2008 Era dos Ventos Peverella Bento Gonçalves (Brazil) 11.0%
Purchased at Aprazível, the restaurant in Rio where Jonathan Nossiter created the wine list. Nossiter singled out this particular dry white in a recent (Brazilian) magazine piece and, given the paucity of interesting Brazilian wine, I got curiosity. It is made by a maverick producer called Alvaro Escher who previously made an oxidative Peverella (which I tried and didn't like) at a winery called Cave Ouvidor in the state of Santa Catarina.
Medium gold, with an exotic, to say the least, combination of home lubrication oil and graphite. Tastes, well, original, with the aforementioned caressed by some rosewater that wasn't evident on the nose. Acidity is there, but should be greater; a bit of acceptable bitterness takes up the slack. This kind of wine might be an acquired taste because there's nothing structurally wrong with it. It's just organoleptically weird. Maybe Nossiter, whose palate must be more jaded than most (and I say this with intended empathy), admired it for being unusual. Marcia didn't like it at all and, very uncharacteristically, didn't finish even her first pour. I had all my pours, not so much from gluttony but from a desire to vivre la différence. There was quite a bit left over, so we should be able to see how this evolves. I'm sure you're all hanging on the edge of your seats. After all, the fate of the world is at stake.