Modern tradition - The wines of Quinta do Portal

We told you before about our love for port wine. Christmas is a classic opportunity to enjoy some port, and the Taylor's LBV 2003 we suggested earlier may be a good one to enjoy after Christmas dinner. If you wish to spend some serious money on a bottle of port, the Taylor's 20 Year Old Tawny is also a very respectable choice (around 50 OMR at African & Eastern).

While the quality of port is widely recognized, the table wines of the Portuguese Douro Valley are less well known. They deserve better. The wines from this region are beautiful and gaining in quality year after year. Typically, red wines from the Douro are ripe and concentrated with dark fresh fruit, and the whites offer plenty of spice, minerality and (tropical) fruit.

There is only one Douro wine producer available in Oman, which is a pity. Nevertheless, this producer, Quinta do Portal, is interesting enough to give some attention here. It is one of a group of wineries who are at the forefront of the quality explosion of Douro wines in recent years.

Anyone who ever visited the Douro region will appreciate the challenges winemakers face here. The vineyards are extremely steep, as a result of which almost all grapes need to be harvested by hand. The grape varieties are all traditional Portuguese, with names you'll hardly find outside Portugal. Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (which is the same as the Spanish Tempranillo) and Touriga Franca are the most popular ones for both port and wine. Yet, there are also many vineyards with old vines, where a mix of many varieties is planted. It is often unknown which varieties are planted there, many of them being obscure and ancient. These traditional grape varieties (and the large amount of old vines) contribute to the unique taste of Douro wines. In the old days the wines could be a bit rustic (especially whites), but thanks to modern vinification techniques they are now fresh and clean, with plenty of potential.

Quinta do Portal produces a large array of both port and table wines. Only a small selection of these is available through OUA. The Quinta do Portal Douro Branco 2007 is a very good example of a good Douro white. It offers lovely spice and licorice notes, as well as ripe pear and some tropical fruit. It will pare nicely with fish dishes, or even some light meat. It is a pity that its red counterpart, Quinta do Portal Douro Tinto 2003, is a couple of years too old. To give this wine the credit it deserves, you should at least be able to try the 2005 (or younger). Both wines are around 10 OMR, which is on the pricy side. At that price, we would recommend to try the white and wait for a newer vintage of the red. Portal also produces a very good rosé wine, but that is sadly not available here.

OUA also offers two ports from Portal: Fine Tawny and Fine Ruby. Both are basic ports, and although they are quite good in their category, we would love to see some of the better ports on the shelves, such as the Reserve Tawny, or the very nice Late Bottled Vintage.

Wine Review - Taylor's Late Bottled Vintage Port 2003

We love Port. By far the largest percentage of wines in our cellar is Port, we tend to visit the Portuguese Douro region (where the Port grapes are grown) at least once a year and it's the wine that gives us the most drinking pleasure. Yet, until now we haven't written one word about Port on this blog. How is that possible? Well, frankly there isn't much to write about when it comes to Oman and Port.

It makes us sad to look at the selection of Port wines. OUA stocks the Ports of Cockburn, the producer of the world's best selling port Cockburn Special Reserve. We never liked this Port, but heard they improved the blend, so we will give it another try soon. African & Eastern is even worse. Although they are blessed to have Taylor's Port in their portfolio, they hardly ever seem to have anything in stock. A while ago we found some bottles of Taylor's Late Bottled Vintage 2003, but they had clearly been leaking (perhaps due to heat or poor storage – if you ever see this, don't buy). Some weeks later we saw one good bottle, so bought it.

We understand that Port can be confusing for many people. We can explain the different types here, but that would take some space. Better have a look here if you need some extra information.

Taylor's is one of the world's best producers of Port. Their Vintage Port is highly praised, and the overall quality of the rest of the range isn't bad either. It is a pity therefore that their Late Bottled Vintage (LBV in short – a ruby type Port that is aged in barrel for 4-6 years) is a bit of a letdown. When it comes to LBV, there are two 'religions'. There are those that bottle the Port unfiltered after giving it the minimal time in barrel. This results in a powerful, young Port that is well capable of ageing in bottle. It will throw sediment after some time in bottle. And there are those that believe LBV should be ready for consumption straight after bottling. To reach this, they age the port a bit longer in barrel (usually 5 to 6 years) and filter it before bottling. This is a smoother, more easily accessible type of LBV. It will not improve with bottle age. Taylor uses the latter method. The result is a Port that is often a bit bland, and lacking in character.

That said, the 2003 LBV is not a bad effort. 2003 was a powerhouse vintage. The hot, dry weather led to overconcentrated, jammy wines in many parts of Europe, but didn't do such harm in the Douro, where the vines are used to heat and draught. The wines from 2003 are powerful, full of ripe fruit and with lots of tannins. The 2003 LBV clearly profited from the quality of the vintage. It is fairly structured, with some good dark fruit flavours (cherry, blackberry and blueberry) and a hint of (milk) chocolate. Do drink this slightly cooled (18ºC at most), otherwise the heat from the alcohol will show too much, and it will also display some distracting candied flavours.

Although we would love to see a better display of Port wines in the liqour stores, we don't mind drinking the Taylor's LBV 2003 from time to time. You could do better, but certainly worse as well.

Cool down, drink sherry!

A duff housewife's drink. Bought in jugs and consumed by the barrel. Cheap, nasty and utterly uncool. Yes, the Spanish region of Jerez (Sherry in English) did a good job in ruining its own image. Just like German Riesling and Port, Sherry flooded the market with cheap, vile plonk. And when the housewifes lost interest (perhaps shifting to cheap sweet rosé wines), the Sherry region had a problem. Nobody wanted their product, even though there were plenty quality-oriented producers, making some very good wines.

