Brazil Report T HAS BEEN a ROUGH YEAR for BRAZIL
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brazil report T HAS BEEN A ROUGH YEAR FOR BRAZIL. BUT LET’S START IWITH THE GOOD NEWS. THE QUALITY OF ITS SPARKLING WINES CONTINUES TO RISE AS THEY GAIN IN CHARACTER AND A DIVERSITY OF STYLES. On the other side, however, there’s a lack of consistency in the still wines, both red and white. There are indeed some very good examples, but they tend to be mixed in with wines that—the majority of which—still have not managed to show a clear expression of fruit and varietal identity. Brazil and its wines are still a work in progress. Cheers! Patricio Tapia FOR INDIVIDUAL RESULTS, GO TO THE SEARCH ENGINE AT WWW.GUIADESCORCHADOS.CL, WHERE YOU CAN SEARCH BY WINERY, WINE, VINTAGE, ZONE, SCORE, OR WHATEVER CRITERIA YOU NEED TO APPLY. GILMAR GOMES Vale dos Vinhedos Getting out into the World. IN 2014, WHEN WE DECIDED to include Brazilian wines in our Descorcha- However, and just as we have said in other editions of Descorcha- dos wine guide, the first thing we thought about was the budding de- dos, the inclusion of still wines in the guide (since the 2017 edition) has velopment of sparkling wines. And that seemed to us like a good place not produced the same pleasure. I’d like to stop here for a second and to start. change the tone of this text and shift from an analysis to an opinion And since then, we have had a front row seat to the tremendous piece. I think the subject and the situation deserve it. development of Brazilian sparkling wines in every style, starting with Tasting still wines in Brazil today is similar to doing the same in simple moscatos, which, if I may say so, are the best semi-sweet bub- Argentina or Chile, but 20 years ago. And yes, it’s true there’s a climatic bles you can find in the South American market and are serious con- issue. While in Mendoza, for example, the lack of rain during the har- tenders for the best moscatos in the glob al context. vest months enables very healthy grapes, while Serra Gaúcha, on the Of course we’re excited us about the progress with moscatos, but other hand, receives 1,600 mm of rain a year and 120 mm per month we’re also impressed by the level of its most classic style, including the during the grape ripening period. “August is the driest month, with 110 traditional method with the second fermentation in the bottle, which mm of rain,” producer Alejandro Cardozo tells me. That amount of rain now shows some of the most complex and elegant examples in Latin would be considered a deluge in Mendoza. America today. For example, take a look at the work being done by We also have to add that the temperatures in that area don’t get Estrellas de Brasil or Familia Geisse, both of which show a consistency very high and never reach the 30º-plus temps found in Chile’s Central in their catalogs that we have not seen before. Valley. Therefore, the reds and whites from southern Brazil tend to have Also keep a close eye on the work by Casa Valduga and Adolfo rather low alcohol levels, as a result of temperatures that don’t surpass Lona, two of the undisputed leaders among South American sparkling 26ºC during the ripening period. With all that in mind, we return to wine producers. They and others are leading the scene, and their wines the idea that tasting still wines in Brazil today is like doing the same are a clear expression of the advances of this style in this country. in Argentina or Chile 20 years ago, when each was guilty of the sin GILMAR GOMES Vale dos Vinhedos of naivete and—even more importantly—remained isolated from what no doubt about it. And yes, there are some commercial managers was going on in the world. They were much more concentrated on an and even winemakers and winery owners who still think that oak is a undemanding local market, but especially, content in a way with work sign of quality and that people like it—an idea that’s at least a decade that received no criticism and that no one questioned. out of date. At the risk of seeming excessively harsh, the experience of tast- And finally, there’s the degree of ripeness. It’s obvious that under ing Brazilian reds and whites—especially the reds—can be a bit disap- certain rainy conditions, the idea of moving the harvest date up or pointing when compared with the average level of what is being pro- back often doesn’t depend on the producer, but rather on the whims duced in other Latin American countries. First, the climatic difficulties of nature. It has been very common over these years of tasting in Brazil are evident, how hard it is to obtain healthy fruit, which results in the for us to find wines that are very ripe, with tired fruit, or, to the other lack of varietal clarity in their wines. To remedy poor-quality raw ma- extreme, wines that are green, without enough fruit to support them, terial, they are forced to resort to enological products, and that is quite without the freshness of red fruits. Of all of the problems that I see in evident when it comes to seeking fruit and varietal expression. Brazil’s still wines, this is the that seems most complicated. Then there’s the matter of over-extraction. In Brazil, it seems they Before moving on to the good news, let’s look at some numbers. still have the idea that the heavier, denser, and more tannic it is, the This year we tasted a record 396 still wines. However, of those, only 46 better the resulting wine will be. And most of the time what they were selected to appear in the book. In terms of percentages, this is the obtain are wines that are unbalanced, usually in acidity, and almost worst performance we had in the four countries we tasted for the 2021 always in tannins. edition of Descorchados. Oak is another major issue. Brazil’s most ambitious wines not Perhaps because it doesn’t correspond to any of the above or, only abuse extraction, but oak as well. And very often naïvely, as if maybe because it’s proof that fresh and healthy fruit is possible, we they want to make it very clear to the consumers that they have spent chose the 2020 Clarete from Era Dos Ventos, a blend of different good money on those barrels and need them to know it—let there be red varieties from vineyards in Bento Gonçalves, as the Best Red of Luis Henrique Zanini the year in Descorchados. This little tribute to Spanish clarets (light, This situation is not new in the guide. We have maintained direct thirst-quenching wines) is a simple, juicy red that doesn’t aim to do contact with the producers for years, and over the course of more than much more than liven up a barbecue but that also shows the talent 20 years we have seen how their wines evolve—and in our opinion, for of a producer such as Luis Henrique Zanini, who we have already the better. We have contributed to this to some degree, but I believe celebrated many times in Descorchados. And it’s not a matter of the the fundamental key to this evolution has been taking a closer look at one-eyed man being king in the land of the blind, but the truth is what’s going on in the rest of the world. And that is something we have that it’s hard to find well-balanced fresh and pleasing red wines in the not seen in Brazil. Brazilian panorama. More than a decade ago, when Argentine producers began to taste Something similar happens with the best white of the year, the reds and whites from beyond Mendoza, California or Bordeaux, it im- 2020 Revolução White Alvarinho from Guahyba Estate Wines, very mediately opened a world to them, and it showed in their work. There close to Porto Alegre. This is a new project with the consulting services was a before and after with respect to their travels and tastings in Bur- of the tireless Alejandro Cardozo, with a handful of vineyards on the gundy, Barolo, Bairrada, Galicia, Jura, and Jerez. The new flavors and banks of Guaíba Lake (River), half an hour from the city center. It’s a the interaction with producers from other latitudes changed Argentine new terroir that makes its debut with this delicious succulent and juicy wine. And the same thing happened with Chile. And in the end, those white, a clear example of the variety and proof that it’s possible to ob- trips and tastings transformed South American wine. tain a character related to the variety. It’s time, then, for Brazilian producers to take a chance, to dare, and While working on the new Brazilian edition of Descorchados, I had to try. For now, it’s hard to travel, although they do have the good for- to respond to many concerned producers asking about the absence of tune to be South America’s primary wine importer, and the offer avail- their wines in the reports. And my response, with more detail (or less), able there is worldwide. There’s no pretext here. A bit more of the world always included the reasons that we have already discussed.