Wine & Spirits - April 2012 - (Page 112)

YEARS BEST PORTUGAL REDS Our blind panels tasted 246 new-release Portuguese red wines over the past 12 months. Our critic for Portugal, Joshua Greene, rated 34 as exceptional (90+) and 21 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com. A LE N T E J O 176103 | Ciconia $ $ | Herdade do Esporão 2007 Alentejano Alicante Bouschet This is an elegant take on alicante bouschet, a redﬂeshed grape that performs better in the right sites in Alentejo than in France where it originated. The wine’s rich texture layers tart cherry and pomegranate ﬂavors over rosemary and black olive notes. Stay with it and you might ﬁnd ﬂoral scents of jasmine and herbal hints of tarragon. For robust meats, like braised beef cheeks. Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ 180259 2010 Alentejano (Best Buy) A blend of touriga nacional, syrah and aragones, this is a simple wine with black and blueberry fruit. There’s enough tension in its gentle richness to take on braised pork trotters. Tri-Vin Imports, Mount Vernon, NY 181192 and clean. For a tuna burger. Tri-Vin Imports, Mount Vernon, NY DÃO 181133 | Caves São João $ | Carmim $ 2010 Alentejo Terras d’el Rei (Best Buy) A plush, strawberry-scented red, this smoky wine needs something fatty to catch its tannins. Serve it with pork belly and beans. TriVin Imports, Mount Vernon, NY | J. Portugal Ramos $ BAIRRADA 176634 2009 Alentejano Vila Santa Reserva Syrah and cabernet sauvignon lend some angles and austere tannins to this blend based on aragonez and touriga. The local varieties give it a purple–black color and dark, plummy ﬂavor. Intriguing spices last with the black, mineral tannins, ﬁnishing with freshness and without excess weight. For spicy braised pork. Winebow, NY 176104 | Quinta de Baixo 2008 Dão Porta dos Cavaleiros Reserva Touriga Nacional Bright and peppery, this gains ﬂoral character as it opens in the glass. The fruit is touriga-purple layered with rose, hints of barnyard, clove and orange zest. Fine grained tannins provide an open feel to the structure. This will gain from a year or two of age, to serve with roast game birds. HGC Imports, San Jose, CA/PortUSA, Palm Coast, FL 176623 $ | Casa de Santar $ | Herdade do Esporão $ 2007 Alentejano Aragones Aragones is the local name for tempranillo, which gives a spicy wine scented with black currants and black mushroom here in the plains of Reguengos de Monsaraz. It’s soft, supple and rich, with cedar and herbal notes that will match grilled baby lamb chops. Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ 176886 2005 Bairrada Grande Escolha Grown in the clay-limestone coastal plain of Cantanhede, this is a blend of baga (50 percent), touriga nacional (40) and syrah. It has cool black cherry flavors that last with a gentle sweetness, balancing sturdy baga tannins with the textural generosity of touriga. Impressively fresh, this is ready for leitão, the local roast suckling pig. The House of Burgundy, NY 178066 2007 Dão Reserva This historic manor house is surrounded by vineyards, the reserva selected from an estate covering 100 acres of vines. Santar produces a clean and straightforward Dão, one that’s structured to age. For now, it’s black cherry, licorice and green herb ﬂavors are tight and ﬁrmly stated, impressively long. Decant it for roast squab. Grape Moments, New Bedford, MA 181116 | Quinta das Bágeiras | Aliança $ $ | Vinha da Tapada $ 2008 Alentejano Coelheiros (Best Buy) A big, rich, smoky red with musky tannins that give it a pleasantly rustic feel, this is built for grilled fennel sausages or pulled pork. Luiz’s Grocery & Liquor, Fall River, MA 181131 | Fado $ 2004 Bairrada Garrafeira Tinto Mário Sérgio Alves Nuno grows powerful, longlived Bairrada on limestone and clay soils, this garrafeira from baga vines that are more than 75 years old. The 2004 is still too young to drink, needing hours of air to get past its aggressively reductive scent. As that bloody, tarry character relents, the fruit begins to take precedence, with a pure Morello cherry and tighter cranberry ﬂavor, and a lasting sense of limestone in the wine’s tense, vertical structure. For the cellar. Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ 181168 2008 Dão Particular (Best Buy) Proof that Portugal still makes some of the best inexpensive red wines of Europe, this is a classic Dão with cool, spicy jasmine and lavender scents ﬂowing into ample black raspberry fruit. The tight ﬁnish has the kind of invisible tannic structure that reads as granite briskness. It’s easy to drink a lot of this and well worth buying by the case. Tri-Vin Imports, Mount Vernon, NY DOURO 180609 | Niepoort $ 2009 Alentejano (Best Buy) A meat-andpotatoes wine with the heat of black fruit from the Alentejo, this tastes of blueberry and cranberry jam. It’s balanced, and a great buy at the price. Tri-Vin Imports, Mount Vernon, NY 181101 112 W I N E & S P I R I T S A P R I L 2 0 1 2 | Caves São João $ 2007 Bairrada Frei João (Best Buy) This has the cool scent of a coastal forest, hinting at eucalyptus. What it doesn’t have is the aggressive tannins of Bairradas of old. Its sweet fruit ﬂavor warms up the ﬁnish, ending soft 2009 Douro Charme Charme, not Charmes. It’s not Burgundy, it’s Douro, but you can love it for the same reasons. Last year, Dirk Niepoort released his 2008, from a cool vintage that allowed him to strip the Douro to its essence, a wine without weight, without heat, with an energy and hidden power that http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2012

Wine & Spirits - April 2012
Editor's Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered: Patrick Comiskey on pairing wine with molecular gastronomy
Extreme Values
Spirits: Lou Bustamante on cocktail bitters
Wine Superheros
Port without Serra
The Class of ’72
Brightliners in the Deep End
The Restoration of Austria’s Noble Red
New & Notable New York City Restaurants
23rd Annual Restaurant Poll
Tastings Overview
American Pinot Noir
Austrian Wines
White Burgundy
Loire Wines
Portugal Reds
Tuscan Wines
American Wines
Imported Wines
Lost Commandments Howard G. Goldberg rewrites Exodus

Wine & Spirits - April 2012