Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Portuguese Wine Tasting

My lovely friend Clarisse from Portugal always tries to bring me something Portuguese - normally wine or she cooks something really nice. So I thought it was time to try some lovely wines from this wonderful country. Finding wine wasn't as easy as I thought (Dunnes, Tesco and BB had none) but I got lucky with Barry from the Wine Buff in Washington Street and O'Donovan's in Oliver Plunket Street. Below is the list of wines we tried:

JP Azeitao, O'Donovan's Off License (€7.99 - or 2 for €15) Score 77/100
Light, with a bit of a spritz, pale colour

Quinta da Aveleda 2008 O'Donovan's Off License (€11.99) Score 80/100
Ever heard of green wine?? Doesn't look green at all but just like water in the bottle but a lovely wine, easy to drink and made for an al fresco summer evening.

Mateus, O'Donovan's Off License (€10.95) also in Tesco & Dunnes, Score 59/100
The most known exported Portuguese wine didn't seem to have many fans on the night

JP Azeitao (red), O'Donovan's Off License (€7.99 - or 2 for €15) Score 67/100
The white brother of this wine had a higher score. It was dry, had a short finish and nobody will write home about it.

Kopke 2006, Unknown where it came from, Score 87/100
This wine from the Douro region found its way into my wine selection and for some reason, I can't remember who gave me the bottle. Thought it was Clarisse but she denied it. Anyhow, we enjoyed this wine with the highest score of the night. This is a wine that will go well with game and mature cheese.

Pomares 2007, The Wine Buff (€14.99) Score 82/100
Barry had only one bottle left from this lovely wine but I hope he will be able to re-stock it soon. Lovely and smooth, this wine will go well with food as well as without...

I had to decide between Port, Madeira and a sweet wine I got from Clarisse (this time it really came from her), so I chose the sweet wine which was a big mistake on the night as it was suddenly cloudy and Clarisse wasn't sure if we should drink it at all. So to be on the safe side, we skipped this one. A pity really.

Clarisse also gave a wonderful presentation on PowerPoint which gave a great overview of the wine regions in Portugal as well as the history of wine making in Portugal.

Thank you Clarisse for the hard work you put into the presentation. We all enjoyed it surely.

I asked all attendees to bring a bottle of Bulgarian wine as I wanted to try this country for the next time but no one got lucky in sourcing any. Which means, I have to go back to the drawing board for the next wine tasting.

7 comments:

Paulo P. said...

Hey! Ur list sounds lovely :)
There is another pt wine in Supervalue I used to get, called Foral, I'am a Mediterranean food n wine lover n hope to organize something soon, will keep ye posted!

Elke said...

Hi Paulo,

Thanks for the tip. Clarisse mentioned that SuperValue seems to be a good place to go for Portuguese wine. Will try your tip. Keep me posted on your plans

Elke

Paulo P. said...

Hi Elke!

Will sure do, I love to cook, will be busy d next 2 wkends though after that will organize something!

Paulo.

Paulo P. said...

By the way... I bumped into your blog as I was looking for a restaurant called Isabels a friend of my recommend it to me. But I can't find it, do you know something about it?
Cheers!
P.

Elke said...

Sorry, never heard of this restaurant. When I googled it, a French restaurant in UK came up. Where is this restaurant suppose to be??

Paulo P. said...

It is supposed to be in Cork city, not sure exactly where though it's supposed to be really expensive as well. Is there any nice Tapas/wine bar in Cork City you would recommend?
Cheers!
P.

Elke said...

Never heard of that restaurant here in Cork. A good tapas bar is An Cruibin near the city hall. It's run by 2 Irish guys who were able to create a relaxed atmosphere. A bit more stylish would be El Vino at the Elysian. Boqueria used to be a lot better but don't take my word on it, give it a try, it's in Bridge Street.I will let you know if I come across Isabels