We at weirdcombinations love wine. That’s it: we just love it.
cheers to red wine
So it was marvelous to be at a swanky party in Vitória, ES, Brazil a couple of weeks ago in the height of the tropical summer sipping cabernet from gorgeous stemware talking about whether or not chardonnay would be a good wine to serve. Surprisingly, the crowd was almost universally opposed to the idea. Can you believe it? I’m no white fan myself but it’s like 100 degrees Fahrenheit at night there in the summer and very humid. Hardly anyone has air conditioning or if they do, it’s not especially noticeable; at least I was sweating the entire time I visited and may have had a touch of heat stroke the day after the party. Yet nobody will drink white. What a change can happen to a place in less than a decade!
some Brazilian wine labels
When I first visited Brazil, I never really noticed wine. There were liters upon liters of beer and cachaça being drunk everywhere, but no wine. Nobody talked about it and no one but us seemed to miss it. I know that the Portuguese colonized Brazil and therefore wine has a long history in the country. But it seems like it only really caught on in the past few years.
This visit, I saw wine sold in every supermarket as well as at special wine shops. In São Paulo, I was startled to see a bottle of Ducru Beaucaillou for sale for about $1000. It was in a special case that was refrigerated and sort of guarded by the shop staff, but whatever. This is new. Though probably high-end French wine is the exception there, just like it is at home. Much of the wine on sale was as you would expect: imports from Argentina and Chile. California labels were hard to come by. We did see a few that you might get for between $10 and $15 here at Trader Joe’s going for more than $75 a bottle in a wine shop in São José dos Campos, SP.
Miolo Reserva 2007 cab
Brazil itself produces some enjoyable uncomplicated wines. We liked the Miolo 2007 Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon produced in Rio Grande do Sul in the southern part of the country. Many wines are produced in that southern-most state, where the climate is mild. We also tried wine from Pernambuco in the Northeast, where it’s normally quite hot. I understand that in the São Francisco river valley it cools off a bit, thus making wine production possible. Tinha found this great Brazilian cab from Salton that we had a few times. She said that it had won awards. I believe it. Turns out that Hegui’s sisters, Tinha and Dora, like wine a lot. That’s unexpected and very cool.
we really liked Miolo
Brazil heavily taxes imports, which makes national wines much better values than Argentine or Chilean. And you may as well forget about French or Californian. Even Australian, which is such a bargain here, seemed pricy. The Miolo was only about $15 and Tinha’s red was less than ten.
I’d like to see Brazilian wines for sale in this country. They’re interesting and would be a bit novel here. What’s up with that, K and L?
happy birthday Hegui