Had a fantastic time this evening with fellow berserker Scott Sorenson, his lovely wife and friends at Cozy Restaurant in Lisbon’s Campolide district, a few minutes away from where I live. The manager, Carlos, is an impeccable host and passionate wine lover who has always contributed to make our wine soirees memorable with faultless service and splendid food. The lineup was terrific and we were fortunate that Scott’s bottles and mine were in good shape.
We started with the white 2018 Pura from Textura, one of the most exciting Dão projects in recent years. Marcelo Villela’s dream of bringing the spirit of Burgundy and Barolo to the terroir of Vila Nova de Tazem and Penalva do Castelo has come true with a bang. I first had this wine at one of the Essência festivals and instantly went to fetch some oysters, as if by instinct. It displayed, yet again, a remarkably complex nose - yellow and orange citrus, ginger, yeast - and delicious, sapid acidity. Despite the breadth and poise of its structure it’s very much a food wine - an elegant, subtle complement to the table. Very grateful to Scott for bringing another bottle of this in my direction.
The 1995 Caves São João Reserva that Scott brought - our first red this evening - was part of a discount campaign from Garrafeira Nacional we both bought extensively from, and which I advertised here on the forum. I remember buying this wine for 12,50€, the price of a Zinfandel from Costco, as we joked at the table. As expected, it did not drink anywhere near 12,50€: it’s a superb example of Bairrada/Dão from yesteryear, barnyard-y and lithe, cool in the way it balances rusticity and elegance. This would make many Bordeaux lovers very happy.
Onwards to the Quinta do Carmo wines. The cork on the 1988 crumbled upon opening, yet wines from this extraordinary golden age of the Estremoz estate, under the supervision of Júlio Bastos, are usually capable of living up to the challenge, and then some. Unbelievably youthful, pitch black and saturated with the darkest of fruit and the richest of spices, this looked, smelled and tasted like a ten year old wine. An entry level bottle that drank like a king’s, and a bittersweet paean to the oldest Alicante Bouschet vines in the Alentejo, over 90% of which were destroyed by the Rothschilds after they bought Quinta do Carmo in 1992.
Finally, the 1987 Garrafeira, my contribution to the table. I made it clear to everyone present that expectations for this bottle were low: my other one from the same purchase was dead as a dodo this month, and ullage on this one did not seem much better. After the astonishing 1988 I was prepared to conclude the evening on an anticlimactic note. Fortunately it was not to be: this was a sound bottle of what was considered the greatest Portuguese dry wine of its generation (the 1986 vintage having famously defeated Chateau Mouton from the same vintage in a blind tasting with representatives of the Rothschilds). It was rich and luscious, dominated by bitter chocolate and AB vegetable, and what little volatile there was on the first pours quickly blew off. Not quite as stunning as my last bottle of this in 2020, but reasonably close.
It doesn’t take much effort to assemble a memorable lineup for a memorable evening in this corner of the world, and I love to remind myself of that every once in a while.
