Cortes de Cima

Turning of the leaves and St. Martin’s Day

Carrie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:21:40 +0000

É dia de São Martinho;  comem-se castanhas, prova-se o vinho.

(It is St. Martin’s Day, we’ll eat chestnuts, we’ll taste the wine.)

It’s early November, and fall has finally caught up with the Alentejo. The long indian summer has come to an abrupt end, heralded by a snap cold northern wind and the sight of the vineyard leaves turning rustic hues of gold, brown and red - all the colours of a New England fall landscape. 11^th November in Portugal is the Day of St. Martin (Sao Martinho) and traditionally associated with eating chestnuts and having the first taste of the year’s new wines. Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier who was baptized as an adult and later became a monk. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the man from dying of the cold.

So if you want to try our new wines, as well as the old ones, there will be plenty of chances during the coming winter months to do so! Look forward to meeting you at some of them!

Lisbon, Nov. 13-16 Encontro com o Vinho - (The ‘must attend’ annual wine event. A great opportunity to taste everything that Portugal can offer under 1 roof, and with the winemakers present themselves! Our winemaking team will be there in force! )

Lisbon, December 8th Adegga Wine Market (We will be pouring our wines at this new consumer oriented wine tasting where you can taste and buy wines)

Cortes de Cima, December 12th Annual Danish Christmas Lunch and Wine Tasting at the Winery (A lovely pre-xmas outing to the Alentejo to help you get into the yuletide spirit!)

Alentejo Live Wine Blogging - Now Live on YouTube!

Carrie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:04:42 +0000

We did it! We did it! Portugal’s very 1st Live Wine Blogging direct from the Alentejo! Despite a slow old-fashioned DSL connection on the Alentejan end, our Skype/ webcam communication between Cortes de Cima, Alentejo and Sala Ogival, Lisbon went without interruptions, and very little noise interference! And, blessing of all blessings, without any of Cortes de Cima’s usual and frequent power cuts from the national grid!

A special thanks to all from Cortes de Cima who helped out, including Jose Eduardo who single-handedly held down the Lisbon fort, and to all of you Live Bloggers who took the time before the 2nd European Wine Bloggers Conference and joined in both at the winery and in Lisbon - including Luiz Alberto The Wine Hub, Michael Oudyn Wine Tripping, Jim Budd Jim’s Loire , Wink Lorch Wine Travel Guides, Per Karlsson BK Wine, Justin Roberts Jerez Wine, Brett Jones Wine Maestro, Jason Mancebo 20$wineblog and Sam Ockman 1000corks.

Wine Blogging is going Live!

Carrie — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:54:34 +0000

The invasion has started! From all directions…Brits, Americans, Spanish, French… coming by air…by car…by train… to the first ever Portuguese Live Wine Blogging Event, being held simultaneously here at the winery of Cortes de Cima , and also in Lisbon at the Sala Ogival!

We are busy running around, checking out our WIFI connections, opening wines, and getting ready to greet the guests, both here and in Lisbon. If all goes as planned, we will be able to communicate between the Alentejan and the Lisbon tastings via Skype + Webcam. Via this internet connection our winemaking team here at Cortes de Cima will be able to intermingle with both the group of Bloggers gathered at the winery and the group gathered at Sala Ogival in Lisbon.

The Bloggers, whether in Alentejo or in Lisbon, will be busy doing the ‘Live’ part of the Live Wine Blogging - tasting our full range of wines, and twittering and blogging about each wine as they are tasted.

Wish us luck! And for all you participating bloggers - please don’t forget to sign our Guest Book (in the comments here) !

Winemaking in Real Time from the Alentejo

Carrie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:40:13 +0000

Vintage is over! Long live the Vintage! For those of you who missed it this year, or for those of you who experienced it, but want to experience it again, and again, this short video we uploaded to YouTube is just for you! Hope you enjoy it, and start dreaming about Vintage 2010, like we already do…..

90 points for Reserva 04 at the Octavian Vaults Library Collection Tasting

Carrie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:42:08 +0000

And now for some ‘old’ news and some ‘new’ news! First the ‘new’ news is that we have again entered the 2nd edition of the IWC Wine Library Collection tasting, or now with a new fancier name, The Octavian Vaults Library Collection(2009), and once again for 2nd year running, come out with high marks on our entered wines!

Cortes de Cima Reserva 2004 - 90 points. - ’Good youthful cedar with attractive spicy oak. Ripe fruit with a spicy dill finish.’ Drinking Window: Now to 2011

Last year’s Competition results, Cortes de Cima Reserva 1998 - 90 points - and Cortes de Cima Reserva 2003 - 88 points

How well does an Alentejan age?

