SEM IGUAL VINHO VERDE WITH PEIXE CALDINE

In August, when most of the N. hemisphere is in the peak of summer, the #WinePW crew are appropriately exploring Vinho Verde DOC, a virtually unlimited buffet of refreshing summer sips. If you'd like an invitation, check out co-host Cindy's invitation post and then join us on Twitter on 8 August 2020 at 8 AM PST to be enlightened about all things Vinho Verde and food pairings at hashtag #WinePW! Thanks Cindy and Liz, for hosting this event!

A sneak peek short-list of what everyone's pairing with their Vinho Verde is here:

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam shares Foods from Around the World Paired with Pink Wines from Portugal
• Event co-host Cindy at Grape Experiences, I’ve been reminiscing upon last fall’s work trip where I spent A Beautiful Morning at Quinta da Aveleda in Vinho Verde 
• Event co-host Liz Barret of What’s In That Bottle? is thrilled with Va Va Va Vinho Verde: the Portuguese White That Wows
• Robin of Crushed Grape Chronicles answers What is Vinho Verde? 5 things I didn’t know about this perfect summer wine
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm savors Tomato Poached Cod with Vinho Verde Wine.
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass realizes that Distinctively ‘laurel” Vinho Verde Delivers with Seafood and Salad
• Nicole at SommsTable is loving Vinho Verde and Simple Seafood Feast
• Payal at Keep the Peas is pairing Sem Igual Vinho Verde with Peixe Caldine
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator says Vinho Verde: A Green Wine That’s White from Portugal Paired with Tuna, Tomato, Basil, Orzo #WinePW
• Martin at Enofylz is Pairing Maria Papoila Vinho Verde with Summer Pizza
• Susannah at Avvinare explains how Vinho Verde Meets Homemade Sushi
• Terri at Our Good Life savors Scallops, Smashed Peas and a Great Vinho Verde
• Pinny at Chinese Food and Wine Pairing achieves A Successful Hunt Down of a Red Vinhao Escolha from Vinho Verde DOC #WinePW 

VINHO VERDE (VEEN-yo VAIR-duh)

https://vineyards.com/wine-map/portugal/norte

The largest of Portugal's DOCs and perhaps the least known globally, Vinho Verde is in cool, wet, verdant NW Portugal bordering Spain. A DOC since 1984, the region has approximately 52,000 acres of vines, 19,000 producers, 93 million liters produced per year, 100 export markets, and 45 indigenous grape varieties.

Although Vinho Verde translates to "green wine" in English, the wines of Vinho Verde DOC and its 9 sub-regions regions are in fact not green. It's a debate, but the name is a hark back to either the astringent nature of the wine that is produced from high-acid grapes with limited ripening, or the lush green region that is Vinho Verde. The arrival of maize in the 16th century shifted all attention to farming it and grape vines were relegated to side spaces... trees, walls, hedges, or pergolas, thus requiring ladders to harvest. Some small producers still train vines up heights, although most wine houses have switched to the typical low-trained vine method.

Most wines are still, but fully sparkling wines have been permitted since 1999 and both are now made in Vinho Verde. A majority - 86% - of the Vinho Verde wines are made from white grape varieties, with reds and rosés in the remaining 14%. The most popular indigenous varieties found in Vinho Verde are white grapes Alvarinho, Arinto, Avesso, Azal, Loureiro and Trajudura. Red varieties include Espadeiro, Padeiro and Vinhão. Blends are quite common, almost the norm, since sun exposure is limited and grapes don't ripen as they would in drier, sunnier regions. But Vinho Verde winemakers take advantage of the weather and different levels of aromatics, acidity, fresh fruit notes, and body that each varietal offers to create puckeringly refreshing wines with a prickly natural fizz when made the traditional way. Some winemakers do add carbonation to mimic the traditional-but-increasingly-rare in-bottle malolactic fermentation.

PORTUGUESE STATE OF INDIA (ESTADO PORTUGUÊS DA ÍNDIA)

The Portuguese sailed to India in the late 1400s primarily to buy spices and take back to Europe for trade. Inevitably over time they set up headquarters in Goa on the SW coast of India, laid claim to a few other territories, effectively established a small colony in India, and remained until 1961. They left a cultural and culinary mark on areas they colonised, and in fact Portuguese is still spoken in some of those areas. This is especially true in Goa, their first Indian HQ. Since Vasco de Gama and the others who came to India were Catholics, they had most influence on the Catholic Goan population.

