. My first ever wine trip was to the country side of Piemonte, the event Nebbiolo Prima in the town of Alba. This example of Nebbiolo, not the popularly referenced wines of Barolo or Barbaresco (Twin B’s) is from the oft-overlooked though equally beautiful appellation of Roero to the north of the town of Alba. Wines, both white and red, from Roero could be defined as being slightly more fruit forward, decidedly more fine and less tannic than the twin ‘B’s’ to the south, mainly because of predominantly sandy soils and combinations therein, which in the end aid in producing a more fragrant and seemingly youthful wines. This Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo is not to be confused with his top tier appellation wines under the Roero DOC ( a DOC designation with more delimited/strict methods of production, much like Barolo and Barbaresco). You might consider this a ‘village’ wine in the Burgundy sense etc, etc.. In fact one might taste a Langhe Nebbiolo wine as a snap shot of the vintage before investing in the top tier wines. I like to enjoy Langhe Nebbiolo at any time with fine to simple cooking or meditating over a game of Scrabble during this Covid-19 Lockdown! So strange these times.

My feelings on this wine are as such…aromatically the wine presents pomegranate, to grapefruit and citrus peel with a distinct Red flavoured Life Saver spiced candy tone. Expanding on this red fruit aroma is like smelling a creamy frutto di bosco/wild berry medley. Underlying all of this is a gentle rose and mineral tone of earth and garden. The palate is immediate and full of pleasure - currant, ripe strawberry, pompelmo rosso. The tannin is gentle like fine chalk with moderate acidity holding up the fruit. This is quite an enjoyable and pleasant wine.

Go get some at Terroni Sud Forno e Produzione on Sackville St. close to the Distillery District.