Wine Wednesday

Today I faced a predicament –  I had no red wine at home! And today, Wine Wednesday, of all days.  Epic failure is an understatement but Mr. Dionysus aka Bacchus was looking out for me as he often does, and a bottle of Montaria Reserva 2013 showed up in my kitchen. It was a near-miracle 😉

I first found Montaria on the Naked Wines site a few years back. It is from Alentejo naturally, and made with Syrah, Trincadeira and Aragonez grapes. It is a smooth, medium-bodied wine with hints of wild berries and dark chocolate and very drinkable.  It will set you back less than the average glass of tinto costs you at your local. Unless you are in Portugal where it will cost you half of that… All in all a real bargain.

Pairs well with your after work tapas rendez-vous, your Sunday roast, your weekly curry night, your takeaway pizza, your cheese feast or you can just enjoy it on its own on a Wednesday Wine night.

Presidential elections & wine selections

Life is about choices – you choose well and good things come your way, you choose badly and…well you move on and choose something else. Eventually.

Today I chose. In the morning I chose to elect a presidential candidate to head up our country for the next couple of years.  In the evening I chose a particular red wine.

The process is similar – you have a list, you make your selection and you wait for the results. You’ll rejoice if you made the right choice,  you’ll be disappointed if you haven’t. Where it differs is that with wine you choose a bottle, open it and if it disappoints,  you can just open another one. In politics, you chose your candidate, wait for him to be elected and then for him to deliver; and if he disappoints you’ll have to stick with him for the next few years. There is no going to the shop and getting a different one on the spot.

My list this morning had ten candidates and I hope my choice will come through. My list this evening had two candidates:  Ossa 2014 (Trincadeira, Castelao and Aragonez grapes) by Roquevale and Folha da Vinha Reserva  2014 (Aragonez and Syrah) by Terras d’Alter.

Ossa Tinto 2014

Folha da Vinha Reserva 2013

I voted for the Ossa. Its label shows a rare plant that grows in Serra d’Ossa, a hill in the outskirts of Redondo in upper Alentejo, where I spent a night last summer in a convent-turned-hotel.  A lovely place. Sadly the same cannot be said of the wine. Just…too standard. It lacked personality and taste.

I swiftly moved on to my second candidate and cracked open the Folha da Vinha. A slightly better choice and one I could toast with. You see, this wasn’t my first time electing wine but it was my first time voting in Portuguese elections. Had to drink to that!

 

Notebooks for grape notes

Went shopping for notebooks. Shop had ran out. So I bought wine.

Just an average Tuesday…

Got up, shower, got dressed, black mean Nespresso machine. Quick meeting near the beach turns into a two hour vis-a-vis. Ran home for business call (couldn’t steal neighbour’s bike as had flat tyre …).  Place another call to order my lunch at nearby HS Pasta & Pizza Restaurant.

Take stuff to my local warehouse, otherwise know as my mum’s loft. Driver is not a delivery firm but sister, whose car I also use to transport my recycling to the recycling bin somewhere in the village.

Finish lunch in my sister’s garden with my little nephew and the family dog, a monster of an English Boxer who sits in front of me salivating and dribbling until I gave him a bit of my prawn and cheese pizza rolls. It sounds disgusting  but he is a sweet dog. He can also kill you in two seconds but that’s another story.

After lunch espresso is at my cousin’s café near the main fish and veg market.  The café is empty bar her partner who was sitting at one of the tables building a miniature fishing boat…obviously.

Supermarket run means I can get some tinto.

Home. Wine al fresco. Start work at 4 pm. Finish work at 9 pm. Wine indoors. Dinner is quick cook spaghetti with a drizzle of olive oil, olives and Parmiggiano served with a glass of Marques de Borba 2014, a lovely blend of Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Trincadeira and Touriga Nacional grapes.

Day is over. Oh yes, and the sun was shining. How was your Tuesday?

Oh wine, how I love thee…

A glass of tinto a day keeps the doctor away.

As we near the end of the seventh day of the new year (seven being a lucky number et al) I thought it a good time to share some of the wines drank by yours truly in the year just gone, or rather in the couple of months just gone.

They are all Portuguese and all red and mostly all from Alentejo.

Alentejo is unknowingly one of the best wine producing regions in the world.  But don’t take my word for it. Get yourself to the nearest shop and buy some.

Whilst you do that, I will pour myself a little glass of the Syrah by Cortes de Cima..

Happy tinto drinking!