With regards to culinary tradition, perhaps the most well-known dish is the fiery vindaloo which is derived from the Portuguese Carne de Vinha d'Alhos, a dish made of pork cooked with garlic and wine (replaced by vinegar in India). In Goa it was enhanced with spices and that is the version that has prevailed around the world. SW India is a rice eating culture since that is what grows there easily. But the Portuguese brought leavened bread to the region and it traveled north to Mumbai and a bit beyond, where it is still called pão, the Portuguese word for bread. They also introduced to India chili peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, which have left an indelible mark on Indian cuisine.

Fun Fact: Prior to chili peppers, black pepper was the primary source of heat in Indian food and it wasn't used so much for heat as it was to balance other spices and flavours. In Ayurveda, black pepper still reigns supreme, so traditional Indian food, which is  very seasonal and based on Ayurvedic principles, is mild, flavour-balanced, vegetarian, generally excludes tomatoes and chili peppers and focuses on the many benefits of spices including black pepper. Indians have been cooking this way for tens of thousands of years so we don't usually analyse the traditional food combinations but they're deeply ingrained in us since we eat that way daily.

For my Vinho Verde pairing, I settled on fish caldine, a beloved Goan Catholic dish that is derived from the Portuguese fish stew, caldeirada, but adapted to local Goan tastes and ingredients. Traditionally, caldine includes black pepper as the only spice, although some cooks add a chili pepper or two. Overall it is meant to be a mild dish, always prepared with freshly extracted coconut milk and seasonal seafood.

THE WINERY + THE WINE + THE FOOD PAIRING

Per the winery, Sem Igual means without "igual" (equal in English). The name was chosen to define a Vinho Verde that is different from the popular fizzy and sweet style, but still made with the local grapes. The vineyards are on 10 hectares located in the heart of Vinho Verde, 30 min. from Porto where the family has produced wine since the 18th century.

However, in the younger generation, owner João Camizão decided to depart from the usual. Previously in his career, when on a telecom assignment in India, he decided to continue the family heritage but with a new series of wines that would be unique. Thus Sem Igual was born; the first vintage of Sem Igual was in 2012. Given that a mere 1,000 bottles of the 2018 Sem Igual were produced, I feel quite fortunate to have snagged one.

2018 Sem Igual "Sem Mal" Vinho Verde DOC

70% Azal, 30% Arinto

11% ABV | SRP $25

Vinification:

After an initial 10 day ferment, the wine is bottled to allow malolactic fermentation in bottle which results in a natural delicate fizz, no added sulfites, no filtration. According to the cut sheet, "Before pouring Sem Mal, you need to gently shake the bottle to homogenize the wine."

Soil:

Granite and gravel, vines ranging from 6 to 70 years. The grapes for this wine came from a 4 year old vineyard

Colour:

Cloudy, pale yellow, very fine bubbles

Nose:

Lemons, a hint of wet stone, wet earth

Palate:

A bracing acidity thanks to the two high-acid grape varietals used in this wine. Decidedly dry but balanced, took a little time to open up. Mainly ripe lemons, wet stone minerality, and a hint of tart green apple with skin. Overall a balanced wine with a welcome lingering finish. The bubbles are not intrusive at all, and make each sip delightful. This wine is made for fresh seafood on a warm summer's day! If I can get my hands on another bottle of this vintage, I'd pair it with oysters on-the-half-shell and a saffron mayonnaise.

Pairing:

We enjoyed it with Peixe Caldine, an Goan-Portuguese seafood stew that I made with shrimp. The mild sweet shrimpy flavour with the mix of warm spices and vinegar softened by the coconut milk beautifully complemented the earthy, citrusy, medium-full-bodied, spritzy Vinho Verde. This would also be good with rice, as many Goans eat it, but we loved it with bread. Pão would be the ideal bread but I'd forgotten to make it so we had it with the last of a baguette and a homemade Pullman loaf that I had made in a style similar to Indian bread aka pão. If you are a seafood lover, you can't go wrong with this one!

THE RECIPE

PEIXE CALDINE (PEIXE CALDINHO)

makes: 3-4 servings

Sauce

- 1 tin/~400 ml coconut milk

- 1 in. piece ginger, peeled

- 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled

- 1 tbsp coriander seeds

- 1 tbsp cumin seeds

- 2 tsp turmeric powder

- 1-2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

- (optional) 1 in. piece chili pepper (Indian, chile de arbol, Thai, or serrano chili)

The Rest

- 1 lb wild shrimp, cleaned and deveined

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 1 large/2 medium ripe tomato, chopped

- 3 cups shredded green cabbage (OR 2 cups shrimp-sized chunks of not-too-watery vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.)

