Portugal’s delicious wines are being re-discovered more and more by delighted audiences. How so? For a start, Irish people spent over 200,000 bed-nights in Portugal last year, many of them being introduced to Portugal’s wines for the first time, along the Algarve’s beautiful resorts. Their marketing efforts have also intensified – football fans may have been a tad suprised to see Jose Mourinho supporting the call for winemakers worldwide to continue using corks, but bear in mind that 50% of the world’s corks come from Portugal. Greater availability of Portugese wines (Mateus Rose really is a super wine, but sometimes you want to move on!…), trade tastings and in-store promotions are now much more evident than ever before.
With just a touch of Jose Mourinho’s supremely self-assured style, Portugal have become much more vocal and confident about showcasing their wines, and quite rightly so, as a recent wine tasting in Dublin revealed.
I was struck by the fact that Portugal has a new fruit-driven style of wine, which apears to over-deliver in quality, at every level. The generous (but judicious) use of expensive oak, to complement full-bodied reds barely seems to be factored into the cost at all. The range of local grape varieties, from Alvarinho to TNAC (formerly known as Touriga Nacional) give a range of flavours not seen anywhere else in the world. When it comes to low alcohol wines, a style frequently asked about at my wine courses, Portugal is blessed with naturally low-alcohol white wines from the north.
Portugal is one of the smaller-scale wine producers, at about 7m hectolitres of wine per year. The wine region spans 600km in length x stretches 200km inwards from the Atlantic coast. While there are now 29 DOCs (recognised quality wine-producing regions), these can be grouped into 3 main regions:
The ‘Atlantic’ region to the north, includes Vinho Verde, Bairrada and Obidos. These wines produce lighter styles – low to medium alcohol, high acidity, and medium body. They are generally fresh and designed for enjoying at a young age.
I can highly recommend Giro Sol Vinho Verde 09 at €13.95. Gorgeous lemon and herbal aromas which follow onto the palate and then mingle with green apples and lively refreshing acidity. Available in Jus de Vine, Gibneys, McHugh’s, Corkscrew, Redmonds, On the Grapevine, Morton’s.
The ‘Mountain Wines’ area includes Douro, Dao, Beira. These wines are medium in alcohol, medium/high in acidity, and are medium to full bodied. Gone are the dusty wines of the Dao, and a ‘New World’ fruity style is now much more in evidence.
Cistus 09 (Douro) is delicious and retails at €11.50. It is a dry white wine, and very powerful, with spicy/peppery flavours mingling with herbal/savoury notes. It is aged in French oak casks for 6 months before release.
Its big brother, red wine, Cistus Reserva 07 is super – intense cassis, vanilla and smoky aromas at first. The palate is big and inky in its fruity intensity, with age starting to reveal itself in vegetal flavours. It is still a baby, and will get even better for some years to come. Both of these Cistus wines are available only in Mitchells.
Another stunner from Douro is Sa de Baixa 08. Rather lighter in style, you will find spicy, peppery flavours, a lovely mouthfeel and medium tannins. At €10.95, this is seriously good value for money. Find this wine in Red Island (Skerries), Jus de Vine, Gibneys, McHugh’s, Corkscrew, Redmonds, On the Grapevine, 64 Wine, Morton’s.
Moving south, the third region is ‘the Plains.’ This includes Tejo (formerly known as Alentejo), Setubal, Palmela and more. Here you will find higher levels of alcohol, lower acid, and generally these wines will not benefit from more than a couple of years’ ageing.
A long-term favourite from here is Pegos Claros (Palmela). The current vintage is ’05 (one of the best ever for this wine) and costs a mere €12.49. Classy lead-pencil flavours, with cassis, and spicy oak. Beautifully balanced, with elegance, length, power and structure. Drink now if you are impatient, or cellar it if you can!
From Donnybrook Fair, Corkscrew, Fallon & Byrne, Listons, La Touche, Wine Boutique (new wine shops in Greystones & Ringsend, respectively), Hollands, Cellars Wine Warehouse, Jus de Vine, Fresh stores, and Deveneys. The extensive list of stockists gives you some indication of its esteemed rating with the Irish wine trade.
2009 Monte de Peceguina from Tejo is €18, but oh, so well worth it! It shows intense smoky, oaky, inky, cassis aromas. It is extremely full-bodied, but wonderfully balanced with intense ‘heat’-related flavours – pepper and cloves, damsons, blackcurrants & blackberries, lead pencil, smoky, oaky. Great now, but invest in a few bottles to forget about for a few years and your patience will be rewarded. It is to be found in the Hole in the Wall, O’Briens, Fallon & Byrne, Fresh supermarkets, Listons, The Wine Boutique. The Corkscrew, Donnybrook Fair, Cellars Wine Warehouse, Deveneys, McCAbe’s, La Touche, Hollands.
Another gem is Dom Rafael 08, again from Tejo. Intense smoky, oaky flavours, bursting with clove spice, and juicy brambly fruit. Full-bodied and with great length. From Wicklow Wine Co., Jus de Vine, McHugh’s, Red Island, Corkscrew, Redmonds, Mortons, On the Grapevine. Also 2008 Marquis de Borba €12.99, from Wine Boutique, has jammy/jelly aromas, with light fresh fruit, oaky, vanilla character, set in a full-body.
If your wine quest includes value for money (and whose doesn’t), coupled with a fruit-driven wine style, then look towards Portugal the next time you are looking for a bottle of wine. Available in good wine shops throughout Dublin and larger towns in Ireland. For more information on Portugese wines click here.
