Douro Party

[João Rico]

Well,

I'm heading right now for Douro. This will be a great weekend.
Tonight i will be dining with Dirk and some friends, tomorrow me and another 179 people will lunch at Nápoles for a huge Magnum party.
Everybody is heading to Nápoles tomorrow. Since dirk arranged a great full day around wine with 23 producers from almos all regions in Portugal and even some international (i think French).
I will try to post some pictures of the event.


If anyone from this board happens to be in Portugal, just join us at this mega wine event.

[Andy Velebil]

VEry cool. HAve a great time and I want to hear how it went...so when you recover from let us know.

[Frederick Blais]

Have a great time Joao, I hope the weather will be as great as the wines! Please do post pictures and a full report :)

[João Rico]

Let me begin with some explanation of this event.
In a Portuguese Wine Forum (Nova-Critica) Dirk was interviewed for a few days by its members. In the end Dirk invited everyone to a party that would take place at Nápoles in the 3rd of May. So Dirk began to work and invited some producers to join him in this event and give all wine lovers a tasting. This event was called a Magnum Party for every 2 persons that joined, had to bring a Magnum of any wine.

Producers in the event:

Niepoort
Caves Transmontanas
Quanta Terra
Alves de Sousa
João Brito e Cunha (Ázeo)
Quinta da Pellada (Dão)
Odisseia
Quinta da Casa Amarela
Quinta do Vallado
Quinta da Sequeira
Kolheita de Ideias
Luis Soares Duarte
G.R. Consultores
Quinta da Carvalhosa
Quinta do Infantado
Bago de Touriga
Pintas
Quinta Vale Dona Maria
Quinta VAle Meão
Quinta do Crasto
Quinta das Bágeiras (Bairrada)
Quinta de la Rosa
Poeira
Riedel (Glassware)
Santa Gula(Gourmet)

This was a great event that was only possible with the effort of Niepoort's Team. Everybody worked like hell, to give us an amazing weekend. The Magnum Party began at 11AM Yesterday (for me started a day early since i had a great dinner with Dirk and his Winemaking team) and ended late in the evening.

So here is my daily report of one of the greatest weekend of my life. I won't forget it ......


2nd of May (Dinner @ Chanceleiros with Dirk Niepoort, Verena Niepoort, Luis Seabra, Gabriela and friends)


From a lovely charm hotel we had some great wines:

Casal Figueira Tradition (white, Estremadura)
Quinta das Bágeiras 2004 (white, Bairrada)

Tinto Velho 1979 (Alentejo)
Evel Garrafeira 1975
Sidónio Sousa Garrafeira 1997 (Bairrada)
Château Lynch Bages 1996
Gonçalves Faria Garrafeira Tonel Especial 5 1990 (Bairrada)
Jacques Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées
Niepoort Vintage 2005
Niepoort LBV 1981
Niepoort Colheita 1987
Whitwham Millenium Port

From these wines, Gonçalves Faria 1990, Lynch Bages 1996, the outstanding 1981 LBV, the 2005 Vintage Port that i love, a very nice 87 Colheita, and the Millenium Port were my WOTN.


On the event:

My favorites from about 100 bottles:

Quinta do Mouro Rótulo Dourado 2002 (Alentejo)
Quinta da Carvalhosa Campo Ardosa 2000
Quinta do Vale Meão 2001
Chateau Guiraud 2003 (sauternes)
Redoma Reserva 2007 (white)
Niepoort Projectos Riesling 2007 (white)
Robustus 1990
Quinta Vale Dona Maria 2006
Pintas 2006
Quinta de Bágeiras Garrafeira 2004
Quinta de Bágeiras Garrafeira 2005
Quinta da Sequeira Late Harvest
Quinta do Vallado Sousão 2005
Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional 2005



In the day of the event, i tasted a lot but in a dinner taken after the event ended with just about 20 people, i had a great dinner too. In this dinner had:

Mouchão 1963 (45 years ad still a anthology wine. Outstanding)
Quinta de São João Touriga Nacional 2000 (A wonderfull wine from my best producer of Ribatejo. 8 years and with such amazing power)
Roda I Reserva 2004 ( A top Rioja, full power)
Quinta do Crasto Tinta Roriz 1997 (Great Douro)
Quinta de Meruge 1999 (Another Great Douro)
Taylor's Vintage 1970 (Not bad at all, but i was expecting more from this)
Niepoort Vintage 1983 (not full bodied but long like hell, great)
Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage 1976 (OMG this is a huge vintage, never tasted any port from the 70's with such amazing power and depth. Wonderfull)

Well, this was a 2 day wine weekend. I am going to rest a few hours and dream about all those great wines i had.

Some Photos (from my cell phone)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26245316@N ... 5806/show/

[Andy Velebil]

Joao,

Great time...thanks for the pics...What was your perception of the Whitwhams??? did it seem really young for a colheita of that age?

[João Rico]

The bottle was opened the day before but it seem pretty good to me. Dirk said the suffered a lot since the opening , and for me seemed quite old.

[Frederick Blais]

Cool pics Joao, I'm jealous of this party, looks like it was a blast! At least if I was not there I was having evenly heaven wine party with some friends on the same day :)

http://www.frederickblais.com/pics/disp ... 101&pos=13

[João Rico]

Frederick,


That's a great party man. Now it's me the jealous guy.
Well, Dirk is a great man and a great host the weather was so great.

Are you coming to the harvest this year?

[Andy Velebil]

Joao,

The reason I ask, there has been some discussion that the Whitwham's bottling is just too "fresh" to be from a single vintage back in 1853. Having had it next to other pre 1900 colheita's it is SO VERY different than all the others. The talk had centered on weither this had been topped up with some much younger wines as it shows too youthful to be that old. Don't get me wrong, its a great tasting wine that I loved, but I am in the camp now which thinks it's too good to be true. I was just curious if you happened to notice the same or not?

[Frederick Blais]

Frederick,
Are you coming to the harvest this year?

Yes I'll be there, probably around the 3rd or 4th September in the Douro to see pre harvest condition and have some time with producers before it gets intense :)

I think we should meet again!

[João Rico]

Joao,

The reason I ask, there has been some discussion that the Whitwham's bottling is just too "fresh" to be from a single vintage back in 1853. Having had it next to other pre 1900 colheita's it is SO VERY different than all the others. The talk had centered on weither this had been topped up with some much younger wines as it shows too youthful to be that old. Don't get me wrong, its a great tasting wine that I loved, but I am in the camp now which thinks it's too good to be true. I was just curious if you happened to notice the same or not?

Andy,

I really understood waht was in you mind but unfortunately i wasn't there when the bootle was opened. The next day when i tasted, i really got the impression of an old wine.

Yes I'll be there, probably around the 3rd or 4th September in the Douro to see pre harvest condition and have some time with producers before it gets intense :)

I think we should meet again!

You can bet on that and this time i will bring some bottles for us all.

[Roy Hersh]

Joao,

We were at Napoles a few days later (Wed. last week) for the third time in a year, and saw some of the Magnums still lined up in Dirk's back office. Sounds like a lot of fun. A few days earlier and I would have had the chance to meet you in person.

Maybe next time, which for me will be during the height of the harvest later in September.

[Frederick Blais]

More pictures have been release on Niepoort's website http://www.niepoort-vinhos.com/News.html

[João Rico]

Great photos from Verena.

I will try to to be in Douro a few days in the harvest. Maybe we all meet.