As ever, this was an amazing event.
Having been blown away the first time I went, this year I had a strategy - stick to the higher end wines. Previously I'd just tried to taste everything, and failed. I just figured it wasn't really worth trying "cheaper" wines - if I see a bottle that's under 10€ in a shop, I'll just buy it and drink it, so why waste valuable taste cycles on such wines? And there are only some many taste cycles available in a day.
So - there my wife and I were at 2pm on Saturday, itching to get in and start.
Straight to Niepoort - last time by the time I got around to them it was impossible to get close for the melee of people. Besides, I'm so often told his wines are really good - so I took a fresh palette and an open mind and went, systematically, through his Douro offerings. All decent wines, better as you go up the price scale, but all, in my opinion, over-priced for what's in the bottle - just not enough flavour and interest for my taste.
Walking away from the stand I bumped into a supplier friend named Carlos - I've bought a lot of wine from him, and he introduced me to Carlos Campolargo - I'm a big big fan of his wines, and it was a delight to chat with him about them. I also tried his Diga? 2009 - I have a small stash of these and I wanted to know where they were at in terms of drinking - good to go, but no hurry at all. I was also lucky enough to be offered a ticket for Monday's "invitation only" session (Thank you, Carlos!), so thoughts of going home the next day flew out the window.
Over the 2 days - that's 13 hours of full-on concentrated tasting - I reckon to have tried around 250 wines, so I'm just going to cover, briefly, the highlights and lowlights.
- Niepoort - well, I've really already covered that - perhaps they just don't conform to my idea of a great wine - where was the "yummy"? 👎
- Terras d'Alter showed, finally, the much awaited 7 linhas 2013 - made from a very special 7 rows of Alicante Bouschet - due to be released in a few weeks, Pedro Paixão told me. This is, and will for years to come, be a fabulous wine - 👍- definite purchase.
- Quinta das Bágeiras - big fan of these wines - Baga at its best 👍.
- Cortes de Cima had the Incógnito 2012 - 👍. Their Petit Verdot 2011 was also rather fine.
- I tried the Kompassus Baga wines - I'm a fan of this caste, but whatever it is they do to make this mature in the "optimum time", just loses the essence of the grape for me. 👎
- Herdade de Esporão's 2014 Reserva is one to look out for - give it a few years and this will be nice. The Private Collection 2012 was very nice 👍.
- Caves Messias Bairrada Clássico Garrafeira 2010 is a fabulous wine - I've had a couple, and a couple more are waiting in the wings 👍.
- I didn't much like Fonseca's Hexagon 2008 last year, but the 2009 I tasted here was a very nice wine 👍.
- Monte do Pintor Escultor 2012 get a definite 👍.
- Quinta de Lemos had a fine range - the 2007 Jaen was particularly appealing - this producer keeps their reds for 5 years before release - would that more producers did the same. 👍
- I'm familiar with the Baga offering from Adega de Cantanhede, and they never disappoint 👍
- Quinta do Encontro 2011 - só Baga was absolutely gorgeous - young, vibrant, and with a long life ahead of it 👍
- Tasting the Curriculum Vitae 2014 has saved me a lot of money - it's been on my wish list, but no longer 👎
Of course, towards the end of each day, one drifted towards Port and Moscatel but, sadly, I never got the time to hit the Madeira stand - better strategy required next year! I'm not normally a fan of tawny or Colheita port, but things are starting to change - there were some great offerings here. My only experience with white port had been very very bad, but Blacket's Extra Dry white was a revelation 👍 - and only 14€ a bottle!
No - I didn't take a single picture!
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