Please note! Many of our past newsletter items came from a very limited stock and are no longer available. Please check our products page or contact us for availability.
THE BEST RED WINE OF PORTUGAL: BARCA VELHA AND RESERVA FERREIRINHA
You might think this is just a lapse in grammar, but no,
both BARCA VELHA and RESERVA
FERREIRINHA begin life as BARCA
VELHA. It is
only after prolonged bottle ageing and comparative tasting that these two
wines diverge and a vintage can be sold as Barca Velha and another as Casa
Ferreirinha Reserva. Barca Velha is the iconic red wine of Portugal: Portugal's
First Growth wine and, if you will, its "Grange"!
Curiously, both Barca Velha an d Grange are the creation of their respective
winemakers at about the same time and for the same reason: making the best
possible red wine from their vineyard sources after having visited Bordeaux.
Both winemaker's had wine making epiphanies visiting Bordeaux, an area so very
much unlike where either of them had to work. Fernando Nicoulau de Almeida,
the chief winemaker for Ferreira, a respected and historically famous port
firm, visited Bordeaux at harvest in 1950, much like Max Shubert the creator
of Grange did. They both saw what was done to make a long lived red wine, especially
with vinification and ageing techniques. Returning to their respective wineries
they set about changing their wine making. One returned to the Douro, the other
to South Australia. The history of Grange is well known. Barca
Velha is still
little known outside Portugal.
Barca Velha, is a table wine from the Douro region, known for Port, a fortified
wine, but an area largely unknown, and for a long time undiscovered and unrecognized,
for its table wines. Curiously, it is the red table wine of the Douro which
created Port in the 18th century in the first place.
I remember visiting the Ferreira lodge in June, 1977 and tasting my first Barca
Velha vintage, the 1966, under the watchful eye of Fernando Nicoulau de Almeida.
It was quite superb and I asked how the wine was made. He muttered in Portuguese
to his assistant "spies." But he came out with the methodology: Douro
grapes (not the varieties) from the best Upper Douro vineyards and good grapes
from the lower lying vineyards of the Lower Douro, which he said were necessary
for the finesse of the wine. The high grown grapes had too much body and flavor.
The lower vineyards diluted these and gave scent and elegance. (Lunching at
another port shipper's lodge, where I correctly named the Barca Velha 1966
served blind, the firm's managing director said he would give anything to make
port from the grapes that made Barca Velha.) Needless to say, a lot of Barca
Velha has been drunk at port shippers' tables, just to marvel at what Nicoulau
de Almeida did.
Much like vintage port, Barca Velha is sold only in exceptional years. The
years when it is not sold, it becomes what was originally sold as Casa
Ferreirinha Reserva Especial, now just Casa Ferreirinha Reserva. Since the decision to
sell a vintage as Barca Velha is made years after the vintage, the bottle shape
is the same and the corks are branded only with the vintage. Quite a sensible
solution to the question of the two wines. A case in point is the vintages
of the 1980s: Barca Velha was sold in 1981,1982,1983,1985. Reserva in 1980,
1984, 1989. Recent vintages are: Barca Velha 1995, 1991, Reserva 1994, 1989.
Barca Velha 1991 is still for sale. The 1995 has just been released. The
Reserva 1989 and the just released 1994 complement the Barca
Velha. The 1991 vintage
is quite a luscious thing and is a marvel of body, scent and flavor: an amalgam
of mulberries and creamy sweetness. It should be decanted. The just released
1995 still seems a bit disjointed, tannic and full but with charms that will
surely show with time.
The Reserva 1989 is getting a nice soft edge. Its black color does not shows
age. Ripeness and bottle aged character are very well blended and the wine
is a real pleasure to drink. The Reserva 1994 is a superb wine by any measure
with a marvelous aroma of spices, ripe berries, with that special scent of "esteva," the
gum cistus or rock rose, so typical of Douro reds, and an exquisitely balanced
flavor. It is a lovely wine.
These are red wines which merit serious attention. A lot of good red wines
are now being produced in the Douro and sold as such. Some are very fine, but
Barca Velha is the origin of fine Douro table wine and unique.
The name Ferreirinha, the diminutive of Ferreira, honors Dona Antonia
Adelaide Ferreira, the great lady of the Douro, much loved in the area, and
who was responsible for the firm's fortunes in the late 19th century.
Two other wines from Ferreira are delicious drinking and will give an inkling
of the quality of both Barca Velha and Reserva. They are the ESTEVA
2000 and the VINHA GRANDE 1997. Esteva is made to be relatively light and fruity
with the special scent of the Cistus lustitanicus, the rock rose, from which
it gets its name. Vinha Grande 1997 is more powerful in flavor, yet not overly
aggressive. It could be the younger brother of the Reserva 1994.
A
FAST, EASY, ELEGANT SUMMER DESSERT: LUXARDO BABA AL MARASCHINO
These small, raised dough Maraschino liqueur infused cakes from Italy are perfect
for summer entertaining. Just open their jar and serve with fresh berries,
peaches, nectarines or a combination of these fruits; add really good vanilla
ice cream, a little of the Maraschino liqueur from the jar and, quick as
a wink, a sophisticated, delicious dessert is on the table.
LUXARDO BABA AL MARASCHINO are perfect for camping trips, beach
vacations or just dessert in the backyard. About the size of a jumbo egg,
Luxardo Baba al
Maraschino is a modern take on an old Polish delicacy whose fame in Italy comes
through Naples. With its cherry based, clear eau de vie Maraschino liqueur
syrup, this ready to eat cake will make you a dessert chef just by opening
a jar. It contains 22 baba.
Luxardo Baba Al Maraschino $9.99 700
g jar (#2033)
FRANCOIS PEYROT LIQUEUR LA GRANDE CHAMPAGNE
Using young cognac from grapes grown on their 57 acre vineyard in Cognac's
Grande Champagne area, the Peyrot family produces a series of fresh fruit and
other liqueurs that are extraordinary. Essentially they are the maceration
of cherries, pears, blackberries and rose petals in young Grande Champagne
cognac. The fruit based liqueurs are quite wonderful, tasting of fresh fruit.
The ROSE AU COGNAC is my favorite. The barest of pink color extracted from
fresh rose petals highlights the liqueur's pale color. It is a heady, very
fragrant rose scent. The only other elements are distilled water and sugar
as a syrup to dilute and sweeten the alcohol. With an alcohol level of 21%,
it is just that of a fortified wine. Terrific as an after dinner drink, Rose
au Cognac can be used in dessert making, sweetening whipped cream or pastry
cream, or it can be enjoyed just lingering over it on a summer's evening. It's
seductive!
