It went above 10° C today so we can skip spring and say that summer arrived. That requires some type of white fish with a very simple white wine and mushroom sauce and some light, delicate white wine in the glass. I have always liked Vinho Verde though the good ones have been difficult to find here in the cold dreary north. But I saw a surprise on the shelf of an Alko today: Quinta do Ameal Vinho Verde Loureiro 2015. I remember Ameal as being one of the good ones. Not even the Robert Parker 94 Points -sticker was enough to deter me. It’s about 15€ here, has about 11,5% abv and is a varietal Loureiro, It’s a fun wine and goes perfectly with a simple fish and mushroom dish that requires something delicate but acidic that certainly won’t overpower what is still a pretty delicate meal.
The first slightly odd thing is that is smells very ripe. The whole charm of VV is its high acidity combined with fleeting, gentle glimpses of pure fruit. But mostly it’s the structure and lightness that I so like. But the odd thing here is that it has all that slightly off-beat charm of high acidity, minerality and citrus, but it combines that with genuinely ripe and aromatic fruit of the un-fleeting kind. Hmmm. It is very sniffable and very tasty and very moreish so perhaps I need to refresh my idea of what VV is. On my negative to positive infinity scale this certainly gets a solid +110 points from me. It gives me the same sensations as the best Muscadets except the fruit isn’t so neutral. I like it, though it might not be the most typical VV.