- 1 tbsp coconut oil

- 1 tbsp salt (+to taste)

- 1 tbsp cane sugar

- 1-1/2 cups water

- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (+to taste)

1. Open the tin of coconut milk and skim the creamy part off the top into a small blender (or smoothie) jar. Add the rest of the Sauce ingredients to the jar and blend into a smooth paste.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a medium pan and when it's hot add the chopped onion and salt. Stir and cook until the onions are softened.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook until they're very soft and the juices are nearly evaporated.
4. Add the cabbage, 1/4 cup water, and mix well. Let it all cook on medium heat until the cabbage softens. Stir every 2-3 min. so nothing sticks to the pan.
• IF USING OTHER VEGETABLES: add to the pan and cook for 3-4 min. then add 1/2 cup water, cover, cook until vegetables are just tender. Don't overcook or they'll become an unsightly mash.
5. Turn the heat up to med-high and add the shrimp, the remaining coconut milk (the watery part left after skimming the cream off the top), sugar, and the rest of the water. Bring to a boil and let it cook for 5-7 min. or until the shrimp are nearly cooked.
6. Add the blended Sauce and boil for 3-4 min. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and add the white wine vinegar, stir well, cook for 3-4 min.
7. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt, sugar, vinegar, and black pepper to taste. The sauce should be neither too spicy nor too tart.
8. Take off the heat and serve with Goan/Indian pão or other bread.

CAHORS: WHAT PUT MALBEC ON THE MAP

This month the French #winophiles are in Cahors AOC, southwestern France. Nicole of Somm's Table is graciously hosting, and we can thank Jill of L'occasion for scoring us Cahors wine samples through the UIVC (Union Interprofessionnelle des Vins de Cahors) for a few of us. But even without samples, everyone is welcome to join us as we jaunt through Cahors and enjoy the wine!

Malbec - aka Côt, Côt Noir, Auxxerois, Pressac, and hundreds of other regional names - is native to France, especially the southwest in the Lot department where it was introduced by the Romans around 50 BC and has been cultivated since then despite a few setbacks  like phylloxera and frost along the way. Incidentally, while the Romans were introducing grapes in southwestern France, they were also capturing Gaulish villages in the area and Romanising them. One village in particular managed to defend itself and remained Gaulish despite being surrounded by Romans and other captured villages. Asterix, the hugely popular French comic series about the resistance of a Gaulish village against Roman occupation, is set in that very village! The village chief Vitalstatistix in those comics is based on Lucterius, a formidable leader of the Gauls who was instrumental in defending the village from the Romans. If you haven't read any Asterix, begin with Asterix the Gaul!

As a grape Malbec is a bit finicky, like Pinot Noir. It is thick-skinned but sensitive to humidity, frost, temperature, and other weather conditions which make it prone to  diseases like downy mildew and "coulure", or lack of full development of grapes. Malbec grapes make deep, inky, intense wine, making it popular as a blending grape for colour and fruit, especially in the Loire, Bordeaux, and elsewhere where Bordeaux-style blends are made. These qualities have also earned it the nickname "black wine" although of course it is not actually black. At one point Malbec was grown in up to 30 departments around France but these days it primarily grows in the small town of Cahors which is the capital of the Lot department and a small town on the river Lot that flows towards Bordeaux. Cahors is a red wine-only AOC, with a minimum of 70% Malbec required in each blend. Grapes commonly used to blend with Malbec are Merlot and Tannat.

In the mid-19th century at the instruction of provincial governor Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Malbec was planted in Argentina by French agronomist Miguel Pouget. A lot has happened between then and now in the Argentine wine world but it ultimately led to Malbec being the most widely planted red grape in Argentina, which is nearly synonymous with Malbec around the world. And, as I'd mentioned above, Malbec is a fussy grape and hectares of it succumbed to frost and phylloxera around the time it was fledgling in Argentina. Thanks to that serendipitous planting, despite the natural devastation in France, Malbec survived, thrived, and became a fixture on the world wine map, albeit through Argentina via Cahors!

All that aside, Argentine and French Malbec are vastly different wines. The grapes themselves are same but different... tighter clusters and smaller berries in Argentina, e.g. And taste... Argentine Malbec is jammy, fruit forward, with some floral notes, soft tannins and a velvety texture, whereas French Malbec is leathery, with flavors of tart currant, black plum, firm tannins, higher acid, and a savoury meatiness on the palate. The higher tannins and acid in French Malbec yields lower alcohol, age-worthy wines compared to Argentine Malbec.

