Bad wineblogger, bad wine: Vinha do Monte 2004

For me the dilemma with bad reviews is not whether to publish them or not (it was Wannabe Wino who most recently tackled this issue). I say publish them, though sometimes it can be dicey business if you're not familiar enough with the product.

To me, the main issue with bad reviews is whether they come from notes that are thorough enough. Usually I like to assess a wine as it arcs over the course of dinner. Here's a case where I could barely take more than a sip or two. This is quite an unruly Portuguese regional red blend. I cringed going back to it. Even when left out open to the air. Maybe leaving a bad review out to aerate is an equally worthy idea.

For any other wine, I might hold back on the negativity. But I know this product well. And most importantly, I appreciate it and its unique style. I remember tasting it before on several occasions and especially liked the 2003 vintage. (The Casa de Santar was outstanding in 2003 too -- could the year be one of central Portugal's finest?) As for this 2004 version though?

The Vinha do Monte 2004 from Sogrape is far from fine: full of unrefined tannins and stewy, spicy fruit. It's a big mouthful yet without much structure -- a wine to avoid. What can I say? It's not like the winning 2003 vintage -- which I wrote about in such an odd way in a previous review, which was back during Portuguese Week 2006. (Unfortunately, I think Portuguese Week 2007 happened in my absence over the past seven days.)

I hope I am getting better at this wine tasting thing now a year has elapsed since I penned the notes on the 2003. It seems I wanted to say that the 2003 had barely perceptible tannins and that it instead had an acidic edge which came across like Ruby Red grapefruit. That's well and good but those tannins were perceptible or else I wouldn't have called it astringent. Nevertheless, I think the idea I was trying for was that the tannins were well-integrated with the fruit. Everything didn't end up tasting of pith.

With the 2004 that is the case exactly. A tannic monster run wild, giving Portugal its notorious reputation for harsh, unrefined reds.

I remember I got this wine with a promotional $1 off coupon hung around the bottle neck. Buyer beware! There's still lots of these on store shelves.

Gaia, Portugal. 14%.

Tasty Morsels

I'm not sure when I took these tasting notes as I've been going through a personal-IT crisis. Since I see the same year remains fully stocked in SAQ stores I suspect it wasn't much more than a month ago, but to my memory (and to my computer's nearly totally wiped-out memory), I'm just drawing a blank. No matter though. What's past is past and my what's here is likely here to stay.

Which brings me to the multiple choice quiz from yesterday. (Click that link unless you want to peek at the answers right now.) All the answers correctly explain what I've been up to. I've been dealing with each of these things (except A. winning the lottery -- I made that up). And all these things loom on the horizon and will continue to do just as long or even longer than the discounted Vinha do Monte will hang around the wine shop.

Here's a more detailed rundown:

B. I am starting a much more demanding job in two weeks, and that doesn't even include C. -- the fact that I have just joined Midnight Poutine (were you reading up?) to regularly post my Tasty Morsels as a weekly restaurant reviewer.

I did in fact D. set off fire alarms with each attempt to select "Publish Post" but this as well as E. -- that I pulled the guts out of my iBook; then formatted my hard drive -- are firmly in the past. The repairing, reinstalling, backing-up, and reformatting of my laptop is done. Now only hunting down software remains.

F. I had a massive freakout session when Safari suddenly stopped uploading my files to Blogger. This is true but I downloaded and switched to a free version of Firefox before long.

G. I panicked when "statistics for visitors from the last 16629 minutes" were not yet available on my site meter is totally true. My level of anal-ness with it has prompted me to create an additional site meter with functioning stats, but then it broke too so I created a third now-useless site meter. None of them work properly.

Finally, H. I drank two entire bottles of dep wine that I picked up from a gas station and then decided to take a long LONG look in the mirror is only partly true I suppose. I had some help from the designated driver for the red, and for the white, some of it is still left over for cooking.

Aragonês et al... Saúde!

Welcome to Alentejo, the part of the country tucked away along the southern border with Spain. The land is fertile -- paradoxically not the best conditions for winemaking but a good place to start acquainting oneself with the wines of the region. With a long hot and arid growing season, Alentejo offers wines that are inexpensive and often charming beyond their rustic charms.

Alentejo has another claim to fame in the winemaking world, one that is much more prestigious: the mostly flat countryside doubles as for a hotspot for harvesting cork. Unfortunately it is in this milieu that Alentejo has received the most acknowledgement. But now, with the invention of other wine stoppers, this niche seems to be as much on the wane as Portugal's upstart vintners are on the way up. Alentejo will fight for its long-time specialization, which is currently being revved up in a new promotional effort. (Eagle eyes at Vinosense have just pointed this out.)

For now, many cork trees continue to dot the landscape. And it's safe to say that locals will never be at a loss for a proper seal for their characteristic red wine: full and agreeable with emphasis on fruit and spice. Without ado, the wine!

Sogrape's Vinha do Monte 2003 is a fun, flavourful wine. It is not incredibly dry, and instead of tannins, a strong grapefruitiness provides plenty of acidity to create balance. It's not often that citrus flavour comes through in a red but I would say that when it does, it doesn't necessarily means the bottle is off. Vinha do Monte is a case in point, because the fruit-based acidity strikes a balance for this blend. It creates a kind of structure that absent tannins cannot.

Certainly, this wine is all about fruit. From the spicy plummy goodness on the nose, to the juicy, pungent and fleshy matter on the palate. Instantly evocative of spice and candied fruits, light to medium bodied and amicable with a variety of foods. Hints of chocolate wrapped in a noticeable herbal astringency are also noted. While this bottle is a blend, the main component is Aragonês, a grape variety that goes by the name Tinta Roriz or Tempranillo in other areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The grape is known for its spiciness. It is an immediately gratifying wine, ready to drink, which is partly why it is so much fun. You could also decant it for looks but this is a wine that does not need its rough edges softened through the process of oxidation.

Made primarily of the same Portuguese regional grape (though situated in a different, more northern region of Portugal) is a wine that definitely does require aeration. The Altano 2003 produced by the Symington Family Estates makes for quite a counterpoint. For here is the most serious wine you can buy for such a low pricepoint, and we're not just talking about from Portugal but from virtually anywhere.

Full-bodied and replete with matter, notes of tobacco, this wine is also chocolatey, much more so than the Monte. In fact there's a earthiness about the Douro that renders it to an entirely different register. It's simply jam-packed with dense and intense fruit. But you might not know it in the first hours of uncorking -- this wine is shy. Should you open and immediately serve this Douro, greenness and bitterness overshadows the structure, the power, and the generosity that lies within. You ought to decant this bottle for a least an hour to arrive at its heart.