JDR

WINE OF THE WEEK #044

Fridaynight, tastingnight.

What a wineweek it has been! On monday I had wineclass and tasted 9 wines, wednesday I organised a great diner with winefriends I got to know on twitter and we had 18 wines, yesterday I emptied the bottles of #042 and #043. I gave them both a gold score and they were still amazing after being opened for more than 4 days.
And now it’s time to let the Aneto winery stand up for itself in this DOURO DOUBLE battle. Not to forget that this sunday I am going to MegaVino to taste another 10000 wines :) Woop!

So, Aneto winery, and we start with this bottle :


ANETO - 2009 Douro Branco

Aneto is a relatively new producer from the Douro, based in Alijo, with Francisco Montenegro of Quinta Nova as the winemaker (it’s his own venture). The venture started in 2001 based on 7 hectares of vines, and first vintage was the 2002 red, with a white added in 2007 from a separate vineyard. The production of each of the wines is small, at 4–6000 bottles.
(Thankyou Jamie Goode for your article on Wineanorak.com)

The back of the label says that the wine is grown on North facing granitic slopes (North facing!?) of the Douro Valley using Viosinho, Rabigato, Gouveio and Malvasia Fina as grapes.

The white grapes are harvested manually and by variety, using 15kg boxes.  Grapes then pass through a selection conveyor table. They are crushed and ferment in stainless steel containers and oak barrels with controlled temperature.

If you look at the winemap, you can see the amazing topographical scenery of the Douro Valley, a reason to dive in!

Appearance
Light citrus yellow, very clear.

Nose
The first thing I notice is the use of oak. It has that typical white flower, butter and honey thing going on. The balance is more towards the flowers and the nose is not creamy…but…oaky nonetheless. Other notes are a bit of citrus,dry leaves and a lot of jasmin tea.
In comparison to the other white blend from secret spot wines, the minerality on this one is really hidden.
Not my kind of nose, but I can see this go very well with French cuisine.

Taste
Great acidity, … and … euh. That’s it.
My mouth feels like I just ate some screws.

Very difficult to talk about fruit, minerality, a certain transition or other exciting components.

Finish
Well, I must say the finish is quite long and feels like the first bite in a young green apple. Very strange what is going on here. The nose is the complete opposite of the mouthfeel, and I do not like schizophrenic wines. To me this wine can be paired very well with creamy dishes, but is not a wine to drink alone.

Stop!
I have to add something to this review as I realise I still am a complete newbie when it comes to wine. Since I posted this review I have continuously poured in bits of wine in my glass to taste and spit out into my bucket. Surprisingly as the wine gets 1-2°C warmer, we are not talking about the same product anymore.
The minerality is coming trough on the nose and the oaky notes are going away.
On the mouth, screws become celery sticks and the apple on the finish isn’t that green anymore. I am amazed about the difference and really would love a bit of grilled fish on a plate in front of me.
I actually am starting to like it… :)