Newsletter, December 2016

Transcription

1 Newsletter, December 2016 Dear Friends, Time is running fast and December is soon gone. We hope everyone will have a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all a Happy New Year. The last six months in The Vintage Port Club disappeared as fast as a snap of the fingers. In this Christmas Newsletter you can read about tastings we had and our tour to Porto and the Douro Valley earlier this year. Finally, you can read a bit about upcoming tastings in The Club. Wine Seminar in September First tasting after summer vacation took place in September and was shaped as a lecture in wine tasting and judging. Thomas Ilkjær, wine writer and teacher at the Wine Academy in Denmark, told about the description of wine characteristics and how to judge wine due to the100-point scale. Thomas Ilkjær, Wine Tasting Seminar 2016

2 During the evening we used the knowledge to describe a very fine row of port: Maynards White Colheita 1989 (The Vintage Port Club Jubilee Port) Grahams 10 Years Old Tawny Maynards Colheita 1970 Pintas Vintage 2004 Dow s Quinta do Bomfim Vintage 2004 Barros Vintage 1994 Fonseca Vintage 1994 Burmester Vintage 1970 Grahams Vintage 1970 Crusted Port vs LBV Off course, the Club always enjoys tasting old Vintages or Colheitas. On the other hand, we are not afraid to try something new and different! Crusted Port may not be a new product, but it seems like there is a growing interest for this particular type of port, and more and more companies are luckily producing Crusted Port. In October we tasted Crusted Port from 6 different producers and compared them with the same brands LBV s. The six producers were Graham s, Fonseca, Dow s, Niepoort, Quevedo and Churchill s. We added a Taylor Terra Feita Vintage 2008 to celebrate the President of the Clubs birthday that day. We couldn t draw a very clear conclusion, but after the tasting we voted on the basis of the 100-point scale. Top 5 turned out to be: 1. Fonseca LBV ,9 2. Fonseca Crusted ,6

3 3. Graham s Crusted ,4 4. Quevedo LBV ,9 5. Dow s Crusted ,6 Crusted Port vs LBV; evenings top 3 Andresen - Port with Danish roots In November we focused on Andresen, a company with Danish roots. Andresen is well known for their white and red Colheitas, but we tasted LBV and Vintage as well. The following 12 wines were served in several flights: 10, 20 & 40 Years Old Whites LBV 2011 & Vintage 2011 Vintage 2005 & Vintage 2000 Colheita 1995 & Colheita 1991 Colheita 1982, 1980 & 40 years Old Tawny After the tasting we voted for the best wines and it was no surprise that Tawny and Colheita ended in top 5:

4 1. Colheita ,6 2. Colheita , Years Tawny 89,9 4. White 40 Years 89,7 5. Colheita ,2 Importer Marco Andreis telling about Andresen Winemakers Dinner with Christian Seely & Quinta do Noval During many years Quinta do Noval was owned by the van Zeller-family, but in 1993 it was sold to the French insurance company, AXA Millésime, who owns estates in Bordeaux and Burgundy as well as in Hungary. The Englishman Christian Seely was appointed as General Director of the Quinta, which under his supervision was renovated. This year Winemakers Dinner took place 1 st of December at the restaurant in the House of the North Atlantic in Odense. Our honourable guest was Christian Seely and Quinta do Noval. As always we started with an impressing tasting followed by WMD created by Chef Mie Pedersen.

5 Impressing line up of Noval Vintages, WMD 2016 We had the pleasure to taste these great ports: Da Silva 1931 Noval Black & LBV 2011 Noval Vintage 1955, 1963, 1982, 1994 & 2014 National 1999 & 2001 Colheita 1964, 1986 & 2000 Colheita 2003, Silval 2003, Vintage 2003 & National 2003 After the tasting we voted and the Top 8 came out as follows: 1. Nacional ,1 2. Colheita ,5 3. Nacional ,7 4. Vintage ,6 5. Vintage ,4 6. Vintage ,2 7. Colheita ,9 8. Colheita ,3

