Browse Tag

alvarinho

Q, M, & 007

Quintas de Melgaço “QM” 2006 Vinho Verde Alvarinho (Monção) – A “spare” bottle left aside to see what happened with a little age, though in this case only a microscopic bit of patience was actually exercised, and the full experiment will have to wait for another day. Salty and almost soda-like, thought not in the frothy fashion of something like txakolina, but more in the lingering, quasi-electric tactility of the wine. Lemon, lime, grapefruit…the greenish, less sweet end of the citric spectrum is a little more spare than at release, and maybe the wine’s just a touch less fun that before. Food, which is always good with this wine (something saline and from a shell or carapace works best), might be a little more necessary than before. (5/09)

Where’s Moneypenny?

Quintas de Melgaço 2006 Vinho Verde Alvarinho “QM” (Portugal) – There’s plenty of fizz here, to the extent that more than a few casual drinkers wonder aloud if this isn’t a sparkling wine. But the aggressive pétillance gives it verve and vivacity, and the limestone, lemon-lime and chalk palate is wonderfully crisp, mineral-driven and exciting. Joe Perry calls this “the DRC of Vinho Verde,” and while I’ve had other serious and studied wines from the appellation, I find it impossible to discover any faults aside from excessive quality here. Nicely done. (8/07)

Q, M, 007

Quintas de Malgaço “QM” 2006 Vinho Verde Alvarinho (Monção) – Spice in the form of a tightly-packed carbon froth, crystallized lemon-lime, dulled-razor acidity, and a quasi-electric texture. A few bottles of the half-dozen tasted are starting to water up, but the rest retain their full intensity. Do these wines age? It seems almost like a waste to find out. (5/08)

On the QM

Quintas de Melgaço “QM” 2006 Vinho Verde Alvarinho (Monção) – Just stunning. Green and yellow citrus hisses and sizzles like a live wire, bristling with electricity and piercing, needled acidity. Light yet vividly intense. It’s not a genteel sipping wine – it needs food – but in its way, it’s very nearly perfect. (12/07)