Posts Tagged ‘Lisbon’
Wine of the Week! Meandro 2009
Every couple of weeks I head to the Artis Wine Bar in Lisbon for a night of popular Portuguese food and one or two good bottles of wine. These are now popular nights amongst my friends who have become fans of the delicious wines available on the bar’s extensive wine list and the great food pairings.
One of the bar’s best and most popular foods options is the house-recipe Bitoque, a portuguese-style fried steak and egg with homestyle cube fries and a special tasty sauce. This is a brilliant pairing for a bottle of Meandro 2009, a Douro red whose flavors and structure will completely marry the steak, egg and fries fatness.
Meandro is the very attractive first wine of the Quinta do Vale Meão and the younger brother of the one of the best wines from the Douro (also named Quinta do Vale Meão). Made by winemaker Francisco “Xito” Olazabal the Meandro is a wine with pronounced fruit aromas, meaty and chocolaty flavors, all well balanced by a good soft chewy structure and clean fresh finish. A really great pleasure to drink!
The Meandro 2009 is a delicious blend of Touriga Nacional (35%), Touriga Franca (30%), Tinta Roriz (25%), Tinta Barroca (5%) and Sousão (5%). Some of the same varieties also used in Port Wine. The Meandro is a wine that will age for a few years (I just had a Meandro 2000 a few weeks ago and it was still very good) but thankfully it is also very ready to be enjoyed right now.
Meandro is clearly one of my favorite wines and one the best values in Portuguese wine. For around 10 € this is a must buy Douro red.
The 2010 is already on the market and it is as delicious as the 2009. For those of you reading this from outside Portugal I have good news. You can find Meandro in many wine retailers around the world. Enjoy!
Note: Artis is wine bar with a great wine list. Unfortunately it allows people to smoke inside. Most of the times it’s not a problem and people avoid smoking inside. However on some Fridays and Saturdays it can become way too much smoke for a #winelover.
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Meandro 2009 Red | Douro | Touriga Nacional (35%), Touriga Franca (30%), Tinta Roriz (25%), Tinta Barroca (5%) and Sousão (5%) Where to buy |
Back to School at Cantina da Estrela
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Cantina da Estrela restaurant twice before, attending wine related events. This time I came here wanting to have lunch as a normal client and discovered that the experience is well worth the visit.
In one sentence
Go to this restaurant if you love good comfort food, if you’re interested in eating in a calm place that looks like an classic old school and if you don’t mind being served by restaurant students (that actually do a pretty good job!). Nice wine list. Price per person varies (based on on your opinion, really!) but should be between 20 to 25 euros per person (without wine).
The concept
One of the first interesting things about Cantina da Estrela is the fact that you can decide how much the food and the service are worth and (sorf of) pay the bill based on that. In reality you actually have a lower and a upper limit between which you can choose to pay based on your appreciation. Since all of the restaurant employees come from the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Lisboa (Lisbon’s School of Hospitality), this gives you (and them) a way to continuously evaluate their work. It’s a clever (and attention grabbing) idea that I think should be applied in other restaurants.