THE WINE

The Cahors Malbec wines I received were:

• Château du Cèdre Extra Libre 2018
• Château de Gaudou Le Sang de Ma Terre 2018
• Château Lamartine Cahors "Cuvée Particulière" 2016

The one I opened for this review was the Château du Cèdre Extra Libre (2018) because it has no added sulphites and we couldn't wait to try it! I will review the other wines at a later date.

Château du Cèdre Extra Libre, 2018 | SRP n/a

95% Malbec, 5% Merlot

https://www.chateauducedre.com/

Ch. du Cèdre was started by Charles Léon Verhaeghe, a Flemish immigrant who settled in the Lot department. Truly a family owned and run winery, they are now on their third generation of family members running the show.

The grapes for this wine come from vines on the lower terraces with sandy alluvial soil, and from the upper terrace with limestone soil. The grapes are sorted and destemmed in the vineyard, at the winery they're macerated for 30 days and fermented in concrete tanks before being aged in nearly neutral (twice used) oak barrels.

The wine is beautiful in the glass with a gorgeous magenta rim and deep core. On the nose: aromas of ripe red berries, fresh red roses, and cinnamon. On the palate: juicy, same as nose + black pepper, a hint of nutmeg, and a faint minerality, all with mouthwatering acidity and a medium finish. This is a highly quaffable wine with or without food, and quite different from any Cahors Malbec we've had. It is, however, a must to serve it cool, not at room temperature, to get the best of it.

THE FOOD

I paired the wine with wild scallop theeyal, a dish from Kerala, India, a coastal state known for its abundant seafood, extensive use of coconut, curry leaves, and fragrant rice varieties. Although scallops are found in every ocean of the planet, they are not commonly found on Indian menus even though India, as a peninsular country, has an extensive coastline. Maybe they are not abundant off the Indian coast, or, like oysters, might be considered "fisherman's food" in India. Like most food from the Indian subcontinent, theeyals are very flavourful but not fiery, and have a distinct deep red colour because of the deeply roasted coconut used in the sauce (clearly, I did not roast the coconut enough, because my sauce was hardly deep red!). In addition to all the spices, the sauce has a pleasant tangy acidity in the background that can come from either tamarind or kudampuli (Garcinia Cambogia), a pumpkin-shaped sour fruit whose dried and reconstituted peels are used extensively in Sri Lankan and Keralan cuisine.

Kudampuli, what I used rather than tamarind, lends a discernible but complementary acidity to the sauce, and actually brings forward the fruitiness of the wine. All the flavours - the roasted coconut, sweetness of the fresh scallops, and the bright and fruity wine - were so delicious that we'll be having more of this!

We'll be talking Cahors on Twitter this Saturday, 19 October at 8 AM PST so join us and be sure to use #Winophiles in your tweets so that we can see your comments. If you can't make it, no worries, you can stop by whenever to see what the other friendly Winophiles have done with Cahors this month while we slowly but sure move into colder weather here in the northern hemisphere:

• Jane from Always Ravenous explores the “Flavors of Fall Paired with Cahors Malbec”
• Cathie of Side Hustle Wino looks at “Cahors – TheBirthplace of Malbec”
• Jill from L’Occasion shares “Cahors, a French Classic”
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla will be posting “Château du Cèdre Extra Libre 2018 Malbec + Cider-Braised Chicken Thighs” 
• Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm samples “A Trio of Cahors Wine and the Pairings Served” 
• Jeff of FoodWineClick! gives us “The Malbec You Never Knew: Cahors”
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass shares “Newbies to Old-World Malbec Discover Cahors”
• Cindy of Grape Experiences explores “The Old-World Style of Malbec from Cahors”
• Deanna of Asian Test Kitchen gives us “French Malbecs Meet Chinese Duck”
• Gwen from Wine Predator shares “From Cahors: Biodynamic Chateau du Cedre Malbec with French Charcuterie”
• Pinny of Chinese Food & Wine Pairings matches “Cahor Malbecs and Waygu Beef”
• Cynthia and Pierre of Traveling Wine Profs give us “Cahors, Hainan Chicken Rice, and the Stories Wine Books Tell”
• Susannah of Avvinare will be “Shedding Light on Old World Malbec from Cahors”
• Payal of Keep the Peas discusses “Cahors: What Put Malbec on the Map”
• Rupal of Syrah Queen will posting “Cahors – Tasting “Black Wines” With The Original Malbec”
• David of Cooking Chat pairs “Mushroom Truffle Risotto with Cahors Malbec”
• Nicole of Somm’s Table shares “Bringing Home Cahors with Clos D’Audhuy”