PLAINAS Branco 2007 Vinho Verde

Without a partnership, to be alone would be strange and empty. There are marriages made in heaven but only when they are worked at, or built on similarities.

A Vinho Verde married with Plainas Branco 2007 is a relationship that brings about a fine romance of flavours and a flirtatious adventure brought together by love, and a passion from years of experience in viticulture.

At first you could be mistaken for drinking a very pleasant but sharp sparkling white wine, refreshing and lively, with a light floral 'nose' but then it explores your emotions. Evocative and romantic. What a wine! Pale-golden, heady and yet hardly innocent.

I am certainly not a champagne drinker, it is too dry for me, and Asti Spumanti? Too sweet! I had discarded my champagne at a recent event after a couple of sips and was handed this slightly effervescent white wine, Plainas Branco 2007 with my meal by Victor Marques, a noble ambassador of his family's vineyard in the Douro Valley. What are the grapes that inspire such emotion? Two! The Azal and Arinto, full of acidity and lemony flavours.

Arinto

This grape has many similarities to a Reisling but are unrelated. It produces a golden shiney wine which is enlivened with flavours bearing strong notes of citrusy lemon oil and can be blended with the Azal in a Vinho Verde to increase the acidity.

Our wine was served with a Mediterranean platter of seafood, and we nibbled at young creamy cheese whilst mingling with new friends. Celebratory and vivacious, this wine would be ideal for a wedding reception to 'break the ice' so to speak.

Romantic weekends should begin with a Plainas Branco 2007, ask for nothing less! For more information contact Claire.ray@vomnet.me.uk

Dom Paio Velho 2004, Douro DOC (Portugal)

Let me introduce you to a careful blend of grapes which on the 'nose' awakened a promise of something really quite different.

This wine is made from a careful blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca grapes and a lot of passion.

It is said that only 'Fantastic People Drink our Wine' and I hope to number amongst them. Certainly, Victor Marques, who partly controls the production and export, has a warm approach to marketing his products with generous virtual hugs and poetic emails.

Victor 'Wine / Olive Oil Star' Marques to his friends on Ecademy.com, and there are many worldwide, oversees the vineyard that has been in his family for generations. The vineyard of the Douro Valley has been their home for 111 years. He also works with a cooperative of farmers who produce their own wines, cheeses, hams, conserves, honey, figs and grow organic beans and olives and distill the dark green peppery / fruity oils.

It was the evening of Friday, 8th May 2009 in the Cafe TwoCann in Swansea where we finally got to meet Victor in person and dipped the bread of friendship in the unctuous olive oil on arrival. My husband and I cradled a glass of the Dom Pail Velho 2004 in our hands: dark cherry red, definitely quaffable on its own and no acid after-taste and smooth to the palette. The wine was oak aged and it tingled our senses with the excitement of its fruity fragrance.

For three centuries, Port has been the most notable export from Oporto. Before that the Knights Templar, with a complement of 13,000 crusaders, anchored off the Douro estuary on a diversion from their route to the Holy Land and discovered the good quality of the local wines which they encouraged to be exported back to their homeland. In the meantime, the vineyards evolved in relative isolation and as a result there are a number of native species of grape which have prompted studies for the most promising.

Touriga Nacional*

This grape is one of the port varieties but up to a 20% constituency can afford a enjoyable table wine with its rich tannic colour and concentration.

Tinta Roriz*

Very similar to Spain's Tempranillo, the Tinta Roriz is thick skinned and enriches the already deep cherry red colour of the wine without the bitterness and lower in alcohol than most.

A well made wine from the North West corner of Portugal in the Douro Valley, a controlled area where only certain quality wines can be produced. (for more information contact Claire.ray@vomnet.me.uk)

* The Grape Varieties of Portugal, www.wine-searcher.com