Carrie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:24:37 +0000

Cortes de Cima Reserva 2004 - 90 points. - ’Good youthful cedar with attractive spicy oak. Ripe fruit with a spicy dill finish.’ Drinking Window: Now to 2011

Now the ‘old’ news, I we will recycle the news from an earlier post, with the results of last year’s ‘Library Collection’ tasting, the first time this competition was ever staged. ’Old’ news, but still of interest, if you are lucky enough to have these wines in your cellar!

Cortes de Cima Reserva 1998 - 90 points - ‘Big, ripe, smoky, showing some development with ripe, sweet fruit on the palate and generous acidity, fine tannins and a long, sweet finish. Drink now through 2012.’

Cortes de Cima Reserva 2003 - 88 points - ‘Showing some maturity, black cherry and smoky character on the nose. Quite rounded with crisp acidity. Good length and intensity. Drink now through 2012.”

Vintage Report 2009

Carrie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:34:48 +0000

Synopsis: A cold wet winter, and a warm summer, free of heat spikes. Budbreak, flowering and harvest - all record 2 weeks early! Despite the early start for the whites, we slowed down for the reds and the best fruit was harvested at the end of the harvest, gaining more phenolic ripeness.

Our 14^th harvest. Quantity at 950 tons, was 5% above last year despite smaller yields due to larger vineyard areas coming into bearing. A good year for Aragonez, Trincadeira, Petit Verdot, and Viognier. A very good vintage, though not as excellent as 2008.

An exceptionally cold winter, one of the coldest in 19 years, and a rare snowfall in January! Rainfall was normal at 500mm, mostly concentrated in the winter months, followed by a dry and warm spring and summer. In contrast to chilly January, an unseasonal ‘heat spell’ in February with temperatures in the low 20s triggered a record early budbreak 26^th February. Weather during the all important period of flowering in May, alternated between warm and dry, and cold and rainy, resulting in uneven pollination and low fruit set in some varieties. Summer arrived in early May only interrupted by a brief cooling down in mid June, to pick up again and continue non-stop through mid- October. A very hot period in early August when temperatures averaged 25º kick-started the exceptionally early harvest date.

On August 11^th,2 weeks earlier than last year’s Vindima, harvest started with the picking of Viognier and Verdelho. The early harvest was essential to capture the acidity and good fruit in the whites, and we are particularly excited about Viognier, which is only our 2^nd harvest of this promising variety. Due to the new areas coming into bearing (a total of 11 ha), our white grape harvest was twice the size of last years, including Antao Vaz, Viognier, Verdelho and Semillon.

20th August with some hesitation, we started harvesting our reds, Syrah and Trincadeira. As the first grapes harvested came in with a high sugar level but unsatisfactory phenolic ripeness, we slowed down the harvest tempo, betting that the good weather would continue - a calculated risk, which fortunately paid off as the weather was with us! Trincadeira seems to be quite an exceptional quality this year, as does Aragonez and Petit Verdot. Aragonez in past years, has shown a tendency to ’shut down’ during excessive heat spells. But this year, the growing season was free of any extreme heat waves, and the Aragonez has done very well, with very even ripeness, although with smaller bunches and lower production.

Harvest came to an end after 45 days (6 weeks) on September 25^th. Although yields were generally lower and bunches smaller, total tons picked was 949, up 5% from a year earlier, due to some new vineyards coming into bearing (total 127 ha). The harvest workforce ranged from 7 to 50. The lovely harvest weather allowed us to set the tempo, staying generally warm and fine with cool, dry nights, interrupted for only a brief interlude by some thunderstorms and rain.

Grapes harvested were 93% red and 7% white. Breakdown by variety in 2009 is for reds - Syrah 40%, Aragonez (Tempranillo) 34(%, Touriga Nacional 8,5%, Petit Verdot 4%, Alicante Bouschet 5,6%, Trincadeira 4%. Breakdown for whites - Antão Vaz 30%, Semillon 30%, Viognier18 %, and Verdelho 12%.

History in our midst and Columbus was Portuguese!

Carrie — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:38:21 +0000

Hordes of foreign journalists and winebloggers are soon to descend upon the Alentejan plains. October 24^th-26^th is the 3^rd edition of Vinipax, a wine fair held in Beja, showcasing wine producers from Southern Portugal. We look forward to having a chance to chat with and show our wines to a bevy of foreign journalists, including Kristine Baeder and Peer Holm (Germany), Sarah Ahmed and Michael Whiteside (UK), Romain Batha and Lylian Turmes (Luxembourg), Jorge Lucki (Brazil) and Freddie Grimwood (Canada) who have been invited for this firsthand experience of southern Portuguese wines.

