Olly Smith’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2013
Olly Smith’s list of 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2013 has been released and is full of great value wines from Portugal.
The 50 Great Portuguese Wines is a Wines of Portugal initiative that happens every year in the UK and the US. For this year’s UK event, Olly Smith, a well known TV and wine personality, was selected to choose his list of 50 Great Portuguese Wines. Olly has decided to focus on finding the best value wines between £7 – £30.
Olly Smith was already the 9th expert to be selected for this initiative which has become an annual highlight for Portuguese wine and has helped raise awareness for the exciting diversity of what is being done in Portugal.
I’m a supporter of this initiative as I find that it works very well as a point of entry in the fantastic world of Portuguese wine for many wine lovers. Olly is a specially interesting selection for his ability to be consumer-focused and for his lively no-string-attached attitude towards wine.
Lots of good value options to choose from the 19 white wines, 27 red wines and 4 fortified wines. Here’s Olly Smith’s List of 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2013:
| White Wines | Region | ||
| 1. | Vales de Ambrães – Avesso 2012 | Vinho Verde | Where to buy |
| 2. | Casa da Senra 2012 | Vinho Verde | Where to buy |
| 3. | Soalheiro 2012 | Vinho Verde | Where to buy |
| 4. | Alvarinho Solar de Serrade 2012 | Vinho Verde | Where to buy |
| 5. | FP 2012 | Bairrada | Where to buy |
| 6. | Quinta da Raza Arinto 2012 | Vinho Verde | Where to buy |
| 7. | Montes Ermos Reserva 2011 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 8. | Beyra Quartz 2011 | Beira Interior | Where to buy |
| 9. | Redoma 2011 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 10. | Quinta de la Rosa 2011 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 11. | Pato Frio Antão Vaz 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 12. | Vinhas do Lasso 2010 | Lisboa | Where to buy |
| 13. | Dona Ermelinda 2011 | Península de Setubal | Where to buy |
| 14. | Valle Pradinhos 2011 | Tras-os-Montes | Where to buy |
| 15. | Muros de Melgaço 2011 | Vinho Verdes | Where to buy |
| 16. | Quinta de Saes Encruzado 2011 | Dão | Where to buy |
| 17. | Quinta dos Roques Encruzado 2011 | Dão | Where to buy |
| 18. | Esporão Reserva 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 19. | Arenae 2010 | Lisboa | Where to buy |
| Red Wines | |||
| 20. | Marquês de Borba 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 21. | Almeida Garrett 2010 | Beira Interior | Where to buy |
| 22. | Sexy 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 23. | Zéfyro 2009 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 24. | Altano Quinta do Ataíde Reserva 2009 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 25. | PAPE 2010 | Dão | Where to buy |
| 26. | Claudia’s 2009 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 27. | Manoella Douro 2010 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 28. | Quinta Nova – Colheita 2010 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 29. | F’OZ 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 30. | Palpite 2010 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 31. | Poeira 2010 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 32. | Vertente 2009 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 33. | Trincadeira Vinhas Velhas 2009 | Tejo | Where to buy |
| 34. | Tinto da Ânfora 2010 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 35. | Duas Pedras 2011 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 36. | Crasto Superior 2010 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 37. | Quinta de Foz de Arouce 2009 | Beiras | Where to buy |
| 38. | Quinta dos Quatro Ventos 2009 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 39. | Aliança Bairrada Reserva 2011 | Bairrada | Where to buy |
| 40. | Quinta dos Roques 2010 | Dão | Where to buy |
| 41. | Esporão Reserva 2010 | Alentejo | Where to buy |
| 42. | Cedro do Noval 2009 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 43. | Julia Kemper Touriga Nacional 2009 | Dão | Where to buy |
| 44. | CH by Chocapalha 2009 | Lisboa | Where to buy |
| 45. | Quinta de la Rosa Reserve 2010 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 46. | Quinta do Sagrado Reserva 2007 | Douro | Where to buy |
| Fortified (Port Madeira and Moscatel) | |||
| 47 | Verdelho 15 Years Old | Madeira | Where to buy |
| 48 | Moscatel de Favaios Colheita 1980 | Douro | Where to buy |
| 49 | Família Horacio Simões Bastardo 2009 | Península Setúbal | Where to buy |
| 50 | Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port | Douro | Where to buy |
More information about each wine and a list of places where to buy them (around the world) is available by clicking on each wine.
