More White from the West: Bacalhoa JP Azeitao Branco 2010, Peninsula de Setubal and a Old Acquaintance from Palatinate

Today was probably the last summer-like day over here in the South of Germany! The last chance for another crisp white from the Iberian Peninsula. So far I had quite a lot of positively surprising wines made of Godello, Albariño and so on. However this one was probably the most polarizing and most problematic wine. At least for me! I mean the Bacalhoa JP Azeitao Branco 2010 from Peninsula de Setubal not so far from Lisbon. More precise: a white blend made of Moscateis (the Setubal version of Moscatel) and Fernao Pires (a very common autochthons grape varietal mostly in Tejo and Bairrada regions).

The colour of the JP showed a straight bright green-yellow hue. The nose had a lot of jasmine tea, fresh cut flowers, hints of petrol, a bit sweet’ish lemon impressions and quite a lot of nanna’s toilet cake perfumes. In my opinion a very strong and a bit unnerving nose! The taste was not my cup of wine! I got plenty of low grade lemon tea pellets flavours, some lemon based detergents, strong and over-perfumed lemons and a bit too much sweetness. A very strong, aromatic and slightly diffuse Moscateis impressions. Very challenging and pretty aftermath afflicted (headache). I guess a wine for lovers of very aromatic, citrus flowery and ‘grapey’ wines! The actual quality might be not that bad! For me definitely the weakest of all those fresh whiteies from the west! 

 

Luckily there was some alleviation from Bernd Philippi present:

Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Philippi Pinot Blanc 2004, Landwein Rhein (Pfalz)

Astonishing light yellow colour. The nose had a bit of vanilla, some gentle oak and a lot of exotic fruits like persimmon and maracuya. At first I got some weird fragrances of dried fish and herbs. This impression vanished after approx. one hour. Lucky again! The taste appeared very fruitful, very exotic, tender and quaffable. Very much unlike most Philippi wines, I suppose. Later more and more salty and mineral (white chalky stones) features evolved. The length was fine, but not really remarkable. A very juicy and fast depleting ;-) Pinot Blanc with an overall pleasing style and structure.