Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to this weeks Tasting @ Carpe Vinum! Last week we visited Spain. This week we’re visiting the other half of the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal! I don’t mean half in the sense of geographical mass, but in the one of two countries inhabiting the same peninsula. Portugal is geographically small by Spanish standards. . .or perhaps Spain is quite large by Portuguese standards. Whatever. . .you get the picture.

Portugal! In ancient Roman times most of Portugal was a province called Lucitania. Mythically, Lucitania was named after Luso, the son (Or companion. Read: drinking buddy) of Bacchus, the god of wine and feasting. But it wasn’t the Romans who brought the winemaking to Portugal, as it had existed for quite some time. Vineyards were cultivated from 2000 BC, but the art of winemaking was actually brought by the Greeks around the 7th century BC. Winemaking must have been important in that place if the Romans named the land for Bacchus’s drinking buddy, once they had arrived.

Portugal is home to over 500 native grapevine varieties. None of us would like them all listed here. That would be a fruitless pursuit. (Pun intended. On the “fruitless” part, not the “pursuit” part. Oh, nevermind.) All of this variety, coupled with centuries upon centuries of winemaking have produced a number of incredible wines. Over the years, however, the popularity of the fortified Porto had been the dominating wine exported from Portugal and as a result many Portuguese table wines remained relatively unknown, and therefore tremendous values. So what we have assembled here is a collection of different Portuguese table wines from a few regions around Portugal, giving a cross-section of the Portuguese grapes and styles.

Now where it gets really fun: I have a couple Portos included in the lineup this week. Porto is a fortified wine created by adding brandy to grape juice as it ferments. This stops the fermentation, preserving the sugars and adding alcohol at the same time. The cold weather we’re experiencing make Porto a fine winter wine. They’re strong! They’re sweet! They’re mostly made by the British! They’re fun to discuss, and there’s far too much information to print here. The ones I have here are a vintage Ruby style, and a Colheita Tawny style. It’ll be a good one, for sure!

Also this week is in-house music with Adam + Kris! It’s original acoustic guitar music that resonates so well within these walls!

So Friday, December 16th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Portugal!
Ramos-Pinto 2003 Adriano, Douro
Casa Santos Lima 2003 Tinto Cao, Estremadura
Cortes de Cima 2003 Chamine, Alentejano
Quinta do Crasto 2003 Red Table Wine, Douro
Quinta do Carvalhosa 2001 Ardosino, Douro

Porto!!
Rocha 2000 Vintage Porto
Kopke 1994 Colheita Porto

Next Friday tasting is Syrah/Shiraz!

M