This is what a wine writer’s life looks like sometimes: coffee, spit cup, wine, zooms (and also, yes, a box of athletic tape for my feet–going back on pointe in ballet has been killer!). I first got acquainted with Quinta do Vesuvio, a Symington Family Estate wine, via an online lesson where I learned some nuts and bolts such as, the vineyards are north-facing which aids in even ripening, and the yields are petite–about 4,000 k per hectare.
And then sometimes, a wine writer’s life offers a splendid lunch with the same wines (plus a few bonus vintages) high above West Hollywood in the chic, light teal dining room of Merois on the rooftop of The Pendry, a swanky hotel if ever there was one. The above picture was the finale dessert to the filagréed meal. Both the online seminar and the lunch were prime playdates–time to get to know the wines in different places, circumstances, and pairings.
Early spitting/keeping your cat out of the camera CONTRASTED with daintily sipping whilst feasting many meters above the town gives one a broad view of wine’s place. Doing the lordess’ work, I am. You’re welcome. Oh, and lest this post’s title be unclear, by “down,” I mean, I AM down with Douro. Not “down with the Douro” like I’m picketing the valley or something.
I’ve been enchanted with Portugal ever since visiting Vinho Verde in 2019. When I had the opportunity for a webinar, and then lunch with US Market Manager Rui Ribeiro of Quinta do Vesuvio, I jumped at both chances, particularly as I’d be tasting both dry Douro wines AND Ports from the region. Having the opportunity to try (and retry) at home is valuable, but getting to try with food, maybe even more so? Hard to say–suffice to say, the more exposure and experience, the better, at least if you like the wines, and I definitely do.
Sweet wines have been out of style for a while now. I don’t know if it’s because they aren’t keto (omg, did you know that many hard alcohols and dry wines actually ARE???) or that dessert is somehow sinful in this society. Which is weird, considering our culture of 36 Oreo flavors and binging entertainment, and we (for a price) can have whatever we want whenever we want, whether it’s sex or smores. YET, somehow, consuming a polite tipple of dessert wine is out of fashion.
Oh yes. The wine! Let’s step away from philosophy and into the tasting.
I never would have expected brilliance of the the first lunch/wine pairing–a red to pair with spicy food! The 2020 Comboio do Vesuvio is a pleasant cross of ripe, almost dried dark and red fruits (black and red plums, cranberry) with a pleasantly bitter, more herbal undercurrent, with vocal but harmonious tannins. It was a surprise because the “Chinois Chicken Salad” (made without chicken for yours truly and her vegetarian ways) was laced with ginger, a spicy and crisp salad I wouldn’t consider pairing with a red off the bat. But the ginger spice did well with the extra ripeness of the fruit (not sweet, just ripe). The salad also had roasted cashews, and eating a bite of salad and then augmenting it with a sip of wine was like the salad also had some sort of dried fruit component. The two got on REALLY well.
Oh, and “comboio” is “train” in Portuguese, in reference to the train station on the Quinta. And for the tech nerd here, the wine is 35% Touriga Franca, 30% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz and 5% Tinta Barroca – no wood involved at any point – the fruit sings.
Next in the lineup was the 2021 Pombal do Vesuvio, a blend of 60% Touriga Nacional,
35% Touriga Franca, 2.5% Tinta Amarela, and 2.5% Alicante Bouschet, named for a Pombol, a round building used for raising pigeons–while the pigeons are gone, the building is there. This wine brings velvety, darker fruit. Dates and figs, it smells like health store fresh granola–that is a compliment because that stuff, full of dried fruit and honey notes is GREAT. A touch of oak is at play, just a hint of cloves. That lively acid and brightness of fruit (I know I said dried fruit but there is gobs of juicy blackberry going on) keeps this wine alive.
Almost lastly, we tasted both the 2023 and 2014 Quinta do Vesuvio made of 58% Touriga Franca/40% Touriga Nacional/2% Tinta Amarela, oh, my oh my, the nose is swoon–a touch of licorice here, a mixed berry cordial there, a little fig creeping in. On the palate, it’s like the nose took a walk in the woods; so many savory and underbrush-y elements show up on top of the juicy fruit, ballasted by silky tannins and vibrant acidity (it was a cool year yayyyy acidity). With further air, I find some fun floral notes, and the 80% new French oak is seamlessly integrated–bravo on that point. A bit of vanilla sings on the finish of inky fruit and cedar-note goodness. Truly an exceptional wine.
The main course of stir-fried noodles with mushrooms and (for this vegetarian) mushrooms and lotus root, plus sides of kung pao cauliflower with Szechuan pepper and peanuts, was a fantastic mashup of spice in the food (the peppers) against the rich fruit of the wine, as well as fats (peanuts, oils) against the tannic structure of the wine. I’d never have imagined the pairings, but they WORKED.
And the finale, omg, the Port. The PORT! We got a little sample of their 2022 Port, the first vintage port they have produced in two years. We tasted it opposite the 1995, which was quite the experience. The 95 showed almost a little mint and a little cedar merging into pastilles (violet and anise), maybe even licorice. The 2022, of course, has years, decades even, to go, but it is showing gorgeously thus far, all juiced fruit, licorice, caramel, cocoa and even cola–shockingly refreshing, the sweetness is almost an afterthought.
It went like gangbusters with the afore-pictured dessert, a Marjolaine Cake with dark chocolate and hazelnut dacquise. Nutty-cocoa-creamy against the same in the Port, plus the herbs and spice…magnificent.
Getting to taste the wines with food as well as in my monk-like wine seclusion is brilliant. Jk about my seclusion sort of–my cat can be distracting but I know when I can sit in my couch in silence and sip a glass I tune into things I don’t notice in the wild. Whereas I notice other things when the wine and food are paired. Getting to do both, best of all worlds!
Of course, I can write notes, and good ones, in either situation, but this experience was extraordinary. I was so DOWN with it. With the Douro.