Liquid Agnostic

In the 1980s, Luis Pato was among the first growers to start bottling a more modern form of baga, made with shorter macerations, that demonstrated the grape’s potential for elegance. They made an impression on those who tried them. In the 1990s, Savio Soares was a server at Gotham Bar and Grill when he first tried a Bairrada from Luis Pato. “What I remember was the vibrancy of the acidity and the balance,” he said. “They reminded me of nebbiolo.”

Source: From Maritime Bairrada in Portugal, Wines of Freshness – The New York Times

“The government issued posters and pamphlets saying wine from hybrids contained excess quantities of methyl alcohol, which was ‘proven to cause madness,’” says Borel. “Of course, the claims had no scientific basis, but it took decades for that to be proven.”

Source: The Rebellious French Village Making Wine Banned by the E.U. – Gastro Obscura

Port might be said to be literally the ultimate sleeping draught. In northern Portugal there are presumably some people who drink port in the middle of the day, but for most of us, if we drink port at all, it is a post-prandial treat, the last thing to pass our lips before late-night toothpaste. Yet the sad thing is that too many wine drinkers – even wine drinkers open to every sort of exotic combination of provenance and grape variety – see port as too strong and/or too sweet for them.

This is such a shame because the quality of port being made today is higher than it has ever been, and the range of different styles of port that are reasonably easy to find outside Portugal is so much wider than it was.

Source: Port – the perfect nightcap | Articles | JancisRobinson.com

The expectations of how a wine from a certain region should taste go back hundreds of years, but the global industry that has been built atop them is largely a product of the past century. If natural wine is a backlash against anything, it is the idea that it is possible to square traditional methods of winemaking with the scale and demands of that market. There is a sense that alongside economic success, globalisation has slowly forced the wine world toward a dull, crowd-pleasing conformity.

Continue reading: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/15/has-wine-gone-bad-organic-biodynamic-natural-wine

Randall Grahm’s iconoclastic obsession will involve breeding new varietals from scratch and growing them where grapes have never been grown before.

When and how do you drink it Pure?

It’s mainly drunk as an aperitif; keep in mind that the word comes from the Greek meaning to whet (literally, open up) the appetite, so a glass of it, over ice, works before lunch or dinner. The name comes from the French pronunciation of the German word for wormwood, famously used in a number of alcoholic beverages and medicines up to the late 19th century, including absinthe. But the Germans didn’t invent it; it seems the Chinese were already doing something similar tho

Source: Vermouth: 10 things I learned in Barcelona – Ellen’s Wine World

Researchers have discovered traces of what could be the world’s oldest wine at the bottom of terracotta jars in a cave in Sicily, showing that the fermented drink was being made and consumed in Italy more than 6,000 years ago.Previously scientists had believed winemaking developed in Italy around 1200 BC, but the find by a team from the University of South Florida pushes that date back by at least three millennia.

Source: Traces of 6,000-year-old wine discovered in Sicilian cave | Science | The Guardian

Marques is part of what one might dub the “second wave” of winemakers pursuing a similar path by looking to higher elevation plots and picking earlier to preserve acidity. At her Conceito estate, in the Douro Superior heading east towards Spain, she produces a range of wines from the accessible Contraste blends (the red and the white are both picked early and only partially oaked, to maintain freshness) to Unico, a thrilling old-vine white field blend. But the bastardo grape has arguably become her calling card—not only for its stylistic grace, but for its clear challenge to the prevailing Douro template, and endorsement of the region’s climatic variety.

via PUNCH | Can Douro Wine Find a Lighter Way Forward?.

“These mature consumers (30-45-year-old adults) who yearn for the finer things in life, are behind this evolution of the special occasion trend, which is opening up more in-outlet occasions to operators. Cidrerie Stassen will tap into these occasions, by offering a premium artisanal cider to trade up from traditional apple cider.”

via Heineken launches ‘super-premium’ cider.

Quote of the century – “In my forties, I turned to wine with a passion,” he continues. “I tested 34 Côtes du Rhones in search of a house wine I could afford … I could have become a wine snob, but didn’t. The escape was narrow, but my salvation was several near-bankruptcies …. I will not be stopping on the way home from the office for one of the syrupy California ‘cabs’ so favored by nitwits …. Money can distort the buying and drinking of wine just as it distorts art in the gallery and auction businesses.”

via Jim Harrison’s 13 Rules for Drinking – Men’s Journal.