TN: 1999 Tapada de Coelheiros Garrafeira (Alentejo, Portugal)

Tonight I had my first ever offline meet with a fellow Berserker, as Markus S made it to Porto on holiday with his lovely wife and daughter. I arranged a table for us at Traça, right next to their hotel, and brought a 1999 Coelheiros Garrafeira convinced I would have a perfectly resolved, mature wine with which to enrich our meal (as is the 2000). Although this had the smoky, meaty, spicy nose I associate with the winery, the palate was very austere, with hard, muscled tannin and high acidity. This had been double decanted at home and was drunk over the course of a long evening, to no avail. Mark likewise felt this could have passed for a wine that was ten years younger, and I might be wise to wait some longer on my remaining bottles.

In any case we had a wonderful evening discussing subjects which would probably only be fit for the Politics forum, and enough wine was left over for me to try tomorrow and see if it’s budged at all. We also took a picture together that he may or may not feel like revealing at some point in the future.