Adegga Wine Market Saturday 4th July 2015 – some photos of wine and sushi

 

 The calm before the crowds arrive

Covela – fine Vinho Verde from vines close to the Douro

'Ricardo Bernardo's' brother presenting Niepoort wines 

2012 Ribera Sacra, Ladredo – Niepoort project 

2003 Escolha, San Joanne, Minho – yet another example of 

a Portuguese whiote that has aged well

2006 Quinta do Portal

Food and wine pairing in the Premium Room 

Oysters  – the first of an amazing range of fusion sushi from sushic

each paired with a different wine 

One of the sommeliers who chose and poured the wines 

Sushi master at work

The owner of Mood and sushic

The brilliant 1996 Redoma Branco from Niepoort

Pombal looks on @Adegga

2010 Douro, Legado – one of Portugal's most expensive reds 

More details to be added

Muscadet sur Tagus: Vinho ao Vivo

Tasters at Vinho ao Vivo Friday 3rd July 2015 right by the Tagus

Wine, producers and sailing boats 

Muscadet sur Tagus with Marc Olivier, Domaine de la Pépière

Pays Nantais 

 

The lovely 2014 Clos des Briards VV Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie 

It was a pleasure to taste Muscadet with Marc Olivier on a warm evening last Friday beside the Tagus. Although the straight domaine 2014 was attractive, the Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briards was a real step up – concentration, balance and finesse. At 9€ a bottle this is amazingly reasonably price for a wine that will give pleasure now but will last and evolve for many years. 

I also tasted Marc's fine 2012 Clisson Cru Communaux, which again underlined what good value these Cru Communaux are. Yours for 12.75€ to buy at the event.  

2012 Clisson Muscadet Sèvre et Maine 

Marc is happy with the way 2015 is shaping up so far

 – albeit there is a long way to go

Pedro Marques, Capucha, Lisboa 

It was Pedro Marques of Capucha, who kindly invited me to this event. I was very impressed by his 2013 Antão Vaz and, especially, the Arinto. I also enjoyed the 2013 Alvarinho that has three weeks of skin contact and was bottled in 2014. It has impressive length. Pedro says it is more Galician in style than a Vinho Verde. Pedro's vineyards are eight kilometres from the sea.   

Just before I left around 9.30pm when it started to get very crowded I also tasted Pedro's sweet wine – an Arinto from 2010 which was picked in one go in mid-October. I was impressed by its concentration and citric/apricot flavours. The 2010 is 30€, while you can have the 2010 to 2013 verical for 100€. 

I tasted some really interesting whites from Caves S.João based in Barrirada but which included a fascinating and richly textured Dão 1985 Porta dos Cavaleiros – another demonstration of how well Portuguese whites age. This is contrary to what many Portuguese wine drinkers believe preferring very young whites and dismiss any that a year or two of age.  

Vasco Croft of Aphros 

I tasted with Vasco Croft of Aphros and particularly liked his 2014 Loureiro Vinho Verde with its quite rich fruit matched with acidity. I finished by tasting his experimental 2014 Amphora, which is the first vintage when Vasco has used amphora. Made 80% Loureiro and 20% Vinhão this stayed four months in the amphora, which gives the white structure and tannin.   

João Roseira of Quinta do Infantado 

Very impressive and lovely 10 YO Tawny from Quinta do Infantado 

Impressive backdrop to the tasting: monument to Vasco da Gama 

#TDF2015: 2nd Stage for impressive Griepel – Sagan's turn in Le Havre?

Top 20 of the Stage into Amiens 

André Griepel again demonstrated his strength yesterday making a late run for the line taking the stage in Amiens from Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish. This year Sagan has been very fast in the sprints, while to date it hasn't worked out for Mark Cavendish. Yesterday he lost Mark Renshaw, his lead-out man, so didn't get a perfect launch for the line and went quite early giving Griepel and Sagan to surge past him close to the line. 

The list of all time TDF stage winners has been updated here to include André Griepel's victory in Amiens.
      

 Overall Top 20: no change with Tony Martin leading  

Further crashes in the wet weather saw French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni abandon. He had already crashed in the French Road Championships just before the start of the Tour    

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Stage 5: Abbeville - Le Havre (191.5) – I do like to be beside the seaside

Today's stage from Abbeville to Le Havre will be lumpy and potentially windy as much of the stage runs close to the sea. Although there are no big climbs – just three 4th Category climbs, the route will be constantly up and down as the profile shows. 

The finish in Le Havre with the sharp climb of the Côte d'Ingouville just before the line should suit punchers rather the pure sprinters. The short 850 metre climb averages 7% but there are parts at 14%. This could well be the day for Peter Sagan with John Degenkolb as another favourite. 

It will also be a day that the overall contenders will want to be close to the front, so that they don't lose any time to their rivals on the climb. 

Thankfully the forecast is for a dry sunny day but much cooler than it was for the Tour's start last Saturday and for a NNW wind gusting up to 30km. This could well blow the peloton apart, so not a relaxed day by the sea in prospect for the riders.