It took some time, but Sherry is working on a comeback. Since a number of years it is impossible to visit a trade tasting and not stumble across a stand of the Sherry Promotion Board, where you will be invited to taste the different varieties, and see how well they combine with food. Sherry wants to position itself as a quality product, a serious wine, more than just an aperitive: good company to food. And it's working. More and more we see sommeliers in quality restaurants suggest a glass of sherry with a certain dish. In the consumer market, it proves to be more difficult to get rid of the bad image, but we think it's just a matter of time before people will embrace this special drink once again.

There are many styles of Sherry, but for now we focus on Fino, the type that is most commonly found. Some short background: Sherry is grown in the Spanish region Andalucia, around three towns, of which Jerez de la Frontèra is the best known. Fino Sherry is made from the grape variety Palomino, and brandy is added after the fermentation to reach an alcohol level of approximately 15,5%. It is always bone dry. A Fino can only be a Fino if a curious natural incident takes place: the forming of a layer of yeast cells on top of the ageing wine. This is called Flor del Vino. The layer of Flor protects the wine from oxidation and gives a special aroma to the wine. After a minimal ageing period of three years the wine can be sold.

In order to create constant quality throughout the years, a special ageing method has been developed, called solera (we mentioned this earlier here). The wines are stored in oak casks, that are stacked in pyramid shapes. The bottom layer consists of the oldest wine, and the top of the youngest. If the company wishes to bottle an amount of sherry, they take this from the bottom layer of casks. The amount that is taken out (never more than one third of the cask), is refilled with the content of the second layer, et cetera.

The two most common brands of Fino Sherry available to us are and Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe (OUA) and Lustau Puerto Solera Reserva (African & Eastern). Both are around 7.000 - 7.500 OMR. Tio Pepe is the world's largest sherry brand, and it is admirable that they manage to keep it of constant, high quality year after year. It is light and delicate, with a distinctive scent of almonds, slightly silty with some fresh apples and a racy, dry finish. The Lustau Puerto Solera is a bit fuller in comparison, though still quite delicate. Also showing plenty of typical nuttiness, combined with silty aromas, some cookie dough, straw and green apples. Very well balanced.

Both Sherries are lovely, and are great as aperitive with some green olives or smoked almonds. But you can also enjoy them with seafood or tapas. One thing is for sure. They are very refreshing, and are a great way to cool down until the temperatures finally come down in about a month's time. Drink them chilled, and feel cool.

PX - Sweet, Sticky, Delicious

We're back from summer break. And although it may be wise to stay away from excess calories for a while (we don't know how you spend your holidays, but you can usually find us in restaurants and local delicatessen shops), we couldn't resist this unusual gem when we saw it.

PX (or Pedro Ximénez in full) isn't a partularly fashionable drink, but we are hooked to it. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to find one of the best wines in this category in our local African & Eastern shop.

Pedro Ximénez is a white grape variety, grown in several parts of the world, but home to southern Spain, where it is mostly found in the DO Montilla-Moriles. Although the grape is also used to make dry white wines, it is most famed for its sweet, fortified wines. After harvest, the grapes are dried in the sun for several days, in order to concentrate the sugar. Next, they are pressed, and after a partial fermentation, alcohol is added, leaving the wine with plenty natural sugars and an alcohol level of 15-17%. Finally the wine is transferred to oak casks, where it undergoes oxidative ageing. The longer it ages, the more concentrated the flavour will be. It is not unusual for PX wines to age for 20 years or more. The result is so mouth-filling and intense, that a single glass is enough to leave you satisfied. Thanks to the oxidative nature of the wine, and the high sugar level, it is no problem to keep an open bottle of PX for weeks or even months, so you don't have to feel guilty for not finishing the bottle in one go. But do remember to keep the bottle in the fridge.

One of Montilla-Moriles' most famed producers is Bodegas Toro Albalá. Their Don PX Gran Reserva is highly praised by the international wine press, year after year. This wine is made from one particular vintage (many of the wines in the region are made with the solera system - more on that later), and the current vintage for sale at African & Eastern is 1979.

If you look at the wine, you wonder how it could ever have been made from white grapes. It most resembles the colour of motor oil: dark brown, turning to black and very viscous. The smell of concentrated raisins, combined with the fresness of mint and (dried) citrus is spellbinding. This freshness is important, because it makes sure that the taste isn't overly sweet or cloying. It is - in fact - drinking remarkably easy, with intense tastes of molasses, raisin, chocolate and a refreshing acidic finish. Great stuff.

Over the years, we have tried numerous vintages of this wine. And although the 1979 is a very good example, it isn't as complex as earlier releases, such as 1975, 1972 and 1971. Fortunately, we found one bottle of the 1971 in between the other bottles. No idea if there is more stock, but we recommend checking it out. It will give you a bit more fruit on the palate, with notably figs and prunes, and a slightly better balance.

And the price? It may surprise you that you can find such a great, 30-year old wine for as little as 11.500 OMR per half bottle. As long as these wonderful wines don't hit the marks with the big public, prices will remain ridiculously low. As a result, you can even find a relative bargain here in Oman, where wine shopping normally is a pain in the wallet.

It may take a bit longer before we trained off all those holiday pounds, but we couldn't possibly stop drinking PX. It just tastes too good.