We had an interesting visit to Alvaro de Castro yesterday afternoon. This included a bone-shaking ride in a little truck along rough tracks to see some of his vineyards and the old family house. Then tasting both 2009s from tank and barrel (400 litre) and some finished wines.
I thought the whites were particularly successful, while the reds were more variable. Castro has 65 hectares of vines, which include some over 100 years old. We tasted the 2008 Branco Reserva from Quinta de Saes with its lovely combination of quite rich fruit and minerally acidity in the long finish. This was followed by Primus (a field blend) from Quinta de Pellada, whose fruit is more opulent with a touch of sweetness in the finish. This also has some minerality but it is less marked than the Saes. For this reason my preference is for the Saes but, of course, it would also depend upon what you were eating.
For the reds my preference was for the 2007 Saes Reserva (10-12€) and the 2007 Pellada. Both are field blends, which will include Alfred Shearer, which is probably related to the now retired Newcastle footballer, Alan. Saes has some Touriga nacional and Tinto Roriz added. The last wine we tasted was the 2008 Doda, which is a blend of wine from Alvaro in the Dão and Dirk Niepoort in the Douro. I found this 2008 to be a little too green at the moment.
Alvaro's daughter
Alvaro's son in law
Their winemaking dog supervising barrel tasting
Barrel of Touriga Nacional with 100 points or from 100 year old vines (you decide!)
I've written about this restaurant before but worth doing so again as I think it is one of the great fish restaurants of the world. It's not sophisticated, although there is, I think, Barca Velha, on the wine list but it does brilliant grilled fish as well as clams in garlic and delicious crabs. Reasonably priced, the restaurant is the only building of any substance in a wonderfully unspoiled cove and beach. Furthermore the staff are friendly and welcoming. If you get a table by the window you have an uninterrupted view to the USA.
The unglitzy Restaurante Adraga from the beach: window looks out over the ocean
Today three of us had Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams in garlic and coriander), a crab and then a perfectly cooked sea bass accompanied by a bottle of 2008 Alvarinho. In Brittany or Nantes, Muscadet would be the ideal choice but here in Portugal, Alvarinho works extremely well. Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato is a speciality in these parts and is cooked in a similar way to moules marinières except there is less liquid. You need plenty of bread to mop up the juice.
From the Bacalhôa winery it was just a short drive to the old, historic cellars of José Maria da Fonseca in the centre of Vila Nogueira de Azeitão. However, our reception was a world away from that we were accorded at Bacalhôa. Instead of the chief winemaker and commercial director and others at JM Fonseca we were shown round by the winery guide – charming and well informed but not the same. Perhaps they saw us a group of arriviste bloggers but Charles Metcalfe was in our midst and in these parts Charles is as close to vinous royalty as you can get.
Decorative detail on an outside wall of the Fonseca premises
The company was founded in 1834. It remains in family hands with the seventh generation at the helm. JM da Fonseca now produces some 30 million litres a year divided into 33 brands. As well as the old cellars the company has a new winery close by.
After a tour of the old cellars we tasted four wines, which with exception of the Moscatel were not exciting. The two reds (2007 Pasmodos 9€ and 2004 Domingos Soares Franco 17.50€) were decidedly old style with dry, grainy tannins, especially the Pasmodos. Bacalhôa's Anfora knocks both wines into a cocked hat and is cheaper. The 1998 Domingos Soares Franco Moscatel Roxo 17.50€ saved the show with its concentrated nutty and marmalade flavours with apricot and sweet peach in the long finish. Slightly old style but here it works.
Lancers Free
On the way out we paused in the shop. I noticed a display of Lancers Free. Lancers rosé is one of Fonseca's best known and best selling brands and in July they launched an alcohol free version. Apparently this is Portugal's first alcohol free wine. I have to admit I'm bemused: what is point of drinking Lancers if it leaves you stone cold sober? Why not just opt for a nice glass of orange juice?
For lunch we headed to the Restaurante Alcanena in Palmela, which is obviously a local institution with its substantial, varied and copious buffet. We had various local wines to try over lunch including a couple from Bacalhôa but none from JM da Fonseca – another trick missed! Of the new wines on show the most impressive was the 2007 Ermelinda Reserva, Terras do Sado from Casa Ermelinda Freitas. This made from a blend of Castelão (40%), Touriga Nacional (40%) and Syrah (20%) with the vines planted in Fernando Pó, which apparently is a good site in the Palmela region. While the Touriga and the Syrah are from recently planted vines, the Castelão vines are over 50 years old.
