Colares: A Great Portuguese Wine and Shakespeare

I’m a huge fan of Colares wine from Portugal. Part of it is the story, part of it is the scarcity and part of it are the flavors, aromas, and overall taste of this ancient and unique wine, and it can be both red and white.

In 2017 I visited Viúva Gomes in Almoçageme, a small and somewhat remote village in the Portuguese municipality of Sintra in the parish of Colares.  Their production is quite limited, and they produce their wine in 500 ml bottles, with both white (Branco) and red (Tinto) versions.

So, what makes this wine so special?  First, the vines grow several meters from the Atlantic Ocean which imparts a salinity that is unusual for most wines. Next, the vines are not on stakes or trellis’, the vines are lying on the sand dunes near the Atlantic Ocean. And their red wine is usually not offered for sale until it has aged for at least 8 to 10 years.

The white wines will show minerality, saline, salt, citrus, lemon, stone fruit, and a variety of other flavors and notes. Frankly, I usually can taste some of these flavors, but even after drinking and tasting wine all these years, I still find it a challenge to see how many flavors I can identify. It is a challenge I willingly accept!

The red wine exhibits earthiness, leather, red fruit, raspberry, cherry, raisin maybe fig. I had a vertical tasting of the Colares Tinto from Viúva Gomes from their 1938 vintage (or so, I forget the exact year) that still had so much fruit and freshness, that you would never think it was a wine that was more than 50 years old!

The reason for this preamble of Colares was also to demonstrate how an AI engine (ChatGPT 3.5) could describe this wine in the voice of Shakespeare, obviously a much more poetic voice than me??. I hope you enjoy the text and poetry. I know I will enjoy that bottle of Colares sitting in my wine cabinet, waiting, waiting…

How would Shakespeare describe a red wine from Collares, Portugal?

In Collares, whence this red wine doth hail,
A Portuguese gem, its tales we shall unveil.
From land of ancient vines and coastal breeze,
Comes nectar that doth put the soul at ease.
Its hue, a garnet cloak, rich and profound,
In goblets gleams like rubies ‘pon the ground.
From native Ramisco grapes, its heart is pressed,
A noble heritage, by time caressed.
The nose, a symphony of scents, doth rise,
With whispers of the sea and earthy ties.
Saline airs and forest’s ancient grace,
Mingle in this wine’s aromatic embrace.
Upon the palate, stories of the past,
Of sun-drenched slopes, and rugged vineyards vast.
Tannins, firm and sturdy, yet refined,
Like verses penned by poets, intertwined.
Oh, Collares wine, a treasure to behold,
In Shakespearean verse, thy tale is told.
Thy taste, thy lineage, thy coastal lore,
In every sip, a journey to explore.