Talented winemaker’s epic journey of discovery
Jan 22 2010 by Helen Savage, The Journal
Inevitably some would not be quite ripe while others were already well on the way to becoming raisins. This may not seem like a recipe for success, but if it’s managed carefully, it can help to add complexity in a wine. To achieve something like it in the carefully tended vineyards of New Zealand, winemakers will deliberately plan their harvest over a number of weeks, to ensure that some blocks are riper than others.
The appeal of Tinta Amarela – a native Portuguese grape more commonly known as Trincadeira – for Tiago is that it brings fresh acidity to a blend. “Even when a wine has 14 or 14.5% alcohol, the acidity provides a balance to the alcohol and the flavour is super.”
High alcohol is a huge headache for winegrowers in every hot wine region, a problem accentuated by climate change.
Tiago is convinced that his vines have a natural ability to gradually adapt to hotter growing seasons, but if sugar levels are too high the answer, he feels, is not right to experiment with physical methods of removing alcohol, some of which are all the rage in Australia, instead it’s better to select a less-efficient yeast. With the right choice yeasts he can produce one percentage of alcohol less than if he were using a standard, efficient strain.
The proof of Tiago’s winemaking skill is his superb red Abandonado 2007, made from 20 or 30 grape varieties of old vines growing on a high mountain site that everyone else in the family had written off (hence the name).
I’ve never tasted a better Portuguese red – it’s hugely complex, with a wonderful smell of smoky, wild black fruits, a fabulously silky texture and deliciously refreshing acidity. This gem is not overpriced even at £49.95 (www.topselection.co.uk) – only 3,000 bottles are made each year.
Port is still the best known product of the Douro Valley, but as the appearance of great new wines like Abandonado show, the region’s table wines seem to get better each year. This seems to be part of a national trend, as Tiago’s desert-island wines showed.
One hitch is that although there’s no lack of cheap and cheerful Portuguese wines on supermarket shelves, the better quality wines, which are often great value for money when you compare them with wines of a similar quality from other countries, are much harder to find.
So in the North East we’re lucky to have a new importer, specialising in fine Portuguese wine – Portovino – about which I’ll write more soon, but Richard Granger Fine Wines in Jesmond, Newcastle, also have an enterprising selection and I’d love to think that others will catch the Portuguese bug too.
WINE EXTRAS
IF you need to find a bargain bottle, you can’t go far wrong with Aldi’s “Prime” Rosso Bello.
It’s an absolutely no frills chunky red from southern Italy, but is blessed with plenty of soft, chunky fruit with a hint of leather and pepper – and it’s on special offer at just £2.99. Another cheapie red that impressed me (and a lot of friends) recently is Gran Tesoro 2008 from Campo de Borba in North East Spain. 100% Grenache, it has bags of ripe, jammy fruit and a surprisingly silky texture (£3.62 at Tesco).
If you are a little more flush and fancy a superbly aromatic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, I warmly recommend Villa Maria’s award-winning 2009 Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc (£9.99 from Tesco or Majestic). It has a lovely fresh smell of passion fruit, gooseberry and peach, followed by a tangy, fruity taste, with a hint of tartness and a dusting of spice.
WINE OF THE WEEK
Casa de Saima, Bairrada, 2004, £14.63, Richard Granger Fine Wine
Deliciously juicy, big, rich red with masses of ripe, plummy fruit and satisfyingly grippy tannins. A treat with slightly rare red meat.
