The White & The Red

The end of an evening at Quinta Malvedos with Rupert Symington

Must we tread? Tread we must! Must pit at Quinta Vesuvio. Two of the last three weeks, I have been on assignment in several Germany regions and in Portugal's Douro Valley. A week of white wine, followed by a week of rest, followed by a week of red wine. It's the most-balanced tasting schedule I've ever had. I've already started writing about the German whites in my iSante blog (http://www.isantemagazine.com/blog/more-dry-riesling-please), but more articles are to come over the next days, weeks and months in Sommelier Journal, Beverage Media and Sommelier News. I'll be posting a piece on my Douro trip in the next couple of days on iSante, followed by articles on The Daily Meal, with my new Front of the Line slide show, and in Sommelier News and in the Polish journal, Magazyn Wino. If you are as impatient as I am for articles to be written and to appear, here are two of my ah-hah moments - from the German trip, how really fine are the best table Rieslings from Urzig in the Mosel, and from the Douro venture how much I enjoy vintage Ports of the intermediate age of seven to 11 years old, the time that many connoisseurs won't touch them. Their loss! Until the next time...