Plotting Pinot

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Wines of Portugal - Spotlight on Quevedo

I'm still catching up with posts from WBC09. But this one is long over due.

On Saturday evening at the WBC09 there was a tasting of the Wines of Portugal sponsored by Vini Portugal. Prior to the event I met Oscar Quevedo and Nadia Adria on the bus, and I was eager to sample the Quevedo wines and learn more about their winery. Oscar and his accomplice Nadia perfectly reflect the young, hip, new generation that Quevedo seeks to reach as they position Port as an accessible every day wine.

Although the Quevedo winery was founded in 1991, Oscars Quevedo’s ancestors have worked in the Duoro river valley in Portugal and produced red wines and Port from port grapes of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, and Tinta Barroca for several generations.

Both sides of Oscar's family (His father and his mothers side Guilhar-Morias) have been in the port business for over 130 years. So you might expect that Oscar's career path was pre-ordained to join the family business. But Oscar followed his own interests and decided to study finance and economics. After he received his degree, he worked as an investment banker in Spain and Geneva. It is only recently that the lure of family tradition won out, and Oscar joined Quevedo as their Marketing Ambassador and Export manager.

Oscar travels the U.S. and Europe promoting their brand with seminars and tastings to show the range of the wines. Part of his mission is to introduce new audiences to the wonders of port, and change the perception of Port as something only enjoyed after meals with dessert and a cigar.

One of the challenges of Port is that you sometimes have to wait 30 years to really appreciate it. So Oscar suggests Quevedo Porto Rose, as a great wine to drink in cocktails with a spritz of soda water or twist of lemon, and a nice introduction to Port without the wait.

Surprisingly, it in the U.S. that Oscar has found some of the most knowledgeable Port enthusiasts. Michael Wangbickler is one example of such an enthusiast, and his blog The Tawny Times can be found here.

Oscar views bloggers as well as traditional media as the key to spreading his message and uses many tools of social media including twitter to increase the brands reach. Quevedo's comprehensive web site is a great place to learn more about their history and wines and it includes short videos of the current harvest and wine making process. You can also follow Quevedo on twitter at @Quevedo and Oscar at @oscarswine. But the perfect place to start might just be with a glass of Quevedo Special Reserve Tawny Port. Afterwards, let Oscar know what you think!

Scenes from a Gen-Yine Road Trip

Shana and Ashley’s Most Excellent Adventure--

(A genuine parody)

Part 1 --Tampa to NOLA

S: Umm why are there no road signs anywhere?

A: I guess they haven’t had a chance to replace them yet since Katrina.

S: Okay, but it seems like we've been driving in circles for the last two hours. Are we lost?

A: No! We’re not lost. It’s just hard to navigate by landmarks when you are in a swamp. But wait what’s that? I think that’s the place we’re looking for!

Our heroines pull up in front of a dilapidated shack with the words “Gator Bait Bar” spray-painted across a board nailed to the tin roof. Inside a heavy pall of smoke hangs over the bar. Three seedy men that look like extras from the set Deliverance sit at a back table playing cards. The bartender is watching bass fishing on a TV above the bar.

S: OMG! There’s like smoking allowed in the bars here! I guess I’m not in California anymore.

A: Hey Everyone. We’re here for the Gen–Yine survey.

All the men turn to stare at Shana and Ashley

Bartender: I gots’ Genwine Miller Draft right here on the tap.

S: No not genuine–Gen-Wine!

Bartender: Gurl, that’s what ah said. What’s wrong wit yar hearing?

S: Um I mean generation Yine. We're looking for young people in NOLA to talk about their wine buying habits and take our survey.

Man #1 at table: They gots’ buyin habits all rat but it ain’t fo wine. My dang kid spends most his check on Benadryl and Robotusion! Then he cooks it up in the Geerage. He blew the door clear off last week.

Bartender: Girly, this here the swamplands of Nawlawins. Y’all wants wine go see that Dirty South boy up in 'lanta. I saw him on the Teevee and he gots him some powerful wine affliction or sumptin.

One of the men playing cards comes up next to Ashley—

Man #2: Dat sho is a purtty butterfly ya gots round yo neck dare. I’d like to put mah net round it. Har har har…

A: Umm Sahrayray .. Shana! Lets get outta here!

Man #3: Wait! Anit's ya gonna ask us some mo questions?

Bartender: Hay, I know who laks questions. Bo..go get the Gimp!

S: Ashleeyyyy!

Cue sound of dueling banjoes as our heroines tear off in a cloud of dust.

Well kids, lets hope things improve in Texas! Stay tuned.

But for the Real Deal on the Project Y-ine experiment and survey please go here and here and here to read all about it and follow along.

In Real Life

Since moving to Sonoma County three months ago I have toiled to embrace the wine country lifestyle and all it has to offer. And if that means dining at phenomenal restaurants and visiting world-class wineries, so be it. I’m also enjoying the astounding bounty of locally grown and produced comestibles. (A fancy word for stuff you eat-- not blow up.)  Anyway my friend James O'Reilly of Travelers Tales had been urging me to join Twitter since it launched. He also encouraged me to join Second Life way back when, so naturally I was dubious about what possible value this new media time suck might offer. (BTW: I'm not adverse to new technologies. I’ve worked in Tech for years and was involved with the launch of Travelocity and Opentable. I also worked on Netopia Virtual Office with GeoCities. Not sure if those last two even exist anymore.) But I finally caved in and joined Twitter at the end of 2008.

Recently I decided to go beyond the fourth wall of cyberspace and attend a real live twitter event. This was not your random tweet up kind of thing with crap pizza. This was a fully fleshed out extravaganza. The event was sponsored by Twitter Taste Live and Hospice du Rhone and hosted at ESTATE by Sondra Bernstein. The point is to meet in person to taste wines that are simultaneously tasted by others attending virtually via twitter. A big part of the event is the live feed of tweets that scroll out on a big screen. Unfortunately the day of the event was also the day Oprah joined twitter so there were all sorts of connection problems. Nonetheless, the event far exceeded my expectations. The people and the wines were exceptional.

Tablemates at the pre-taste dinner included Paige Granback and Chuck Hayward of the Jug Shop in San Francisco, Wine Marketer John Corcoran and Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards. And all through the meal I kept having the deja-vu-y feeling that I'd previously met all these delightful and interesting characters. The next day, I realized why they all seemed so familiar. A month earlier I’d read Red, White, And Drunk All Over by Natalie MacLean so in effect, I had already met them through the pages of her book.

I was mostly unfamiliar with Rhone wines-- the bulk of my experience is with the wines of Italy-- but I was a convert by the end of the evening.

I also got to meet some of the players in the Wine Twitter space like @sonadora, @winebratsf and @sharayray among others. And oh yeah, did I mention I won the door prize? Yup real life has it’s perks. 

So thank you to James for getting me on the twitter path and thank you to real life for delivering more than promised in the demo.