Making wine at J.M. da Fonseca’s José de Sousa in Portugal seems, from what I can discern, like a huge pain the ass. First, they’re fans of lagare foot-treading their grapes, an effort that is full of, well, effort. Next, when they do use basket presses, they’re covered in a specially approved blue paint that…
Category: crowd pleaser wines
Wine in the Time of Coronavirus, Part 9 (Tenuta Sette Cieli Bolgheri Recent Releases)
On the border of Bolgheri, within sight of the legendary Sassicaia and equally-legendary Ornellaia, nestled in Tuscany’s gorgeous and golden-lit rolling hills, protected by surrounding forests, sits the former horse ranch and now premium wine producer Tenuta Sette Cieli. I know that those rolling Sette Cieli hills are gorgeous because I’ve seen them. Over Zoom…
Alentejo Postcard, Part 4 (or “The Cake Doesn’t Need Icing” – Tasting Cortes de Cima)
When you visit Alentejo’s Cortes de Cima (as I did late in 2019 on a media jaunt), you realize that their geese are more than just “a loud alarm system” (as Winemaking Director Hamilton Reis put it). Those geese also eat vineyard pests, like slugs and snails. That’s not the only traditional thing that Cortes…
Alentejo Postcard, Part 3 (Herdade do Rocim Recent Releases)
According to general manager and oenologist Pedro Ribeiro, Herdade do Rocim has “probably the most expensive amphorae in the world.” Rocim sent clay from their ancient vats – a staple of aging wine in Alentejo for centuries – to a university in Montpelier for analysis, in order to create newer amphorae that had the same…
