Tag: portugal

  • Consult Our Wine Collection Before You Shop for Bottles of Bubbles!

    Our Sparkling Resolution gives us an advantage when it comes to choosing a bottle of bubbles for New Year's Eve. We start each month with a glass of sparkling wine

    We share those wine selections with you in our wine collection. 

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    You'll find Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Crémant, plus bubbles from places including Portugal, California, Oregon, and Massachusetts on our wine list.

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    We find something to toast each time the 1st comes around. Maybe it's a good thing that happened in the past month or something we're looking forward to in the month ahead. Or, perhaps the 1st of the month finds us in a special place where we've discovered a special bottle.

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    Most of the time, our choice is a great value we've bought on sale or a moderately priced treat.

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    Occasionally, we'll indulge in a special wine for a special occasion or celebration. 

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    If you're looking for something to serve to a crowd or a special bottle to share with a special person, we have made our list and you can check it twice, three times, or as often as you'd like.  

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    As you toast 2015, consider joining the Sparkling Resolution we made back in 2007 and begin each month with a glass of lively bubbles. 

    Cheers!

    Here’s More About Our Sparkling Resolution

    And, Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

    Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here are three of our favorite wine books.

    The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

    The New Wine Lover's Companion

    The Wine Bible


    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2001-2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino  


  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino  


  • Expand Your Wine Comfort Zone: Sampler Cases

    In February, we bought a sampler case of Kermit Lynch wines from Bauer Wine & Spirits. We are long-time fans of both the ledgendary importer and of our neighborhood wine shop where Howie Rubin has been pointing us to great wines for 20 years. 

    Kermit lynch

    Sampler cases are a good way to expand your wine comfort zone.

    When curated by an able wine merchant, sampler cases can be an education about a country, an importer, or a type of wine. If you shop stores that offer these attractive sets of wine, sign up for emails on their offerings. 

    Bauer offers samplers on a regular schedule. Their customers have explored the Iberian wines (Portugal & Spain), rosés, single vineyards like Montes in Chile, seasonal selections for warm and cold days, and holiday samplers that put the right wines in your rack for a variety of guests.

    These selections are often outstanding values because the store can purchase in greater quantity knowing that they will sell this group of wines quickly. The Kermit Lynch case, two bottles each of six wines, was offered at sale price plus an additional 15% discount. 

    We plan to feature other sampler opportunities in the weeks ahead. If you have a favorite wine shop sampler, let us know in the comments below or send us an email. Some shops do full cases, others offer 6-packs.

    And, we have an upcoming post scheduled about one of the wines in this sampler.

     

    Love wine? Join our Our Sparkling Resolution

    Check Out: Our wine List

    Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here's, The Food Lover's Guide to Wine the latest addition to our wine reference shelf. Here's a great interview and review of this book over on Taste of the Past.

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

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