Shortly afterwards, Cortes de Cima will be opening our cellarroom doors to wine bloggers from far and wide, who will be attending the 2^nd European Wine Bloggers Conference,taking place in Lisbon 30^th Oct-1^st Nov. Direct from the winery, we will be staging a Live Wine Blogging event, whereby wine bloggers will be able to taste our wines and Live Blog or Twitter simultaneously with a group of other wine bloggers at the Sala Ogival, Lisbon. We are quite excited about staging this ‘first ever’ Portuguese Live Wine Blogging event!

And to you foreign visitors, we hope you will take a moment to reflect about the long and impressive history in our midst, when you visit these magnificent Alentejan plains. Many great men have been here before you! Julius Caesar imposed his ‘Pax Julia‘ here in the year 48- 2 millenniums ago. António Raposo Tavares, a native son of Beja, was one of the greatest colonial explorers and bandeirantes of South America. Another son of Alentejo, Vasco da Gama who discovered the route to India, was established as Conde (Count) of Vidigueira in 1519 upon his return from this epic voyage.

But without a doubt Alentejo’s most famous son is ironically known worldwide not as an Alentejan, but as an Italian from Genoa! Christopher Columbus born as Cristovao Colon in our neighboring village of Cuba!

Live Wine Blogging direct from the Alentejo

Carrie — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:14:05 +0000

The clock is ticking, the days are passing by quickly until wine bloggers from around the globe descend upon Lisbon for the 2nd European Wine Bloggers Conference, October 30-Nov 1st. Cortes de Cima, the pioneer of Winery Bloggers in Portugal, is an active supporter of this upcoming conference, just as we were of the past one in Rioja (attended by Jose Eduardo), and the WBC Conference in June 2009 in Santa Rosa, Ca (attended by Carrie).

In our enthusiasm for all things Web 2.0, we have organized a Pre-conference daytrip to Cortes de Cima, the day before the conference starts, and invited all conference attendees. (That invitation is of course also open to any other Portuguese wine bloggers, who for whatever reason, are not able to attend the EWBC on the following weekend in Lisbon. If you can come please send us an email!)

The winery visit will consist of a vineyard and winery tour, buffet lunch, and will culminate with a first ever LIVE WINE BLOGGING session direct from Alentejo. What that means, is that we will open our full range of wines from the entry level Courela to our top Reserva. Bloggers can log onto our wi-fi and will taste, review, and blog or Tweet about our wines, all while interacting directly with our team of winemakers on hand, there to tell about the wines, and answer any questions. We hope they will also have time to enjoy the breathtaking views from our tasting room across our own vineyards and the rolling Alentejan plains! Hope you can make it!

5 Danes and Mariza (no ugly duckling)!

Carrie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:28:29 +0000

2005 was the bicentennial of the birth of the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. To assist with the worldwide celebrations, the Danish ambassador to Portugal at the time and a personal friend of ours, Ambassador Theis Truelsen, asked us to help come up with a special commemorative wine which could be used for the celebrations of the event in Portugal. Hans had just the wine, a specially selected lot of Syrah (100%) from the 2003 vintage. Luckily our label designer Karen Blincoe (who happens to be Hans’ cousin), a renowned graphic artist and her daughter Anna Blincoe, (the fine artist behind the stunning illustrations on all our labels), were happy to meet the challenge to come up with a special label for the cause. Anna Blincoe painted a portrait of Hans Christian Andersen based on an Andy Warhol sketch, and her mother Karen Blincoe combined it with the text from a story which Hans Christian Andersen wrote during his visit to Portugal in 1866, called ‘The Toad‘ (original title - Skrubtudsen). Hans Christian Andersen, who travelled extensively through Europe in the mid 1800’s, actually stayed in Portugal for 3 months, and referred to the country as ‘the earthly paradise’. He found inspiration for many of his stories here. Mariza, the fabulous Portuguese fado singer was honorably nominated ‘Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador’ to Portugal for the yearlong celebrations in 2005.

During her inaugural ceremony, she revealed that the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales which had been told to her as a child, were inspiration for many of her songs. The wine served during this ceremony with Mariza was of course, our special Homenagem to Hans Christian Andersen wine, created for the event. So 5 Danes joined forces to create this special wine - Hans Christian the storyteller, Hans Kristian the winemaker, Karen the designer, Anna the artist, and Theis the Ambassador, plus Mariza of course! Due to popular demand, we continue to launch the brand ‘Homangen to Hans Christian Andersen‘ every time we have a special lot of 100% varietal Syrah, of a quality level between our entry level Syrah and our high end Incógnito i.e. in 2003, 2004 and now again in 2007.