Vinologia

While in Porto I visited a small wine bar called Vinologia (also known as La Maison des Porto) located in the heart of Porto very close to the ribeira. The owner and founder, Jean-Philippe Duhard, is a Frenchman who fell in love with the wonderful ports of the Douro over ten years ago. It is probably better described as a port bar as this small, cozy place serves nothing but port offering over 200 different bottlings of port.

I was also planning on visiting Solar do Vinho do Porto, the port bars operated by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto but unfortunately they were closed on the day I chose to visit. As a result I can't really write about them with any of my experiences in mind - which is a pity.

Vinologia, while smaller that Solar do Vinho do Porto, is a fantastic place to taste port offering a number flights of different ports for tasting. It also has any number of bottles open on any given day including a vintage port. Each flight of port (or single glass for that matter) is offered along with a small bowl with saltanas and chocolates.

For mine, the most impressive aspect of this port bar is the commitment to the sales and promotion of the smaller, individual producers. This is unlike Solar do Vinho do Porto, which is somewhat more focused on the larger producers, and the better known ports.

I also found it interesting that the employees of Vinologia don't consider it to be just a port bar / port store, but rather they consider it to be a port school. The flights of port offered are also graded in beginner, intermediate, and advanced etc. The staff were also extremely helpful and willing to share their knowledge.

Vinologia also has a lot of rustic appeal, with every nook and cranny filled with port bottles, port books, and other wine utilties. The port bottles hanging from the ceiling, and the tables and benches made from the lids of port cases adds to the appeal. You can see the coziness of the bar in the photos above and left.

This bar, in my view, is a place you must visit during your next trip to Porto. In fact, I would recommend visiting it a number of times just as I did when I was there!

2002 Little River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Little River Winery is a tiny 15 acre winery owned and run by Count Bruno and his wife Jan de Tastes. It is located in the Swan Valley, some thirty minutes from Perth. The winery is run applying old world-style principles with new world technologies. The utmost is done to ensure wines of high quality; the vines are not irrigated, the fruit is hand picked and a traditional Basket Press is used to press the fruit.

I visited this Swan River winery while back in Australia and I must say I was very impressed across the entire range; both whites and reds. This is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, a traditional Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon (50%), merlot (40%) and cabernet franc (10%). The wine has been aged in French oak for five years and does not undergo any fining or filtering processes.

Here is my tasting note:

Deep red in colour. A lovely elegant nose of red berry fruit with hints of mint and oak. Plenty of spicey red cherry fruit on the palate with hints of mint, eucalypt and some caramel-like oak. Great mouth-feel with grippy tannins. Smooth and well balanced. Spicey cherry lingers nicely on the finish. This is an excellant effort that is lovely drinking now, but definitely has cellaring potential.

Downloadable Aroma Cards

Alder from the Vinography blog has a handy, downloadable aroma card for those who would like some additional help finding descriptors for the aromas etc. in the wine they are tasting. It's available free of charge (a donation is welcome if you find it useful), in colour or black / white, and in Francais, English, Español, and Italiano. I'll be trying these out during my WSET course which starts next month.