Charles Metcalfe@the recent Circle of Wine Writers tasting given by Miguel Torres (seated)
Just to underline Mr Metcalfe's celebrity status, the owner of the restaurant asked to have her photo taken with Charles. Doubtless if I ever go back to Alcanena– certainly worth looking out if you are in the area, especially if you are feeling hungry – a framed photo of her and Charles will hanging in pride of place.
Now back from the Douro and the 2nd European Wine Bloggers Conference is over. However even before this one closed its doors and recycled the last empty bottle of wine, ideas and possible venues for 2010 were being proposed and discussed.
It has all been pretty intense with little time to catch up and write up tastings, impressions, etc but over the next couple of days I should now have time to write up the visits and tastings.
Anyone, who still thought that wine blogging was a temporary phenomenon, should have been disabused of the idea by the sharp increase in numbers from last year's conference up from around 40 participants to nearly 130 this time. 130 very disparate bloggers – most within the wine industry but also some with no wine work connection.
The machine is the message...?
Inevitably the question of how to make money from blogging arose. There was a suggestion that getting advertising from wineries would be acceptable but I, Quentin Sadler and others rejected that completely on the obvious grounds that accepting winery advertising would both destroy one's credibility and forfeit your independence. Ryan Opaz challenged me by asking what is the difference between writing for magazines like Decanter, which accept advertising, and blogging on Jim's Loire. The answer is that I don't know whose adverts Decanter is carrying nor have Decanter ever asked me to write about particular producers.
Ryan Opaz: "Would it be the same if there could be advertising for which you didn't know the source?" I'm not at all sure how this would work – shall have to get more details from Ryan – but I fancy this would also be compromising.
The consensus, if indeed one was reached, was that you are more likely to make money (monetise!) indirectly from a blog (e.g. sales of photos, articles, invitations to talk or lecture, sales if you are a merchant) rather than directly from advertising, etc. Rather depends on the number of visitors you are able to attract.
Poster designed for second #EWBC by Jimmy Pons
Samples – another old favourite – was also raised. As far as covering Loire wines is concerned, having samples is an essential part of the job. I cannot afford to buy all the Loire wines I need to taste and, although it is always valuable to taste wines at a domaine, it is also useful to be able to taste some of the wines later. Tasting wines under different conditions is important and especially seeing how they match with food. My aim is to assess wine samples as objectively as those wines that I have bought. No-one would expect a film critic to pay to see all the films they need to see nor a motoring journalist to buy all the cars they review.
A slightly soft focus Doug Cook
I've already mentioned Doug Cook's Able Grape and internet search presentation. Although perhaps obvious it is good to be reminded that it is better to have a smaller number of committed and focused visitors than high numbers that may well include robotic searchers. Rowan Gormley, whose introduction to Naked Wines and, asked why Able Grape didn't include retailers in their listings as people want to know where to buy wines they read about, his explanation of how they involve their customers and sponsor winemakers was also useful. I hope Doug doesn't include retailers as it is good to have a search engine that cuts out the noise of who stocks what and lists instead just information about the wine, the producer, region, etc. In any case if you search on 'able grape' you'll find the excellent wine-searcher appearing at the top of the list or close to it, so making it easy to check out the retailers. The problem with Google, excellent for many things, is that you often have to wade through long lists of retailers before you find you information you are looking for. I expect to be using Able Grape regularly from now on.
Adegga is another interesting development. Based in Portugal their aim is to introduce unique numbers for wines in the same way that books have ISBNs to identify them.
Because of its flexibility Wordpress appears to be the blog format of choice amongst experienced bloggers. For the moment, at least, Jim's Loire will stay on Blogger as, despite its quirks, it generally allows me to post what I want and in the way that I want it to look. I have, however, been inspired to add a few new gadgets (see next but one post).
As ever the most valuable part of the conference was meeting new people, especially those on the trips – to Terras do Sado and the two-day Douro Boys' excursion to the Douro Valley – new contacts from many parts of the world. I have added a number of new links to Jim's Loire including Able Grape, Adegga, Eat like a girl, Daniele Delgesso's wine on the rocks, Anthony Swift's Wine pleasures and others.
Are we seeing a progression to small is better and better? Blogs have taken traffic away from some traditional wine websites. Now twatter (do you mean twitter?) may be doing the same to blogs. Will it be the European Wine Twitters Conference next year??
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