Give 'em time. Heck, you copuld probably say the same thing about most California supermarket-level wine in the saem price range :)

I attended a leaner trade version in Toronto, Canada. Miolo was once available in Canada several years ago, but the agent went out of business due to a lack of business...Rolland is a consultant to Miolo. Most Brazilian wines show a distressing lack of terroir. They are basically just wines made from cab, from merlot, for chardonnay, etc. The grapes could be from anywhere: some styles alternate from year to year. One vintage or winery could be doing a North American juicy style, and the next time the style could be Euro. One region in Brazil can even deliver TWO harvests a year...Here's more, from my notes --

* Miolo Merlot Terroir 2005: this was a wine to savour and to cellar, $45 US retail, good depth but needing time. Michel Rolland is an adviser to the winery.
* Mioranza Cabernet Sauvignon 2005: $15 US, spicy fruit, good oaking from six months in French oak.
* Casa Valduga Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 2004: $32 US: hard oak, red fruit, still needed time.
* Pizzato Concentus 2004: $25 US, very good concentration, one of my top picks of the afternoon. It was 40% merlot, 40% tannat, and 20% cabernet sauvignon, barreled in 50 – 50 French and US oak.
* Panceri Pisani and Panceri Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2004: $18.50 US, and a bargain. Grapefruit, red fruit, oak tones, higher acid on the finish for food. French oak.
* Boscato Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2002: $80 US. Gold medalist, oaky, plummy, saturated, delivers the goods with flavours, but pricey.
* Don Laurindo Gran Reserva 2002: $105 US. Bordeaux-styled blend, only made in special harvests (1999, 2002, 2005). New French oak dominates.
Other wines in the show included a variety of chardonnays (the more it cost, the better it tasted) and sparkling wines. The sparklers were good value, especially the Panceri Espumante Moscatel for $6 US. In the reds, I enjoyed the Casa Valduga Cabernet Franc 2004 ($14US) and their Duetto Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2004 ($14US), Don Laurindo Reserva Malbec 2005 ($45US), Miolo Lote 43 2004 ($35US) with its 50-50 merlot and cabernet sauvignon done up in US oak, and both the Pizzato Reserva Merlot 2004 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 ($14 apiece).

I've seen Brazilian wines at trade shows, the promotions are exciting and the enthusiasm is infectious, but it's a long way to ship ordinary wine. I don't think there's a serious distributor of Brazilian wines in the UK yet, but the emphasis is on the 'yet'.

I'm about to build a brazilian's red wine Simposium, here, in Sao Paolo. Triyng to do it at first semestre of 2008, in you are invited to come as observer!
Try Aurora C.Sauvignon Millesime and the very charming wine from Villa Francioni (São Joaquim), Familia Francioni, perhaps the best red wine ever made in Brazil

Is large list of wines you tried.
I see severals Miolo in the list and this is a good example of the quality diverity of the brazilian wines.
We live in Venezuela and my wife works for a Brazilian company and every time she goes I ask for a bottle.
So far I only have a review of one of this bottles and agree with you that the quality is regular but the have a good future.
You can see the review in this URL.
http://www.antociano.net/blog/index.php/2007/05/adega-do-vale-2003/
Of course is in spanish.
Regards,

OT: Where did that map image come from? I'd like a bigger version...

Well, all these comments mean the continous quality increase or the Brazilian Fine Wine and mainly, also, concerned to the "Small Wineries", too, that make the difference !!!!

Cheers !!!
Abilio

I'm a declared Brazil fan. I love Brazil. If I had to choose a place to live, anywhere in the world, it would be somewhere in Santa Catarina or Rio Grande do Sul. The lifestyle, the football passion (I love football, aka Soccer), the joy in the air, the charming weather, the best sea ever and undobtedly the beautiest women alive are there.

But the wine is lousy.

I attended a big Brazil tasting once, maybe four years ago. Some of the big names were there: Valduga, Miolo, Laurindo. I don´t remember the exact labels, I'm afraid. But it all ended up in the pipe. Cats pee, greenness, harsh tannins, weak bodies, everything terrible.
Once, having more oysters than recommended in a restaurant by the sea in Florianópolis, I sent back four bottles of brazilian white wine before giving up and beg for a cold beer (which, btw, are far from real quality beer over there).
Sparklings are drinkable, just that.

But I still love Brazil.

I came across you blog while searching for Marson's Vale da Ferradura Cabernet Suave. I've been trying to search for this wine through the internet or through a local wine retailer, but no luck. I must no be searching hard enough :( But just want to comment on how this particular wine tasted pretty good. I would love to get my hands on them again. BTW, I brought 2 bottles back to Cali after visiting the Marson facility.

I am brazilian and I must say that in this huge list of wines, there were, in fact, a very few of good ones. Even here, most of them are consider weak wines. But producers like Miolo, Salton, Casa Valduga, Pizzato and Don Laurindo represents the elite group, though wines like Miolo Terroir, Salton Talento, Quinta do Seival Castas Portuguesas, Quinta do Seival Cabernet Sauvignon are considered top wines by the local press. But the reason I'm writing is to recomend other top brazilian wines, that certainly will be pleasurable to taste, some of them made by very small producers (and, saddly, very hard to be found): Vallontano Reserva Merlot; Vallontano Tannat and the Reserva Tannat; Paralelo 8, Rio Sol Reserva Shiraz, Rio Sol, Rio Sol Reserva Assemblage and Miolo Terranova Shiraz-Cabernet (those are made in Vale do São Francisco, dry and hot land); Marson Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon; Marco Luigi Gran Reserva; Villa Francioni Sauvignon Blanc, Villa Francioni Chardonnay and Villa Francioni tinto (rouge); Tormentas Premium Cabernet Sauvignon (approved by Steven Spurrier) and Tormentas Minimus Anima; Aurora Millesimme 2004; and Angheben Touriga Nacional and Angheben Barbera. I think that is a very good list, and I hope you appreciate any of them if you have the opportunity to taste.

I am from italy and i am very proud on my country,Went to brazil twice and best sea ever and hotest women alive are there.But when i go to brazil i always prefer italian wine with some graps and lemon.

I have lived and traveled in Brasil extensively. To be fair, wines are very personal in taste and preference. I have tried some so called "excellent" Australian wines which I will never try again, yet their sales in my state are off the charts! I have also tried many different wines from Brasil and some of the most expensive from some vineyards can't hold a candle to some of the less expensive from smaller wineries.
By the way, one of my favorite US wines cots about $8! To each his own.

Gary

I should not drink wine, but like a small amount for vasodilation. What Brazilian wine can be bought in the grocery store with the good effects for heart as a red wine.

I had the Casa Valduga 2004 Cabernet Franc last weekend and it was delicious. It definitely was more towards the French style with lower alcohol and restrained fruit. What really caught my attention initially was some serious precipitate in the bottle. Clearly this wine was produced with aging in mind and it was in good shape 4.5 years after the vintage. The balance was superb and quite a few secondary characteristic were evident. Perhaps most importantly, the finish was excellent. At $15, this could compete in the US except for the fact that it says Cabernet Franc on the bottle instead a more popular varietal.