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Four solid QPR WINNER from Portugal – imported by Allied Importers
Recently, I saw posts from Allied Wine Importers about Portuguese wines they were importing. I had tasted the 2022 Solar das Boucas Loureiro in Israel and posted it. I thought that would be the end of it and then I saw these posts from Allied and I had to try them. I emailed Shai Ghermezian and he was very kind to send me the wines. As always, I stated, in the email, I would post what I taste, but I already knew one of them was a WINNER.
I received the wines and let them sit for almost two weeks and then I opened them this past Shabbat. The last time I had a tasting where every wine won the QPR WINNER score, was Covenant. In the end, this is impressive and great work by Allied to get these wines here and price them well.
All four of these wines were great from opening until finishing and that is proof of a good wine. Further, these wines are not for keeping. The Alvarinho may evolve a bit more, but even if you leave it open for a few hours you will get much of what may or may not appear in a year. Buy these wines and enjoy them, leave other wines for the cellar.
My thanks to Shai Ghermezian for sending me the wines and letting me taste them. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here. The wine notes are in the order the wines were tasted:
2022 Godin Vihno Tinto, Red, Douro – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine would be impossible in a blind tasting, buy it and test your friends, good luck! The nose of this wine wants to take you to Israel, no it is not date juice, at all, but is it ripe, yes! Still, the acidity, the minerality, the tart, the refreshment of it, it is just an obvious old-world wine, but go ahead and guess it! With floral notes, blue and red fruit, smoke, flint, graphite, rock, loam, and root beer, good lord!
The mouth of this full-bodied wine takes you to Israel, but then you run away, once the acidity and minerality slam you in the face, followed by rich boysenberry, plum, dark raspberry, hints of the dreaded blackcurrant, with rich tannin, acidity, and mouthfeel. The minerality is what saves this wine, along with the acidity, and red fruit. With time the tannin and acidity shine, the fruit is in balance, and then mango and red fruit pull you in, a really unique wine!
The finish is long, tart, mineral-driven, and refreshing, this is a wine that pulls you in and never lets go! Nice! Drink by 2026. (tasted September 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)
2023 Godin Branco, White, Douro – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 25% Malvasia Fina, 25% Viosinho, 25% Rabigato, & 25% Fernao Pires. The nose of this wine is unique showing lemon, lime, intense minerality, orange blossom, classic beeswax, honeyed melon, orange peel, smoke, and flint. The mouth opens a bit slowly, but it shows a nice plush mouthfeel, with good acidity, and nice focus, very refreshing, and lacks complexity, but it makes up for that with the saline, minerality, lemon, lime, honeydew, beeswax, and rich saline. The finish is long, the fruit is balanced, and the minerality and salinity are really good. Drink now. (tasted September 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)
2022 Solar das Boucas Loureiro, Vinho Regional Minho – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine tastes just like what I had in January in Jerusalem, Israel, a very nice to enjoy! The nose of this wine is nice, showing good minerality, nice stone fruit, yellow plum, lemon blossom, and sweet tea. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, showing great acidity, nice tension, and good fruit focus of peach, apricot, yellow plum, lemon/lime/grapefruit, minerality, slate, flint, and good precision. The finish is long, tart, and refreshing, with nice fruit, acidity, slate, flint, and orange fruit lingering long. (tasted September 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 11.5%)
2022 Solar das Boucas Alvarinho Old Vines White, Vinho Regional Minho – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The wine has some slight effervescence and that blows off with time. The nose of this wine is very unique, the last Albarino wine we had was very different from this one, showing notes of petroleum, melon, sweet pear, almost tropical with pineapple, dried guava, dried stone fruit, and nutty oxidation. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is balanced with great acidity, weighty, and almost plush, with more citrus, lemon, lime, petroleum, dried apricot, rich salinity, minerality, and more notes of nutty oxidation. The finish is long, and tart, with great minerality, saline, sea salt, sea spray, rock, and more roasted walnuts, very unique wine, and one I think can age and evolve a bit more. Drink until 2026. (tasted September 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)
My short but meaningful trip to Israel
As stated in a previous post, I was in Israel, in early 2024. To state that things are different yet the same would be a simplification of reality. A quick, sad, yet real note, I had not been to Israel for almost 5 years, since Passover 2019. Crazy! Also, it marked a 10th anniversary, for me, and Israel, for my last meaningful trip, when again, Israel invaded Gaza, just crazy! Just read the last post (from 2014) and compare that to my takeaway post from my time in Israel for Passover in 2019.
I will not get into gloom or the such that I felt in 2014. That was indeed a very dark time for me, personally, in regards to my trip, at that time, for many reasons. This trip was sad, of course, but I thought it uplifting, given the state of the people I met. My hotels were filled with people who had to evacuate their homes, and the hallways felt like a building in Har Nof. I was perfectly fine with what was going on but I truly felt for those in these hotels. Breakfast felt more like a school cafeteria, with kids everywhere, packing lunches and the like. Just take a moment to think about what those people must feel like, what they must be going through! There was this lovely young girl whose birthday it was, one of the days I was in the hotel, she refused to have her party, in the hotel basement, because none of her friends or even family would be there. It really helps to open your eyes and realize how spoiled we all are.
The trip revolved around spending time with my family and my Rabbi and even that was limited, sadly. In the end, it was too short, it was too crazy, and I wish I had more time. Wineries and folks did reach out when they found out I was in town, and of course, I politely refused, given the already limited time I was going to be there and the people I wanted to spend time with. That said, I did carve two evenings to spend a few hours with my friends. One night I hung out with Avi Davidowitz and his family and one night I hung out with the French clan in Jerusalem. The evening with Avi and his family was lovely and the evening with the French guys was Tu B’Shvat.
We did do a large-ish blind tasting the second night, with the French guys, and I must say, the 2023 vintage for Israeli wine is horrible! There is no other way to say it, a total disaster. There are SOME okay wines, but they are the minority and the sad truth is that 2023 will be remembered as a horrible, sad, and depressing year for Israel, and the wine, at least so far, is not making up for it.
I was going to keep this short, so my many thanks to those who hosted me and the gang. I really need to thank Avi and his wife Michal and Joel and his wife Delphine for hosting me and the gang at Joel’s! Both evenings were lovely, and the food was awesome, sadly, I cannot say the same for the wine on the 2nd night. The evening with Avi and the wines were top-notch, minus a couple, listed here. The second evening was a blind tasting and man – was it painful! REALLY! All the 2023 wines were pretty much useless. There were a couple of Shmitta wines from 2022 and a couple of reds as well. Also, many thanks to Joel for taking the pictures!
The wine notes follow below, in order of tasting – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
The first evening – none tasted blind
2021 Vitkin Riesling, Judean Hills – Score: 88 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this nice is nice with gooseberry, honeysuckle, flowers, and rich saline, flint, peach, and slate. The mouth of this light to medium-bodied wine is boring, lacking acidity, with some fruit, and essentially nothing to grab you. Next. (tasted January 2024) (in Jerusalem, Israel) (ABV = 11.5%)
Wine Musings Blog 