We have just won a silver medal for our Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2010 at the Les Citadelles du Vin wine competition in Bordeaux,Les Citadelles du Vin , This wine has been improving in the bottle for over a year now, confirmed by the medal it has just won. It has an intense flavour, soft, but still with strong tannins, good to drink now but also a good wine to lay down for several years to come. At 8,50€ a very reasonable price.  A word about the labels which have paintings by our dear friend George Farmer. We call his paintings "Wild Erotic" but you can see for yourself on his website Gorge Farmer Artist

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We are excited to announce that Vinhos Cortém organic wines will be giving a winetasting with tapas for the Royal British Club on the 16th April at the Baia Hotel in Cascais. The Baia Hotel will be providing the tapas. Thank you Joao Coruche! We look forward to seeing you there.

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Now that Dot Bekker and Leaping Ahead has given us a new website with an online shop and an easy way to blog, we have no excuse for not getting up to date. So many things have happened in the last two years that we have never reported so forgive us if some of the news we will post in the coming weeks is a bit dusty in terms of age!  We have had a good year and sold out of several wines. In the next few weeks we will be bottling our 2011 wines and be rearranging the winery to be able to work more easily. We will keep you posted! 

Here are a few pics at Christmas of our packing room and the wines being collected by GLS.

We have again been rewarded for our hard work with a Berlin Wine Trophy - Gold Medal.  The award was for

Syrah Petite Sirah 2010

A blend of Syrah and Petit Sirah (Durif).  This is a very strong and full bodied wine, but still very easy to enjoy.

This is currently available in our wine shop, but remember we only make limited numbers of each vintage so be sure to buy now.

We've finally managed to organise a great shipping option for our wines within Europe. The new Wine shipping boxes make this all possible. 

In this last year we have designed boxes to ship our wines, which are already in full use with over 300 boxes sent with no breakages. The box is all cardboard and no plastic and works very well for bottles of various sizes. You can even use it as a cellar rack when you have emptied it.

We ship to all european countries for 18€ for twenty four bottle box. That is a 40kg package! We also have a smaller boxf  for up to fifteen bottles, shipping cost is the same.There is more about this on the in the wines shop.

Now Christmas has passed and we are well on the way to 2014.  We have had storms and it is still raining but that is winter here and we are enjoying being at home. 

So now for something else. Nazaré a nearby fishing town is home to the biggest surfing wave ever recorded. So we decided to go there and see the wave for our Christmas outing. But it was much too stormy and the sea looked like this! When the wind has died down the big wave may come. Although this article is not about wine, the Atlantic is where we get our weather from and it is a prime influence on  the Terroir of Cortém.

We were very busy this year thanks to your orders for wine which we were still sending out just before Christmas.  It has been a great year for wine sales and thanks to you. Don't forget to visit our Facebook page for what is happening.

Harvest 2013 was quite difficult. We had a late spring but a very hot August, where the grapes caught up a bit and were looking great at the middle of September.

We harvested  the Sauvingon Blanc, Viognier, Pinot Noir and Jaen towards the end of September, but then the weather broke and we had torrential rain for 2 weeks. When it dried out we waited a week and  began  bringing in the rest. the sun was already too cold to do more ripening. We lost most of the Syrah and the Aragonez lost its flavour and sugar but all the rest stood up well, especially the Cabernet Sauvignon with its tough skin.

We finished pressing on the 26th October and now the winery is very cold which is just right. We have done the first analysis and are waiting for the malolactic fermentaion to finish. Some of the wines alrerady tast pretty good, so we have not lost too much we think. our thoughts now go to the  2011 wines which we will bottle early next year.

The Syrah 2009 has now sold out! 

We are keeping a few bottles for "Home Use" but otherwise it has ben a very succesful wine for us. It was not too heavy but more subtle in taste. Often an understatement in taste is better than an overstatement we think. As you know we do not use oak barrel aging and so the taste just comes from the grapes.

Now we are moving on to our new wines, which we will be putting up on the site very soon, different tastes all around but still that Cortém flavour. Don't forget our Pinot Noir 2011 and the  Sauvingon Blanc viognier 2011, both quite exceptional wines!

Each year we participate in a number of events, here are our events for 2009/ 2010 / 2011

PROWEIN 2009

Porterra Wine Tour 2010

Portugal International Wine Conference - Porto 2010

British Historical Society Lunch - 2010 &  2011

Confraria dos Enofilios da Estemadura - Wine tasting and lunch 2010

Jantar Vinica com Quinta de Paco CCC Caldas da Rainha 29 July 2011

We were delighted that our wines were chosen in this challenge.  It's always tremendous to have our hard work recognised.

AWARD WINNERS!

Cortém Jaen* - award winner - Silver Medal IWC 2011

The grape which gives its name to this wine is better known in the dao region where it is used to mix with Touriga nacional and other varieties. On its own it has a very special flavour and makes a light but distinctive wine with flavours of smoke and chocolate, to enjoy by itself or with food. It can also be drunk well cooled like a rosè, and for this reason we call it our " Tinto Verao" "Summer wine". The belnd is about 80% Jaen 20% Touriga Nacional.

Cortém Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot* - award winner - Bronze Medal IWC 2011

This wine is rich and heavy with the taste of cabernet sauvignon predominating, almost too stron for food we call it our fireside wine! Can be drunk young but will improve with age, First year 2009.

IWC LONDON - Our judges said 'Extracted style, full, trim and lively with green notes'.

Being recognised for our efforts by the International wine community is a reward we never anticipated achieving in such a short time.

The award is for is our favourite Jaen variety which has a special flavour but makes a light and distinctive wine. 

To date we have been awarded the following :