TN: Summer sojourn (Burgundy and Bairrada)

Spent the day at a friend’s apartment in Praia da Barra, near Aveiro - in the beautiful long peninsula of Costa Nova - and I tried to make up for his offering of marvelous fresh mussels, oysters and salmon from the local market (which he cooked) by bringing two 2017 white Burgundies from home. Lamy’s En Remilly was acidic in a wide, plush way, young but already perfectly approachable, with grapefruit and tangerine citrus in the forefront. Paul Pillot’s Chassagne-Montrachet Les Mazures quickly blew off a thick layer of struck match in order to reveal a tad more bite and tanginess than the Lamy within the same textbook profile - which was novelty for my friends, only used to domestic wines. Both were very discreetly oaked and delicious with the food.

After an afternoon spent drinking gin and tonics at the beach and visiting the beautiful lake at Pateira de Fermentelos, we stopped by my friend’s main residence and he let me pick something off his cellar, so I randomly went with a 1997 Conte de Cantanhede. We started dinner with a white 2017 Marquês de Marialva - 100% Arinto - where hot weathered ‘tropicalness’ was balanced by the varietal’s natural acidity, and then paired the Cantanhede with grilled sardines, a pairing which I am dubious of yet is traditionally Portuguese. The wine had the traditional Nebbiolo-ish look of aged Baga from the period, yet smelling the glass was akin to sticking your nose in a jar of heather honey. On the palate there was an almost exotic perception of ripe plums and crystallized currants, with a light texture and nervous closing acidity that made the wine a delight rather than a jammy bore. I kept thinking of how interesting the contrast was to the 1995 Marquês de Marialva I had from the exact same cooperative - another aged Baga which was completely different: earthy and austere, with mushrooms overshadowing any remainders of fruit. This would be an argument for terroir if these wines didn’t blend grapes from dozens of different growers across hundreds of hectares.

We ended the evening with Quinta Nova’s 2018 Vintage Port, far fresher and more approachable than the 2018 Vesúvio I had recently, though perhaps without quite the same structure. The youthful concentration felt indulgent rather than painful, and the sweetness was very nicely balanced by textbook traits of menthol and balsamic. Cheers all!
IMG_20200812_230959.jpg

Tomas (and others): this was the only post that I found discussing the 2018 Ports, and I have heard some positive things secondhand but am curious your thoughts on the vintage and if there are any standouts?

The critical consensus is that it is globally inferior to 2016 and 2017 (two fantastic vintages in a row), and the Portuguese publications reflect this. Maybe Andy Velebil can chime in, though.

1 Like

Great notes, Tomás,
Thanks. So the grape of 1997 Conte de Cantanhede was Baga? I did not realize it could express itself like that. Interesting. (Obviously, I don’t get to drink so many of these in any case.)

The wine was labeled Baga, but it’s possible there are small percentages of Touriga Nacional and Castelão (the latter being commonly used in Bairrada in the old days to add color to the wines, as Baga often failed to ripen above 9 or 10% ABV). Baga is a very versatile, ‘plastic’ grape and transcends the image of tannic austerity people have come to associate with it, but that is admittedly a more recent development.

Thanks Tomás for the clarification. Would it have been legal (is it still) to have blended them? Or would they have been snuck in, as syrah purportedly was in Bordeaux back in the day?

One of the subjects I want to explore further is the regulation of Portugal’s wine industry by the JNV, in the Estado Novo period, so once I do that I’ll be better equipped to answer that question (there’s a book I’m waiting to tackle). My belief, however, is that issues of grape varieties were not relevant - from a legal point of view, that is - until Portugal joined the EU, the JNV was replaced by the IVV and the country began to abide by appellation laws similar to those of other countries. What really mattered were yields and market supply (the two obviously going hand in hand), both being strictly regulated.

In the case of today I believe a blend can be labeled as a varietal wine as long as the variety it’s labeled as surpasses a certain percentage. For instance, Vercoop’s (a Vinho Verde cooperative) Vinhão has 5% of Alicante Bouschet in the blend. A similar thing happens in Alsace with Pinot Blanc varietal wines, for instance.

Many thanks, Tomás!