A day at Quinta de Brunheda

[Eric Menchen]

I think all of these were cask pulls prepared for this tasting on the Glenn/Roy tour this spring. An incredible visit.

• Brunheda CP1
  CP is for Casam Pequeno, the small house where in fact a very large barrel holds this precious liquid. It has a nice aroma, with dried leaf, raising, fig, smoky notes, and some green grape skin. The body is medium, and it has a really nice balance with warmth in the finish.
• Brunheda CP2
  Casam Pequeno #2. This is more earthy in the aroma compared to CP1, with molasses character. After that, there is brown sugar, mulling spices, lemon peel, and brûlée. The flavor is lemony and sugary, and this is sticky thick and sweet.
• Brunheda CG1W
  A white Port, on the order of 60 years old, aged in chestnut barrels. I am smelling smoke and pork, but wondering if that is coming from the cooking in the house. This has deep flavor reminding me of quince paste. Not my favorite.
• Brunheda CG2W
  This has a spirited aroma, like varnish with cognac. In the mouth there is lots of spirit as well, with alcohol warmth, and acidity to match as well. There is a hint of pineapple to go with the lime citrus. This is very Madeira-like.
• Brunheda 60W
  An intentionally blended 60 year old white Port. Smells of brown sugar and caramel, with aromas of orange, quince, smoke, and butter. A really nice white if you’re into that kind of thing, with flavors of sultana grape and sugar syrup. The finish is long, with the sweet stickiness persisting in the mouth.
• Brunheda “70+”
  This has a really fascinating aroma, with baked sugars, dark caramel, and praline. Swirling gives some pleasant wood varnish spirit; along with cinnamon and apple pie. Creamy flavor! This is just wonderful, with citrus and cherry. Later there was lots of caramel in both the aroma and the flavor. 97-98 points.
• Brunheda Tonel #3
  From a local armazem, ~80 years old. Very dark brown, with just a little fading at the rim without much change in hue. Aromas of caramel, molasses, tree bark, sassafras, and sarsaparilla. In the mouth, there is surprising pucker, with acid and tannins. Lots of incredible concentration, but with plenty of acid to balance it out as well. 96 points.
• Bruneheda 1XX
  Presumably named because it is more than 100 years old, probably about 110 years old. Smells buttery and like root beer at first. Swirling reveals some wood aromas. Like the Tonel #3, this tastes quite concentrated, with lots of sugars and plenty of acid with a suggestion of citrus. It is thick bodied with a persistent finish. Not scored at the time, but probably around 96 points like Tonel #3.
• Brunheda Simão
  Dark dark dark color, darker than a Porter beer, about 37 SRM, and could pass for motor oil. Smells of roasted molasses, with exotic herb aromas. Lisa says horehound, and I think there is a hint of wintergreen. This is like essencia of tawny, hors catégorie wine, liqueur de Port. Sip it slowly and savor it. A wonderful experience to taste.
• 1865 Brunheda Colheita
  Not as dark as the previously tasted Simão, more like 30 SRM, which is still pretty dark. Smells like green coffee! That coffee is hiding a little bit of nuttiness in the aroma. This is so crazy tasting. It is not a wine I would want to drink a lot of, but it is really fun to sip.

[Glenn E.]

I noted it as casão which (according to Google translate) means house. Which also implies that it is a feminine noun, though I too wrote it as casão pequeno in my notes. At least in theory it should be casão pequena.

There was a small side discussion about it at my end of the table, and my memory is telling me that it means something closer to "big house" which then makes the two names they gave us kind of funny. Casão pequena then translates as small big house, and casão grande would translate as big big house.

It's also possible that I have that reversed and casão meant small house... my memory isn't what it used to be, and I didn't actually write down what Delio told me. But as noted, Google translate simply says house.

I'll also note that Tonel #3 is specifically not the same wine that we tasted in 2018. It's just another one coming out of a different warehouse (the home armazem) that happens to have the same tonel number as the one in the Codecais warehouse.