6 English gentleman Christian Seely, WMD 2016 After an exhausting tasting we had a delicious menu with still wines and Port from Quinta do Noval and a wine from Romaneira owned by Christian Seely. The menu and wines had these headlines: P & T with Noval Extra Dry White Creamy Clam soup with butter steamed and dried blue ling, nettle oil and fresh herps, Sino da Romaneira Branco Grilled tenderloin with braised osso buco, puree, fried carrots and parsnips, ox gravy, Cedro no Noval Tinto 2010 & Quinta do Noval Tinto Nordic cheese with mulled wine, pickled walnuts and homemade crispbread, Quinta do Noval Silval Vintage Ice cream of pancake puffs with caramel, rolled in almond dust and liquorice and cinnamon pickled cherries, Quinta do Noval 20 Years Old Tawny. Porto and Douro Valley tour 2016 Our official Club Tour to Portugal took place in September and was literally filled to the top (and a bit more) with Port experiences like visits,

7 dinner, events, and tastings. Three good handfuls of members participated in this memorable tour. First evening was a small dining event at restaurant BB Villa together with Teresa and Carlos Flores from Andresen. We learned that Douro wines goes well with a fantastic sushi. Per Stenaa, Teresa and Carlos Flores, 2016 Next morning we headed out for Regua by boat. The evening was dedicated to a revisiting of the restaurant DOC. It was not a big surprise that our party of port enthusiasts was the first to arrive - and the last to leave. During the following days, we had a fine line of interesting visits at old and new friends in the valley. We had a great day at Quinta do Sao Luiz together with Sonia Figueira.

8 Volunteer grape pickers from our club, Quinta do Sao Luiz, 2016 Later that day, we had a nice visit at Quinta do Mourao and had some very interesting hours together with Miguel Braga. Our evening visit with a cosy dinner in their port cellars took place at Quinta do Pacheca. Miguel Braga tells about his Port Knox, 2016 In Pinhão a visit at Quinta do Bonfim and their new visitor centre was on the menu. After a short hello to our old friend Gustavo Devesas, we had a nice tasting follow by lunch at Vintage House.

9 The afternoon was dedicated to a visit at Quinta do Noval, where Christian Seely was our guide and host. We closed the day with a marvellous dinner at the Quinta, where one of the many highlights was a Noval Colheita Tasting at Quinta do Noval, 2016 Before our trip back to Porto, there was still time for a very pleasant visit at Quinta de Seixo, where we had both a tasting and a nice dinner. In Porto, a row of visits were planned like beads on a string. Among others, we visited the restaurants The Blinis and Vinum, and the port houses Taylor s, Graham s, Ramos Pinto, Calem and Sandeman. No doubt that the Porto highlight on this tour was a visit and dinner at Factory House together with Dominic Symington and Gustavo Devesas. A historic place all had looked forward to see and hear more about. We had a wonderful dinner in pleasant company followed by coffee, sweets and a Warre Vintage 1970 in another but identical dining room. Fascinating.

10 2017 Our next tastings will be: Factory House event, 2016 The Douro Boys Tuesday the 7 th of February we ll taste Vintages from The Douro Boys. All five producers are known to make both excellent still wines and Port. Focus is on Vintage Port in different years from Niepoort, Quinta do Crasto, Quinta do Vallado, Quinta Vale d. Maria and Quinta Vale Meão, and besides that we hope to have a guest form The Douro Boys Gang. Our second great tasting event with The Douro Boys (and Girls) at Chanceleiros, 2009

11 Vintage 1997 Richard Mayson judged the 1997 Vintage as very good, well-structured wines, widely declared, and Henrik Oldenburg wrote that 31 houses declared Vintage that year. Now the Vintage is 20 Years Old, and we are looking forward to taste a fine selection of Vintage 1997 in March. Technical time tasting with QH 1997 among others, 2010 General Assembly and the house of Krohn General Assembly takes place in April. As always there will be a tasting afterwards, and this year we ll have a great tasting of Ports from Krohn. Facebook Our Facebook Group The Vintage Port Club is still growing. And we would really appreciate, if all our friends in Portugal and elsewhere in the world now would like to contribute with stories and news on port. Please feel free to join the group.

12 Gustavo Devesas applying for Danish citizenship, 2016 at Factory House As many of you already have noticed, our webpage is under a great development. We would especially like to highlight the galleries with pictures from tastings, tours and Winemakers dinners. Please, look for yourself. Kind regards, Merry Christmas & A Happy New Port Year From The Vintage Port Club