A Unique Tasting Experience

[Todd Pettinger]

I had a very unique opportunity the other night to join a few folks at a local wine shop called deVine Wines and sample a few Douro reds along with two very good Vintage Ports. The real treat was that the man behind the labels, Cristiano van Zeller was there to pour and discuss.

The two Douro Reds were very good, one being a red that had been aged in new Oak for 21 months (which I understand is fantastically long for a red wine) yet gave no clue at all of it's rest in the wood. No nose nor flavour was imparted. It was good wine, but I do not drink red table wine sufficiently enough to venture TNs. The other wine enthusiasts there each left with between 2 and 12 bottles of the two main wines being sampled, so it must have been fairly good! 8)

I was there for the company and the Port and I certainly was not disappointed. Immediately upon arriving, Cristiano shook hands with everybody present in the store, whether they were there for the tasting or just browsing. He was an intelligent, exceedingly friendly person who towered above the majority of us "short folks" and seemed to genuinely enjoy sharing stories of the port- and wine-making process and answer any and all questions thrown at him. He spoke passionately of Portugal and the Douro and delighted in showing us the website where a virtual tour is offered with spectacular views of the lands he calls home.

He mentioned the fact that he had once owned the Noval Quintas, and smiled wistfully when asked about the sale. His only answer was "Well, sometimes things happen," which almost led me to believe the sale was more for financial reasons than any other. The following are the two Ports that were sampled:

Quinta do Vale Meão Vintage Port – 2000
This port had been decanted prior to Cristiano arriving at the store, about two hours. When they had been opened/poured, they had been done so from 375 mL bottles, which Cristiano explained advanced the aging of the port. The bigger the bottle, the more quickly it ages. I am pretty sure this has been discussed elsewhere on this forum, but it was interesting to hear it coming from a professional port producer himself – not that I doubt the advice of the expert port consumers on this site, but the forum is what it is; having someone whose livelihood depends on the port that he produces tell me this fact almost seemed to cement it for me.

Slightly tarry nose, with full-bodied fruits, primarily raspberries, black currants and a touch of what may have been a spice of some sort. The port is a dark ruby with a touch of lesser red on the rim. On the palate, the fresh fruit is complemented by a hint of mint, but the alcohol is pronounced enough that I would avoid the wine for several years, 375 or not.

After 45+ minutes, I revisited this port and was impressed to find the licorice had subsided somewhat and the tarry nose dissipated. The heat remained a touch, but the port was drinking fairly enough now. I would still cellar it for at least another 5-7 years before trying this one again. I will purchase some of this to revisit, perhaps in 2015.

While it is drinking okay now out of several 375 mL bottles, I wouldn’t recommend opening this one in a 750 mL or larger format. I would score it a 4-7 as it should improve dramatically in a decade or more.

Barros de Zellaer Vintage Port - 1987
Cristiano had not brought any of this along with him to the tasting and very kindly offered to buy the bottle from the store and open so the group could try this. I could tell he was proud of it, being the first vintage that I believe that particular Quinta released**?

Although a few hours in a decanter may have done this port a better justice, small amounts swirled rigorously in our glasses for 30-45 minutes certainly did a decent job of opening this beauty up.

Upon decanting a fresh, yet mellow nose greeted me. There were hints of blueberries, blackberries and a strong influence of liquorice. A small hint of pipe tobacco followed the procession of aromas. Wrapping the bouquet was the presence of a floral aroma, very elegant.

This wine was a softer red colour than I have seen in my previous two VPs and I thought that it might be approaching a tawny age.

A small taste after only 10 minutes of story-telling from the man who produced it yielded fresh berry notes, still young, with a very slight twinge of alcohol. There appeared to be no strong tannins present, and I wrote down "amazing that even freshly decanted, the port is exceptionally mellow and smmoth." A small hint of alcohol was present on the back of the palate, but not strong and overpowering.

Amazingly enough, after continuous swirling and two or three questions to Cristiano, 30 minutes had elapsed and the alcohol seemed to disappear completely, integrating itself and hiding amongst the fresh berry flavours. The liquorice nose had disappeared, being replaced with a less vibrant fruit nose. The smoothness resembled that of a Tawny, but with a youthfulness that reminded me that it was indeed not tawny but a much more fruit-intensive wine.

This port is drinking amazingly well right now. I would feel confident opening 375 or 750s. I also believe that the smoothness has the ability to stick around for at least a decade and may even become finer with greater aging.

I rate this a 7-8 on the Tom scale.
My only complaint is that I had to leave as I was on call and got paged, but not before I purchased a bottle of this exceptional port to open at home. I would like to see the effect that greater decanter time has on the wine.