And lastly, I have a CG2 80 year old white in my notes, too, in case you want to double check your notes and then add that to your post.

[Mike J. W.]

I agree with Glenn, I had a CG2 80 year-old white in my notes as well.

[Eric Menchen]

O.k., thank you for catching the CG1W and CG2W issue. I think I started to type up my note for CG1W and then thought that maybe it wasn't worth including because I was suspicious that other things might be corrupting it. And then I erroneously merged CG1W and CG2W. I've corrected that.

Of course casa is house, but I distinctly wrote "casam." Maybe there was some nasal in the pronunciation that threw me off. Casam isn't a common Portuguese word (or possibly not a Portuguese word at all), but it is a Latin word for cottage, so I thought it might be correct. Casão makes more sense if we accept the play on words. I'll see if I can get a confirmation one way or the other.

[Eric Menchen]

I'll also note that Tonel #3 is specifically not the same wine that we tasted in 2018. It's just another one coming out of a different warehouse (the home armazem) that happens to have the same tonel number as the one in the Codecais warehouse.

I wasn't there for the 2018 tasting, so no confusion for me But that's good to note for others. I have tasted Codeçais Tonel #4.

[Glenn E.]

BTW I love the SRM references for color... I'd never heard of that before and had to Google it, but it seems like it would work well for Tawny Port in addition to beer!

Not being a beer judge, I'll probably need to get a printout of it to use at the table. Generally speaking I'm super sensitive to very slight differences in color, but I'm not accurate with my sensitivity. Meaning that if shown a random SRM shade, I probably couldn't tell you which one it is. But if given a set of colors even far more gradual than the SRM scale, it is very likely that I could put them in order on the first try.

[Eric Menchen]

BTW I love the SRM references for color...

I was wondering when someone was going to ask about that SRM number; or, like you, look it up and figure it out. It is specifically defined based on a scientific method, but isn't perfect for beer. It is quite good for beer, and I think it can be applied to tawny Port and Madeira. A lot of the time I don't even worry about color, but sometimes it becomes a topic of conversation. And when visiting D'Oliveiras, they gave us printed sheets for tasting notes that had a section for appearance, so I felt obliged there to note the color and fill out the form.

While the method has a scientific way to determine the number, as a beer judge, we tend to just eyeball it based on memory, or use some form of a chart. A printout might vary based a little on your printer, but would certainly work well enough. I have a commercial printout, and a more accurate commercial transparent film thing that you can look through. But I tend to just use an app on my phone that has the colors. (Color is usually worth about 1 point out of 50 for a beer score, so not something we stress over.) Now I'm tempted to put a chart on the back cover of the next edition of my tasting notes book.

[Eric Ifune]

I noted it as casão which (according to Google translate) means house. Which also implies that it is a feminine noun, though I too wrote it as casão pequeno in my notes. At least in theory it should be casão pequena.

There was a small side discussion about it at my end of the table, and my memory is telling me that it means something closer to "big house" which then makes the two names they gave us kind of funny. Casão pequena then translates as small big house, and casão grande would translate as big big house.

It's also possible that I have that reversed and casão meant small house... my memory isn't what it used to be, and I didn't actually write down what Delio told me. But as noted, Google translate simply says house.

I'll also note that Tonel #3 is specifically not the same wine that we tasted in 2018. It's just another one coming out of a different warehouse (the home armazem) that happens to have the same tonel number as the one in the Codecais warehouse.

And lastly, I have a CG2 80 year old white in my notes, too, in case you want to double check your notes and then add that to your post.

I remember the discussion as to small big house and big big house the same way.

[Eric Menchen]

Confirmed by Maria to be casão, which means "'big house' in terms of 'opulence.'"

[Glenn E.]

Confirmed by Maria to be casão, which means "'big house' in terms of 'opulence.'"

Ah... so perhaps something heading in the direction of "mansion" from "house", although that does also have its own word in Portuguese... mansão.