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This weeks feature
Apart from Port, the wines of Portugal have long been dismissed. Now, however, Graham Sherwood finds them thriving.
Given the importance for wine drinkers in Britain of Porto, the quintessentially English fortified wine from the rugged Douro valley, it is odd that Portugal’s other wines have never made a significant breakthrough here. The flamboyance of the Italians, the haughty reserve of the French, the innovation of the neighbouring Spanish and the arrogance of marauding Australians left old Portugal a bit dazed and confused. |
The rugged Douro valley |
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The favoured Algarve
Ironically, the Algarve, on the southernmost tip of Portugal and now the most favoured tourist area in the country, used to be one of its important vine-growing regions. But during the many turbulent, often vicious periods of invasion and occupation by the Moors of North Africa, winemaking, somewhat inevitably, gave way to more crucial food production. Elsewhere, traded vines arrived through the important Atlantic ports of Lisbon, Aveiro and Oporto and were established further inland on the diverse soils bordering the rivers Tejo, Vouga and Douro. An era of relative political stability began around 1250, and Portugal developed strong links with England, so that, by the 16th century, its table wines, like Osey and Charneco, were among the most popular consumed here. Alas, the imposition of high levels of duty on Portuguese wines, erroneously judged similar to stronger, fortified Spanish varieties imported through London, were a death knell, and their popularity never recovered. |
A bottle of Mateus - just hours before becoming a table lamp! | Grown-up, serious and sophisticated
Today, with the cheap, but highly profitable dalliances of Mateus Rose and Vinho Verde firmly behind them, there is evidence of a grown-up, serious and altogether more sophisticated attitude towards the production of fine wines in Portugal. This has not been achieved by planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay everywhere, either. Instead, an extensive range of indigenous grape varieties have been cleverly blended with small quantities of the more classical types to produce some stunning examples of the blender’s art. |
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Forward-looking areas
Around the coastal area to the north of Lisbon, several wine producing regions, armed with DOC status (Denominacao de Origem Controlada) are making their mark. Torres Vedras, Arruda and Alenquer are three of the most forward-looking areas, where innovative winemakers have transformed their previously rustic, earthy, somewhat gritty wines into well-balanced, finely-structured, and significantly alcoholic, fruity wines that can challenge the best efforts of the new world. Names to look out for are Quinta Boa Vista, Quinta Abrigada and Casa Santos Lima.
To the south of Lisbon, the peninsula between the rivers Tejo and Sado is home to the winemaking towns of Setubal and Palmela. Through clever blending of some of the country’s 58 nationally recognised grape varieties, large producers like J M DaFonseca, Oliveira E Silva and Venancio Da Costa Lima have the financial resources to create quite special wines. |
Some of the finest
In these regions, the Atlantic’s moderating effect, and the rather sandy, calcareous, alluvial soils combine to assist the ripening of some of Portugal’s finest grape varieties. The very curranty Tinta Roriz and the weighty Touriga Nacional are two of the finest indigenous grapes emerging into the spotlight of vinous recognition.
To the east of Lisbon lie two very large, rather indistinct wine growing regions, the Ribatejo and, further inland, the Alentejo, both well known for producing huge quantities of basic wine (Vinho Regional) for the home market. Historically, the Ribatejo had two main functions - first to produce masses of cheap wine (Vinho de Mesa) for export to the Portuguese colonies in Africa and South America, and second, to distil surplus white wine into the spiriti used in the production of Port. |
Curranty Tinta Roriz |
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Big investors take notice
The Alentejo similarly enjoyed little status, until several big foreign investors began to take notice of a small area, Borba, from where some really exciting wines are emerging. Labels now advertise the use of local red grapes like Trincadeira Preta, Aragones and Perequita, and are certainly worth trying if they qualify for the increasingly impressive IPR (Indicacao de Proveniencia Regulamentada) quality classification, in which many of Portugal’s most innovative wines are now grouped. In the north, the Dao region lies on sparse, inhospitable terrain with great variation in climate. However, cold, rainy winters, long, searingly hot summers and warm autumnal harvests provide perfect fruit to make quality wines. Traditionally an area for large co-operative outfits, Dao now has more winemakers prepared to take control of their own destinies, thus creating wines capable of ageing into elegant Reservas or hand-made Garrafeira styles. |
A Bairrada vineyard | Bairrada - the heartland
Nearby Bairrada can justifiably label itself the heartland of Portuguese wine, being the first area to grow vines in Roman times. The heavy clay ‘barros’ soil, from which the region is named, produces rustic, hearty, heavily tannic wines that were previously used to bolster Port wine in the Douro. This lack of respect for its own provenance is now firmly in the past, and the important Baga grape, which accounts for 85 per cent of vines grown in Bairrada, is now being cleverly blended with more complex Tinta Pinheira and Touriga Nacional varieties. A slow-to-mature wine, Barraida with five to ten years bottle age is worth seeking out. |
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Eclipsed by Port
The table wines of the Douro valley are obviously eclipsed by Port. However, the same Port wine grape varieties, the minerally Touriga Francesa, the massively structured Touriga Nacional, the plummy Tinta Barroca and the juicy Tinta Roriz, can all be blended - usually with a little Cabernet Sauvignon - to make superbly-balanced, meaty wines. Quinta do Cotto, Quinta do Crasto and Quinta de Rosa can all be justifiably proud of their efforts. As recent EU capital investment begins to pay off, state-of-the-art technology replaces ancient ways and, with Europe’s seemingly insatiable wine appetite showing no signs of abating, the innovation that is beginning to emerge from Portugal should finally rekindle the level of global interest this exciting country deserves. |
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Recommended tipples
Here are three currently available Portuguese wines:
Quinta das Senecostas 2003, DOC Alenquer, Casa Santos Lima
Touriga Nacional 2003, Vinho Regional, Estremadura
Altano Touriga Nacional/Touriga Franca 2001, DOC Douro |
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