Manuel Jose Colares MJC Colares Branco 2009
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Bright gold. On the nose, white flowers, beeswax, honey, dried and roasted orchard fruits, seaweed and iodine. On the palate, broad and rich, cut through with bracing acidity and minerality. Savory and floral, with pronounced umami character on the finish.
Pair with richer seafood, paella, or harder aged cheeses.
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Wine & Spirits
This is young-vine malvasia grown in coastal sands on the westernmost point of the Iberian peninsula, where the region’s vineyards, once renowned for long-lived wines, have mostly been replaced by beach homes. This was fermented in stainless steel, left for four months on the lees, then racked before aging in tank for three years. It’s since grown into a plump, toasty white with scents of iodine and kelp. There’s a spiciness that lasts; Assistant Editor Deanna Gonnella, who has a soft spot for Colares, placed this one with “a big bowl of little clams and toasted bread to dip in it.”
The Colares appellation is one of the hidden gems of Portugal. Its wines are known for enormous potential for longevity. Although today they are much more difficult to find, at one time the wines from Colares were the standard bearer for age-worthy vins de garde in Portugal. To wit – in 1930, the appellation had more than 3000 hectares planted to vine. Today, after many 150-200 year old vineyards were ripped up to make room for beachfront construction, only 18 hectares are left, producing extremely low yields from primarily pre-phylloxera vines – today, the entire DOC produces fewer than 8000 bottles a vintage. Making wine in Colares is a labor of love, as this appellation doesn’t lend itself to an easy growing season. Humid and foggy most of the season, most of the region is green and fertile. Where the vines are planted, however, are the sand dunes west of Lisbon, right on the Atlantic. The hallmark of the region are the maritime nortada winds that constantly buffet the vines, necessitating low-trained plants and a system of walls to protect the fruit from too much wind and sea spray. The humidity, too, makes maturation of the long-cycle varieties grown there extremely difficult.
In 1999, an organization named Fundaçao Oriente bought the 9 hectare property once owned by the grower Manuel Jose Colares with the aim of saving the appellation from extinction. Bolstering its altruistic mission is the fact that the property now employs dozens of workers who have had grave financial difficulties, giving them a chance to get their lives back on track. Now, Olé & Obrigado has been given access to the library vintages of these wines, enabling the sale of winery-aged, mature Colares wines that showcase the ageability of this once proud appellation.
Persistent with jasmine aromas and tropical fruit flavors, both grape and name are far-reaching. Approximately 70 registered grapes contain Malvasia as part of their name or are listed as a synonym. The French call it Malvoisie, Germans call it Malvasier, British say Malmsey and confusingly one variety double-times under the alias, Boal, on the island of Madeira. In any case, Italy has more forms of Malvasia than any other country: Malvasia Bianca di Candia, Malvasia di Candia Aromatico and the red-skinned Malvasia di Casorzo from Piedmont. The list goes on. Somm Secret—The actual name could stem from an Italian mispronunciation of Monemvasia, a southern Greek port.
Best known for intense, impressive and age-worthy fortified wines, Portugal relies almost exclusively on its many indigenous grape varieties. Bordering Spain to its north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean on its west and south coasts, this is a land where tradition reigns supreme, due to its relative geographical and, for much of the 20th century, political isolation. A long and narrow but small country, Portugal claims considerable diversity in climate and wine styles, with milder weather in the north and significantly more rainfall near the coast.
While Port (named after its city of Oporto on the Atlantic Coast at the end of the Douro Valley), made Portugal famous, Portugal is also an excellent source of dry red and white Portuguese wines of various styles.
The Douro Valley produces full-bodied and concentrated dry red Portuguese wines made from the same set of grape varieties used for Port, which include Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Spain’s Tempranillo), Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão, among a long list of others in minor proportions.
Other dry Portuguese wines include the tart, slightly effervescent Vinho Verde white wine, made in the north, and the bright, elegant reds and whites of the Dão as well as the bold, and fruit-driven reds and whites of the southern, Alentejo.
The nation’s other important fortified wine, Madeira, is produced on the eponymous island off the North African coast.