Last week we sat down in front of the telly to watch Peter O'Toole and Omar Shariff in David Lean's
Lawrence of Arabia. Dinner was a new recipe that I was trying, something called Paprika Hendl.
A week earlier, while ferreting through the cellar looking for a few things, I came across a couple of bottles of
1997 Jose Maria de Fonseca's 'Periquita' (12%), something I had forgotten about. I remember buying it thinking that since it was a 150th anniversay bottling and from a good vintage, why not put it away for a few years and see what happens. Now, far too many years later, it seemed there was no point delaying the inevitable and out it came, ready to be sacrificed in the interests of science.
- Periquita1997.jpg (152.16 KiB) Viewed 375 times
Hope springs eternal whenever a wine enthusiast opens a bottle so, thinking that if the Periquita is anything like what it was when young, it might be a match for the paprika-based dish. However, in the event that the wine might be as dry and arid as some of the scenes in
Lawrence of Arabia, I had a backup lined up. However the backup wine wasn't needed. This 22 year-old Periquita was delightful. It had a bittersweet, savoury, cherry-fruited palate that glided down effortlessly. It was light to medium-bodied in texture without any rough edges. My other half was delighted with the wine (as was I) and actually remembered when I had bought the bottle.
Cheers .................. Mahmoud.
