50 Great Portuguese Wines | Sarah Ahmed

Tom Cannavan’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines – my picks of the bunch

Posted Wednesday 8th June 2011

Monday produced an embarrassment of vinous riches in the form of a vertical of Eben Sadie’s Sadie Family Columella followed by Tom Cannavan’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines and a wine dinner with Simon Burnell of Willow Bridge Estate, from the Ferguson Valley, Geographe, Western Australia. Cannavan (pictured) produces some of the most palate tickling tasting [...]

Revealed: Tom Cannavan’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines

Posted Monday 6th June 2011

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I’m looking forward to tasting Tom Cannavan’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines today and well remember the mix of excited anticipation and nerves which preceded the unveiling of my own selection of 50 Great Portuguese Wines last year! And looking at Tom’s list below, it’s great to see his endorsement of the leaps and bounds Portugal has made [...]

Tom Cannavan’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines: one week to go!

Posted Sunday 29th May 2011

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A week tomorrow Tom Cannavan’s selection of 50 Great Portuguese Wines will be unveiled in a tasting at the Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence in Belgravia, London and, on 6th June in Edinburgh at The Balmoral Hotel. Together with the annual New Douro tasting, this focused event is a great way to keep tabs on the dynamic [...]

Currais, that’s a good deal! Nick Dobson Wines’ discount

Posted Sunday 20th June 2010

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Nick Dobson Wines list some of my favourite Portuguese producers, Quinta dos Currais and Joao Brito e Cunha. Throughout June they’re offering 7.5% off wines when you spend £250+, 10% off when you spend £500+. Enter coupon code “june2010offer” in the checkout. You’ll find my Currais and Joao Brito e Cunha tasting notes here and here. Currais Red Reserve 2003 (a [...]

50 Great Portuguese Wines – passing the baton

Posted Thursday 17th June 2010

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Last January marked the start of my quest to select 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2010 and I’ve loved every minute of the journey: several trips to Portugal, a ton of tasting and, this year, presenting the fruits of my labour in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, yesterday’s final stop. Scotland is home to next year’s incumbent, [...]

Drum roll…my 50 Great Portuguese Wines

Posted Thursday 11th February 2010

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Now that it’s official, I can reveal the identity of my 50 Great Portuguese Wines below! Intrigued? Click here and, on my Portugal Regional Report page, you’ll find introductory text about my 50 Great quest under the 50 Great Portuguese Wines 2010 link, together with details about what informed my choices and tasting notes for [...]

Sampling Portugal head to toe, including a couple from Colares, Alvaro Castro, Anselmo Mendes, Soalheiro and some new names…

Posted Sunday 7th February 2010

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I’ve been maintaining a steady drip feed of reports about Portugal – the fruit of my tasting labours this last year in pursuit of my quest to select 50 Great Portuguese Wines. Reports have been based on producer visits, wine shows, a tasting at Lisbon’s Sala Ogival pictured (which is open to the public) and, [...]

Worship at the altar of Alentejo?

Posted Tuesday 10th November 2009

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Portugal’s UK market share still hovers around a measly 1%, though if you take a look at retailers’ lists, you can be sure that wines from the Alentejo region, which I’ve just visited, account for a fair percentage of them. Why? A clue lies in one of its nicknames, “the Australia of Portugal.” The building [...]

Eating humble pie

Posted Monday 31st August 2009

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August has been the humble pie season and I’ve had a double-helping! First, I said I’d never blog and here I am, writing my first blog! Second, I ditched my street cred, borrowed Sir Cliff Richard’s biography from my local library (really!) and headed out to his Algarve winery, Adega do Cantor, for an uncorked/unplugged [...]