Wines of Portugal Indie Select Dinner Series – Manchester

Kim McBride of Salut with Barbeito Single Cask Malvasia Madeira 2001

After Thursday’s London/Brighton indie-off, it was up north to host the Manchester Wines of Portugal “Indie Select Dinner Series” at Sam’s Chop House. 

Check out below what the Cream of Manchester’s/Warrington’s independent wine retail scene came up with by way of wine matches.  They were Harry Morris (Gerard Seel), Ben Stephenson (Hanging Ditch), Jonathan Claviere (BistroVin of Deansgate), Anna Tutton (Vin Van Voom) and Kim McBride (Salut Wines).

As before, each of our indies had £25 to spend.  At the end of the dinner we voted on the best wine/best food match.  The winner? Kim McBride of Salut with Barbeito Single Cask Malvasia Madeira 2001 – a modern classic match for sticky toffee pudding.

Smoked salmon with Casal Santa Maria Arinto 2014 (Lisboa)

I’m a huge fan of Baron Bruemmer’s wines.  On paper, Harry Morris’ match is a home run.  Casal Santa Maria’s vineyard is Europe’s westernmost.  The Sintra location makes for terrific salty freshness.  Arinto brings its own frisky, lemony bite.

That said, it is such a powerful wine that, without the accompanying complementary bite of onion and capers, the salmon would have been over-powered.  A great match with said garnish.

Fish & chips with Quinta do Portal Colheita Branco 2015 (Douro)

Stephenson’s match for the catch looked inland – to the Douro.  A contrast with last Thursday when Lucas Frost fielded a (his family’s) Portuguese Riesling from Lisboa with fish & chips.

Whilst the Douro might not be the obvious place to look for a fresh white to cut through the oiliness of fried food, Stephenson knows better.  Hanging Ditch have listed Quinta do Portal wines from the off and, as winemaker Paulo Coutinho points out, at 500m+, Portal’s location in Sabrosa is one of the best for whites.  They are something of a speciality.

So how did this unoaked blend of Viosinho (45%); Malvasia Fina (25%); Moscatel Galego Branco (15%) and Gouveio (15%) go?  It was a very sound match, with the desired freshness and enough body (it spends 6 months on lees) to work with all the elements of the dish, including the mushy peas and tartare sauce.

As the wine opened up, its (floral) Moscatel component became more pronounced, which did not sit so well with the dish.  So keep it cool if matching with fish & chips!

Glamorgan sausages with Cottas Reserva Branco 2012 (Douro)

The kitchen went rogue on the sausages.  Rather than being a white wine friendly combination of leek and Caerphilly cheese, they had gone down a Spanish route – lashings of smoked paprika and hearty bean stew.  So we won’t (and didn’t) talk about the food match!

Sourced from a vineyard planted at 550m next to Quinta do Romaneira, part (50+ year old) field blend vines/part block planted to Arinto, Rabigato, Viosinho & Codega vines, Claviere had chosen the Cottas for its texture and weight. I can see that this beautifully textured, harmoniously balanced wine would have met the brief perfectly had the classic recipe been executed.

To my mind, Portuguese white blends can be very flexible, sophisticated food partners.  They don’t pull in any particular direction, less still have overt fruit.

Glamorgan sausages with Casal Figueira António Vital 2013 (Lisboa)

Tutton – runner up – went for a favourite producer/wine.  As you can see from my interview with Marta Soares here, the story behind Casal Figueira and this wine is as compelling and authentic as the wine itself.

A star bright wine with perfumed naschi pear, lemony fruit, minerals and deftly integrated vanillin oak.  Unique too.

Sticky toffee pudding with Barbeito Single Cask Malvasia Madeira 2001

Barbeito is a favourite Madeira producer.  A modern classic, just like this match thanks to the dynamism of Ricardo Diogo V Freitas, the founder’s grandson and winemaker.  It’s like he captures this energy in the bottle.

Take note with Christmas coming up, Malvasia Madeira is a brilliant match for rich puddings.  I like to take a bottle to an annual Christmas lunch with friends – it’s a real game changer about perceptions of Madeira (including not just for Christmas, by the way), working brilliantly with the cheeseboard as well as Christmas pud.

The Barbeito’s nutty, citrus peel and caramel flavours complemented the sticky toffee pudding beautifully, whilst the island’s bracing acidity alleviated the richness.  Okay it’s not a miracle worker, but the pud did feel less calorific!  So McBride was onto a winner.

Since I snuck a rare bottle of Quinta do Ameal Special Harvest along to the London dinner, it was only right and proper (and a fine excuse) to take along another rarity from my cellar.

Now called Villa Oeiras, this modern example of Carcavelos won new friends.  Both for the story behind the wine (click here for a previous post about it) and the wine itself.  Portugal has some great stories to share!

Since I last tasted it (my note here), this fortified wine’s iodine and kelp notes have become more pronounced on the nose.  Overall, it is more complex, showing its place of origin (a stone’s throw from Lisboa’s coast) very strongly.  Stephenson observed – and I agree – the nose would take you to Madeira, but the palate is hard to place.

No surprises there because Carcavelos has little more than 25ha, so chances to taste the wines are few and far between.  Something Villa Oeiras is trying to combat.  Also because the winemaking method (and blend of grapes – Arinto, Galego Dourado & Ratinho) is unique to the region.  The must (de-stemmed grapes) is fermented to dryness, then fortified (77% proof versus Madeira’s 96% proof); fermenting grape must is then back blended for sweetness.  The wine was aged in cask for some 10 years.