André and I met up at the Garrafeira Alfaia in the Barrio Alto last night for a convivial evening of la modération. We kicked off with a bottle of Filipa Pato's excellent white – 2013 Nossa Calcario made from Bical. It was a little too cool when the cork was first pulled and needed time to open up, so Nossa went into a carafe. The 2013 Nossa has lovely crisp balance and even when relatively warm an hour or more later it still had impressive acidity.
André lurking at the bar's entrance
Side label sponsored by an optician
André uploading the photo at the beginning of this post
to celebrate Luiz Alberto's birthday
Fine selection of hams
Pedro Jorge: owner of the bar and its attached restaurant
After Filipa's Nossa we moved onto the 2004 Meruge from Lavradores de Feitoria. It is good to see that Pedro stocks some older vintages. The 2004 was showing very well – nicely balanced with quite a rich texture but certainly not overblown. A light spicy and gamey character gave the wine extra complexity. Drinking very well now it still plenty of life, so could happily kept a number of more years.
We concluded our evening of restraint with a couple of small glasses of white Port in the spirit of research.
The very impressive and complex:
Andresen 10-Year-Old White Port
Viera de Sousa: rich but without complexity of Andresen
- Port and water....