Finally, watch Olly selecting and explaining what he thinks about Portuguese Wine during his 50 Great Portuguese Wines tasting and selection:
Episode 2: Handmade Tortellini
I was recently in the Mosel wine region where, guided by a local winemaker, I discovered some of the exciting places shaping local food and wine culture. Die Graifen is one of those places. Part restaurant, part vintage furniture shop and part winery, this place has a special atmosphere to it that comes from their owners love for what they do.
After two visits and two delicious meals, Matthias Decker (the owner), invited me for an off-hours visit. On a Friday afternoon I joined him in the kitchen while he prepared some handmade tortellini for supper and explained the concept behind Die Graifen and their use of tasty international cuisine with local ingredients. I filmed Matthias making the tortellini and decided to make this the second episode of my food, wine and travel video series.
Restaurant: Die Graifen - graifen.de
Address: Wolfer Weg 11, Traben-Trarbach (Mosel), Germany.
Phone: (+49) 06541-811075
Episode 1: Discovering Hungary
Spent 5 days in Hungary discovering its multicultural food and wine culture. Travelled to Tokaj to taste deliciously sweet wines and fresh white wines. Stopped in Eger to learn about Bikavér and meet a group of fantastic wine makers. Finally wandered around Budapest and visited the glorious food market.
I’ve been wanting to do videos of my food and wine discovery trips for a while. This is my first attempt at it. This time I’ve decided to take my DSLR camera to Hungary and film as much as I could. When I came back I edited the footage and this is the final result. Let me know what you think!
The Delicious Umbria Food and Wine Competition
The first ever Umbria is for #winelovers event happened last week in Umbria in the green heart of Italy. With an exciting programme planned for the week this was a great opportunity to discover the region’s wines and their connection to the local food culture.
To make it even more interesting the #winelover group organized a Food & Wine Pairing Competition to better understand the richness of Umbria’s food and wine pairing. Here’s the competition menu with the different Italian dishes and the wines that better worked for each of them:
1. Frittatina Morbida al Tartufo della Valnerina
We started with a Frittatina Morbida al Tartufo della Valnerina, an egg-based dish, similar to an omelette or quiche, enriched with black truffles from the Valnerina valley in Umbria. A rich combination of flavors where the black truffle definitely stood out.
Best wines for this dish:
- FiorFiore 2010 Roccafiore (White) - 100% Grechetto
- Lamborghini (La Firorita) Trescone Umbria 2009 (Red) - Sangiovese, Merlot, Ciliegiolo
2. Risotto Allo Zafferano di Cascia e Guanciale Croccante
As a first course the Chef planned a Risotto with saffron and crisp Italian bacon. The crispy bacon added a different dimension to this simple dish and made it extra enjoyable. I could spend a whole day eating this crispy bacon.
Best wines for this dish:
- Colli Perugini Chiorri Rosato 2011 (Red) - Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon
- Adanti Arquata Montefalco Riserva 2008 (Red) - Sangiovese, Sagrantino, Barbera, Merlot, Cabernet
- Montefalco Rosso Scacciadiavoli 2009 (Red) - Sangiovese, Sagrantino, Merlot
3. Porchetta di Maialino Aromatica Bardata al Prosciutto
The main course was the highlight of the food and wine competition and one of the best foods I’ve had in Italy. A fabulous savoury, fatty and juicy boneless piglet roast covered with slices of bacon. Simply outstanding.
