With today's post my absolutely non-disturbing Pinot-dependency is getting more and more obvious! I
really must be totally Pinot-driven! Well, to most of you this won't be real news.
Anyway, but who on earth is drinking Pinot Noir from a wine country with
such a rich and diverse bounty of grape varietals like
Portugal??? This, or something like this, must have been on the mind
of the clerk in a rather well known wine shop in Lisbon a couple of weeks ago
when I explicitly asked for all Portugese Pinot Noirs they have. Perhaps he even had something a bit more "graphic" on his mind. Well, I surely would have deserved such thoughts. Ok, let's stop this Pinot-induced-paranoia and conclude with another filling anyway … Today's
Pinot Noir is my third from Portugal in total. The first one was the remarkable
Casal Sta. Maria Pinot Noir 2011 a bit north-west
of Lisbon. And there was Niepoort's slightly tricky Projectos Pinot
Noir 2011 from Douro region. Today, I am back in Lisboa. Round about
30 minutes north of the Portugese capital the Quinta da Sant'Ana produces an assessable range of wines made from quasi locals like Verdelho, Alvarinho or Touriga Nacional as well as "aliens" like Merlot, Pinot Noir and Riesling since the year 2004. The grapes for my Pinot Noir were culitvated on steep slopy
calcareous-clay soils in a quite cool hill region just about 12km
from the Atlantic Ocean. The grapes were hand-picked, partly crushed by traditional
foot treading in Lagares and macerated before allowing natural yeasts
to begin the fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The subsequent one year ageing took place
in used French barriques. And here we go. Pinot No. 3 from Portugal ...
Transparent the Quinta da Sant'Ana
Pinot Noir 2014 surely was! Well, sort of! It showed rather vivid
seeming viscosity, too. Its actual hue was pretty dark though,
slightly faint and in the coronal region already dark-red-brown'ish.
An unusual colour (-combination) for a Pinot Noir. Its nose was
dominated by – for my understanding, which is of course highly limited and
totally stubborn – a bit too warm appearing dark berries (all the way up to
blueberries). Even slightly boiled ones, I am afraid. The whiff of
pimento sardines (quite suitable in this case … believe me), thyme, some
salt and some black pepper were much more likeable than these rich
and fruitful attributes. Luckily its taste wasn't that boiled at all!
Even the fruit seemed slightly brighter … brighter in many ways. I
thought I was under the impression to taste very ripe strawberries,
some cassis and ripe – not too juicy – plums. Besides these
fruitful components I got a certain hint of caramel, a bit of tobacco, some shy
autumnal foilage and most thankfully – on my behalf – with given
time (about 2 hours after opening) a slight pinch of Lisboa sea
salt. Overall I got a quite soft and mostly velvety oral sensation.
Perhaps a bit too soft and polished. Anyway, the Pinot's acid was
relatively mild, oak as well as alcohol not all too ubiquitous and
the finish was all in all pretty fine. Not really long, nor really
subtle … but fine! To me a slightly too warm and easy-going Pinot,
however absolutely worth to try. Well I guess, perhaps I am not that
mad at all. So far I had three mostly interesting Pinots
Noirs from Portugal on my tounge. Really quite good ratio considering that
there probably no more than ten different Pinots in Portugal. I will continue. I'd see
this one something between so la-la*** and decent***.
Next time I will send my tongue to Bella Italia.
More precise to Chianti, and not really to Chianti ... you'll see.
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