Errol Flynn...if he had been Portuguese
By Dan Coward
Sometimes a winery is just a winery is just a winery. There are barrels, there’s a room for the barrels, there’s a door to the room with the barrels. Well…you get the idea. And then other times you can come across a winery that just blows all the everyday stuff out of the water. Well next time you’re in Extremoz, about 2 hours from Lisbon (I know…that’s quite a big ask!), then you’d be well advised to seek out Quinta do Mouro for a completely different winery experience.
You’ll have to find it first which isn’t as easy as you’d think. On our excursion to the Alentejo region as part of the superb European Wine Bloggers Conference, our bus found the town of Extremoz without too much difficulty, but that’s where the trouble started. Unfortunately we were just too big to go down half of the tiny roads, or around tight corners. So we played chess with the winery, dancing around the sides, getting closer, then turning around and withdrawing. Inside our revolving bus, the temperature rose. It may have been November in Portugal but the mercury still managed to get up to 26 degrees. Finally we disembarked and were greeted by our man, who looked a lot like a cross between the BFG and Errol Flynn…with a Portuguese tan.
The wines of Quinta do Mouro
What followed was a quite brilliant piece of winery PR that had most of the group in stitches, vowing to seek out the Quinta do Mouro wines at the earliest available opportunity. Errol (sorry I can’t find his name in my notes) proceeded to go against perceived wisdom and abuse enologists, his own wine region, wine tasting and even his own wines. It was a virtuoso performance, but behind all the Wilde-like witticisms you could clearly see passion, common sense and a great range of wines backing up the bravado. Here are some of his choice pronouncements:
“I am a dentist. I only want an enologist in my winery to tell me what not to do. Then I do it anyway.”
“This is the worst wine region in Portugal.”
“Tasting wines like this is stupid. It means nothing without food. Bah! It’s a shit!”
“If you don’t know how to drive then you shouldn’t be allowed to drink.” (…ouch…)
We started with the Vinhao do Mouro 2007, which we were told not to waste too much time on, before moving onto the Casa dos Zagalos 2006. Featuring the grape Trincadeira (“I don’t like that either”), it had quite complex red fruit and a sheen to it. Berries, chocolate and some vegetal notes before quite a tannin-heavy finish.
A unique tasting with a special character
We stepped up a notch at this point with the Quinta do Mouro 2004, which had a lovely nose of violets, citrus, black fruit and pencil shavings. Juicy and refreshing with a nice punch to it. The Touriga Nacional 2006 was even more lifted with floral notes, black cherry and the glossiest texture. Errol confidently predicted that as it develops complexity those floral notes will move towards the mushroomy end of the spectrum.
Then after some light prodding he opened the Gold Label 2005, and the wine that made Mark Squires (of www.erobertparker.com) his friend, garnering 93-95pts along the way. Amazing flavours of chocolate raisins, caramel and blackberries and a strong charcoal/minerally character.
Apart from the Touriga, all the wines are blends, which he believes is really the only way to go for the region. We tasted through the various 2008 components, including Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah and even a rare cross called Centurion.
Tags: Douro, Portugal, Producer profile, Touriga Nacional, Travel
Sounds like a crazy son-of-a-gun. Any pictures of him?
Pictures are up now – what a fine specimen of a man he is!