ThePortForum.com

Bottled in 2013. Stopper style cork.
8.49 euros



"Contemporal" is the "own-brand" mark of the Modelo Continente supermarket chain in Portugal.

Decanted at 1pm: Fairly deep colour - more at the red end than purple. Clear. Thin legs. Redcurrant in the nose. Blackberry, blackcurrant in the mouth - some heat, but not enough to start a fire - fairly light, but not unbalanced - an easy drink.
D + 8: This has thickened up a bit. More grape now, and heavier, but more in a lead-weight than a Rubenesque sense. Something a bit off in the background that I can’t quite put a name to - yet. Tastes a bit like a slightly sweet grape-spirit drink.
D + 29: This is more like port again. Rich - tick. Fruity - tick. Fire in stomach - tick. It’s ok, but rougher than some of the “name brand” LBVs from this year I’ve had - but, it is half the price of some of those. However, let us not forget the t-shirt - “Life is too short to drink bad wine”, and twice a fairly small number is still fairly small. Unless this improves, it’s not going to make it into what passes for my cellar.
D + 48: I think this is slightly better now - the "off" taste in the background has gone.

This won a Gold Medal at the Mundus Vini 2013 in Germany...
https://www.meiningers-weinsuche.com/en ... ntage-2008
...where it recommends serving between 6°C and 9°C. Perhaps that's where I went wrong?
I couldn't see the category in which it won, so I'm going to be mean and suggest it was "best LBV under 10 euros" - it would certainly have had my vote.

"Quinta and Vineyard Bottlers - Vinhos, SA" --> Isn't this made by Fonseca?

As far as I understand the Mundus Vini award, merchants nominate the wines that are in their product range and these wines are then tasted by a panel made up of merchants. So to me this is just a marketing tool to con the uneducated consumer to buy their wines ("it has a sticker that says "Gold Medal" on the neck, so it must be good"). They even have a "Großes Gold" ("Big Gold") award that they give to the better wines (such as the unfiltered 2007 Rozes LBV, which deserves gold more than the Continente does). I'm always suspicious of these awards (after all, anyone can just come up with an award and put stickers on bottles).

But wait a minute, we could offer the annual TPF Port Award. This would surely be a sign of quality. As Frank Sinatra would sing: "If a port can make it here (on this very judicial forum), it can make it everywhere."

AW77 wrote:"Quinta and Vineyard Bottlers - Vinhos, SA" --> Isn't this made by Fonseca?

Sharp eyes - I missed that. Quite correct, this is a Taylor Fladgate Partnership produced wine for a supermarket own label.

I like André's idea for a WOTY