Best wines for this dish:
- Re del Sole LS08 Leonucci (Red) – Sagrantino
- Marchesi Antinori Cervaro della Sala Antinori 2011 (White) - Chardonnay, Grechetto
- La Palazzola Vin Santo Stefano Grilli 2005 (Sweet)
4. Crostata di Mele e Crema Cotta and Cheesecake
Finally dessert time. An Apple Custard Pie and a Ricotta, Chocolate, Raisins and Rhum Cake. A happy overdose of sugar created specifically to match the Umbrian Vin Santo (a style of italian sweet wine).
Best wine for the Crostata di Mele e Crema Cotta:
- Poggio Forno Cantina Neri 2011 - (Sweet) Grechetto, Sauvignon
Best wines for the Torta di Ricotta, Cioccolato, Uvetta e Rhum
- Sperello VinSanto Colli del Trasimeno Berioli 2011 (Sweet) - Trebbiano, Malvasia
- Grappa di Sagrantino Romanelli (Spirit)
The hosts
Fabien Lainé (a French Sommelier working in Norway) was in charge of coordinating the food and wine competition. With the help of Luciana Braz and other #winelovers they’ve pre-selected 70 wines (from a pool of around 200), organized the tasters in teams and collected the competition results. A great job, explained in more detail in Fabien’s blog.
Umbrian Chef, Matteo Barbarossa was in charge of creating four different dishes for the competition. With this mission, Matteo created a dynamic menu of local and delicious Umbrian food to match the region’s diverse array of wines.
Overall this a fantastic wine and food discovery experience in the heart of Italy. Umbria is definitely a fantastic food and wine destination and I can’t wait to go back and discover more.
The Best Portuguese Wines of 2012 by Revista dos Vinhos
In an event that is known as the Oscars of Wine in Portugal, Revista dos Vinhos (one of Portugal’s most read wine magazines) has announced their 2012 List of Best Portuguese Wines.
This is a solid list of great Portuguese wines including some out-of-this-world bottles (like the Barca Velha 2004). The 30 wines on the list got an Award of Excellence for having achieved the very best ratings in all of the wine tastings organized by the wine magazine during 2012.
As you’ll see from the indicative retail prices this is a list that includes some of the most expensive Portuguese wines on the market. In general there’s plenty of good wines at lower price points in the market (as you can see by most of my Wines of the Week or the Top 10 Portuguese Wines by Essência do Vinho) but this is mostly a list of high-end wines, even if some – for the quality – can still be considered good values at their price.
As always I’ve marked my favorite wines (and this time also the good values) on the list. I haven’t yet tasted all of them so I’ll do an update on the list as soon as I taste them.
Award of Excellence
Reds
- Barca Velha 2004 (Red, Douro, 300 €) - favorite
- Quinta do Vale Meão 2010 (Red, Douro, 50 €) - favorite
- Poeira 2010 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite - good value
- Quinta da Touriga-Chã 2009 (Red, Douro, 35 €) - favorite
- Ultreia 2008 (Red, Douro, 60 €)
- Quinta do Noval 2009 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite
- Quinta da Leda 2009 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite - good value
- Legado 2008 (Red, Douro)
- Quinta da Manoella Vinhas Velhas 2010 (Red, Douro, 60 €)
- Quinta do Vallado Reserva 2010 (Red, Douro, 20 €)
- Quinta da Pellada Dão 2008 (Red, Dão, 15 €) - favorite - good value
- Quinta dos Carvalhais Único 2009 (Red, Dão, 60 €) - favorite
- Principal Grande Reserva 2008 (Red, Barraida, 35 €)
- Kompassus Private Collection 2009 (Red, Barraida, 30 €)
- Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco 2009 (Red, Barraida, 150 €)
- CH by Chocapalha 2009 (Tinto, Lisboa, 25 €)
- Cinquenta A.S. 2009 (Red, Setúbal, 35 €)
- Esporão Private Selection Garrafeira 2009 (Red, Alentejo, 35 €) - favorite
- Torre do Esporão Garrafeira 2007 (Red, Alentejo, 100 €)
- Pêra-Manca 2008 (Red, Alentejo, 190 €)
- Grande Rocim 2009 (Red, Alentejo, 40 €)
Whites
- Anselmo Mendes Curtimenta Alvarinho 2011 (White, Vinho Verde, 20 €)
- Quinta das Bágeiras Pai Abel 2009 (White, Barraida, 17 €)
Port Wines
- Warre’s Vintage 2009 (Fortified, Douro, 50 €) - favorite
- Taylor’s Vintage 2009 (Fortified, Douro, 64 €) - favorite
- Graham’s 30 anos (Fortified, Douro, 70 €) - favorite - good value
- Graham’s Colheita 1969 (Fortified, Douro, 235 €) - favorite
Madeira & Others
- José Maria da Fonseca Moscatel Roxo 20 Anos (Fortified, Setúbal, 75 €)
- Blandy’s Madeira 20 anos Terrantez (Fortified, Madeira, 45 €)
- Bastardinho de Azeitão Vinho Licoroso 30 anos (Fortified, Azeitão, 60 €)
The magazine also selected the top wines by region including a list of Port Wines. You can see the full list of selected wines (in Portuguese) on the magazine’s website.