An additional note is that when I purchased the port from the store and was about to leave, Cristiano asked me for my bottle. He picked up a felt tip pen and not only signed my bottle, but wrote a short note on the label, personally addressed. I found it incredible that despite have met and shook hands with about a dozen people since the beginning of the tasting, he not only recalled my name, but the fact that we had discussed the 2003 Vintage (of which i am at the point of deciding which selections to include in the case (or two) that I will be laying down for my son, who was born in that year.) He warmly shook my hand, wished me a long and happy life, and many good bottles of Port for me and my children. (I'll have to see if I can take a picture and post it here.)

A class act all around, I cannot imagine a better way to be introduced to some fine new ports (and Douro reds!) than the gentleman that was Cristiano van Zeller.

Todd

**Note: By this point in the tasting my head may have been spinning a bit from the combination of a long, hard day at work, no lunch, and three previous Duoro red wine samplings plus the 2000 VP from Quinta do Vale Meão, so if my facts are off surrounding '87 being the first VP release from Barros de Zellaer, please let me know. Being a smaller house, Google was a bit sketchy on the details of their VP offerings!

[Andy Velebil]

Todd,

Glad you had a good time. Having also met Cristiano last year, I can say he is a wonderful person and host. He is full of knowledge and not afraid to speak his mind, even on controversial topics. He also happens to makes some great wines and Ports, as you saw, and are worth seeking out.

As for the reds, IIRC, the one aged on 21 months was either the CV or the Casa de Casal de Loivos. Both are solid wines that need some cellar time (esp. the CV).

Do you remember what the website was that he mentioned. The website for Vale d. Maria is painfully slow and wont load.

[Al B.]

Todd,

Great notes. '87 ports seem to be a good year to hunt out as they are often reasonably priced and are just as often very enjoyable.

Its also really interesting to read about a port label that I have never heard of before, although I have a suspicion that this could be the same as a port that I drank about 10 years ago from the '87 vintage. This was just labelled as "Van Zeller Vintage Port". (It was very good even 10 yers ago, and was remarkably cheap.)

Alex

[Todd Pettinger]

Todd,

As for the reds, IIRC, the one aged on 21 months was either the CV or the Casa de Casal de Loivos. Both are solid wines that need some cellar time (esp. the CV).

Do you remember what the website was that he mentioned. The website for Vale d. Maria is painfully slow and wont load.

Andy, I left his card at the office. I will be driving in tomorrow as I have to work on a project, will grab it then and get that in here.

My attempts at finding the Vale d Maria website myself met with dead links just now :S

The reds that we tried were:
2002 Quinta do Vale Dona Maria Red
Very good, spicy and fruity notes, a bit dry.

2005 Quinta do Crasto - This was the one that was aged 21 months. And yet smooth as silk! Could not detect oak notes in nose or taste. I would have expected a red table that had sat that long in oak to be over powering... not so indeed. Supposedly dry, but not dry on the palate (which is why I dislike so many red table wines. I dislike the dry mouthfeel I get afterwards.)

[Todd Pettinger]

Todd,

Great notes. '87 ports seem to be a good year to hunt out as they are often reasonably priced and are just as often very enjoyable.

Its also really interesting to read about a port label that I have never heard of before, although I have a suspicion that this could be the same as a port that I drank about 10 years ago from the '87 vintage. This was just labelled as "Van Zeller Vintage Port". (It was very good even 10 yers ago, and was remarkably cheap.)

Alex

This is indeed a label I would have dismissed as a "no name" as I had never heard of them either. Thank goodness for tastings like this where you can try these ports for free or without having to invest in an entire bottle.

You hit the note with the relative inexpensiveness. Considering this is a 20 yr old VP in what is likely the beginning of it's prime, it was priced (very reasonably) at $55CAD (about $50 USD and around 22GBP - sorry - I don't know offhand how to make the Pound Sterling symbol!!)

Definitely a port I will be going back for more of! :)
Todd

[Andy Velebil]

Todd,

Ahh, the 2005 Crasto...probably the regular Douro line. I'm not at home, so don't have my notes handy...but IIRC, it is a very good QPR wine. Although, you sure about the 21 months....becuase it would still be in cask at this time, as harvest was September/October of 2005...it would not be bottled yet. The regular Douro line sees no Oak, so that may be the reason.

For more about Crasto, check out the latest Harvets Trip report in on the main page. They are making some great things there.

[Todd Pettinger]

Andy, you are likely right. It may have been the Crasto that was 2002 and the other that was 2005 (no oak.) I didn't take any notes on the regular reds, so you are likely very right - my bad

Todd