The Enthusiast - November 2024
It’s November and the Fellas mustaches are growing thicker, helped along by some great wine and long nights. We’re dusting off our slow cooker, have bought an extra decanter and are polishing the silver in excited anticipation of those long, rambling winter get togethers. Of course, all that needs a bit of lubrication, so we’ve got some new wines and some old faves in this month’s box that we are sure you will love.
Wine descriptions below, and if you run out, you can order more from The Cellar.
Don’t forget, you can look up past boxes in The Archive.
Luís Pato, Colheita Selecionada Maria Gomes
[grape/vintage] Maria Gomes / 2016,2023
[region] Bairrada
Look up value for money in the dictionary and it says “Luis Pato”. The guy just knows how to bottle it. This is one of the best, most-drinkable table whites you’ll find. It’s a fruit orchard wrapped in a lemon slice and filtered through decades of good living.
Pairs well with a fresh grilled sea bream à bulhão pato, clams in a rich garlicky broth or a big outdoor garden party.
Read more about it in The Cellar.
Abegoaria dos Frades, Moreto Preto
[grape/vintage] Moreto Preto / 2022
[region] Alentejo
It’s a monastery somewhere in the middle of the 17th century, somewhere in the Alentejo, around midday. It’s hot and the flies are buzzing lazily. A monk has fallen asleep in the courtyard after his simple lunch of Alentejano bread and hard sheep’s cheese. A goatskin of wine lies next to the monk, it’s dark red juice spilling onto the flagstones. Pretty soon the abbot will come by and kick the monk up the backside but for now he’s dreaming of being fed fresh cherries and toasted pinenuts by scantily-clad nymphs.
Pairs well with some classic Alentejo cuisine like migas and slow-cooked black pork cheeks or anything off the bbq.
Read more about it in The Cellar.
Quinta Vale de Fornos, Reserva Syrah
[grape/vintage] Syrah / 2015
[region] Tejo
Dig your fingers into the freshly-turned soil of these low Tejo hills and take in the view of the river making its way along the alluvial plains. Feel the sun on your back and smell the fruit bushes creeping beneath the weather-beaten, centuries-old quinta with its cracked deep terracotta stucco walls. The calm is deep and intense and earthy and its 15% ABV is smoothly wrapped in blackberry and red fruits.
Pairs well with roast beef with potatoes and carrots; venison with a red wine sauce; a cheese plate leaning towards Stilton and Aged Manchego
Read more about it in The Cellar.