EWBC 2013 announced. Back to Rioja!
The dates and location of the 2013 Digital Wine Communications Conference have been announced. This year’s EWBC will repeat its first ever location in 2008 and head to Logroño in Rioja, Spain on 25-27 October 2013.
This year’s EWBC theme is Flavour, reflecting the need to embrace the diversity of the world of wine in all its shapes (regions, grape varieties, wines, communicators, etc). An exciting and very actual topic for those involved in wine business.
The EWBC is one of the best professional wine events of the year and a great opportunity to network with some of the most interesting people working in the wine industry. Attended by all flavours of wine professionals including wine bloggers and digital communicators from over 35 countries around the globe, the EWBC is an important annual meeting point to stay updated on current wine industry trends.
I’ve been fortunate to be one of the only 2 people (besides the organizers) who has participated in all 5 EWBCs so far (Oscar Quevedo is the other). Also because I’m a 2008 alumni I get a free ticket this year (well played guys!).
Going to its 6th edition the EWBC has visited many countries in the past:
- The first ever edition of the EWBC was held in Rioja in 2008 where 40 bloggers from around the world got together to discuss wine and social Media.
- In 2009 the conference visited Lisbon, Portugal. The Adegga team helped organize this edition which was a tremendous success with over 150 participants.
- In 2010 the conference headed to Vienna, Austria and was a great opportunity to discover it’s fantastic wine regions and some delicious Grüner Veltliner wines with the other 200 participants.
- In 2011 the conference was held in Franciacorta, Italy. A great opportunity to discover some great Italian sparkling wines and delicious Tuscan wines in a superb post trip. 220 people attended.
- Finally last year, the EWBC 2012 took place in Izmir, Turkey and was a fantastic opportunity for the 280 people to visit and discover one of the most dynamic and exciting countries in the world, including it’s old and new wine culture.
The 2013 conference is sponsored by the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Rioja and organized by Ryan Opaz, Gabriella Opaz and Robert McIntosh of social media company Vrazon.
Looking forward to another great event!
Unforgettable Food and Wine at Castello delle Regine
I’m in the beautiful region of Umbria in Italy preparing for the first Umbria for #winelovers event that will take place in the next few days in Terni. It’s a great opportunity to discover the local food and wine culture of one of the most exciting Italian wine regions.
Today I had the opportunity to visit Castello delle Regine, a local winery making good to excellent Umbrian wines. All proven by the very good (and consistent) level of quality at the 2 comprehensive 2001 to 2006 vertical tastings of the 100% Sangiovese and the 100% Merlot. My favorite vintages were the 2001, 2002 and 2004 for the Sangiovese and the 2001 and 2005 for the Merlot. All showing great potential for a good pairing with food.
To test this we headed to the winery’s own Restaurant Podernovo for lunch. A meal with lots of different dishes (see below) where all the meat which came from the winery’s cow farm. Simply delicious ingredients and fantastic wine lunch that has again confirmed how amazing Italy can be when it comes to fantastic food and wine experiences.
