The popular La Piazza Italian restaurant in Sta Bárbara de Nexe was the setting for last week’s novel tasting for the Algarve Wine Society.
Sixty people attended the evening, which was hosted by the Society’s secretary, Nigel Adams, and took the form of a comparative tasting of single varietal wines from the same grape but one of each from Spain and Portugal.
Members were asked to guess which wine was from where and to vote on their favourite with each comparison. It was an interesting exercise and one which was not conclusive; the vote for each country was evenly split on each comparison. It was interesting the extent to which terroir and latitude influenced the wines.
A Portuguese Alvarinho was first compared with a Spanish Albariño, then a Jaen with a Mencia and then finally an Aragonez with a Tempranillo.
An excellent dinner followed, cooked and served by La Piazza’s owners, the Bucciero family: delicious home-made sage butter tortellini, a choice of veal Genovese and breaded chicken and a choice of desserts.
All in all, an educational and interesting fun evening at an excellent venue.
By GAYNOR STAPLETON
