15 October 2012

Shortlisted for the Wines of Portugal Sommelier Challenge!

Source: imbibe.com








I’m very happy to announce that in the recent challenge organized by Wines of Portugal in association with Imbibe magazine, my Portuguese food and wine pairing was among the ten finalists.
Many thanks to the judging panel and congratulations to all the shortlisted!

Below, the pairing (complete version) and some images along with an extract from the magazine.

11 October 2012

Natural wine – a quest for balance



For a while now organic and biodynamic wines have been gradually gaining ground shoulder to shoulder with slow food and healthy lifestyle.
Even though this trend may be perceived as a novelty, only few decades back there was practically no need to look for an organic shop or market where one could get groceries that not only, though not necessarily, looked good but also tasted great.
Gradual changes in agriculture and food processing and switching from traditional to science based approach have lead to substantial reduction of nature’s control over the process. It’s safe to say though that using latest scientific achievements in this area is justified as long as it doesn’t translate into poor quality and tasteless commercial mass production.
But let’s stick to wine.