Portugal
Portugal
Still that poor country on the Atlantic edge of Europe, having been hampered by decades of isolation and dictatorship, Portugal is finally getting that wine thang right. Partly a question of marketing - now very successful - and partly one of self confidence and investment - definitely getting there, Portuguese wine is better and more available than ever. From the north to the south our oldest ally is discovering its native grape varieties and making intense, delightful wines with them. Plenty to reward exploration here.
- Luis PatoLuis is a very engaging, independently minded man whose warmth and ready smile obscures a spine of steel and an unflinching determination to do what is right. Although he is Bairrada`s finest and certainly most thoughtful producer, he hasn`t labelled most of his wines as such for years. He `moved` to Beiras when the `wrong person` was made head of the region. He wants to make Portuguese wines, not new world ones and although not afraid of innovation, this is exactly what he does. He just does it better than anyone else.
- NiepoortDirk Niepoort is an extremely bright and creative chap with a huge number of ideas, many of which have been incredibly successful in practice. It would appeal to me enormously if I thought he might be even slightly irritating to work for, but I doubt it. He knows the business inside out and the workings, history and potential of Niepoort even more intimately. It is that potential that he leverages so ruthlessly and effectively.
- Quinta do Soalheiro
Albariño in Spain, Alvarinho across the Miño/Minho River in Portugal. Either way, it’s the most favoured white grape variety in the north-western Iberian Peninusula. Its combination of steely acidity and stonefruit flavours lends itself to wines that are ripe and vigorous, and very often irresistible. On the Portuguese side of the border, Alvarinho also makes one of the best expressions of Vinho Verde (‘green wine’. the term is a reference to the verdant local countryside). The heartland of premium Vinho Verde is on the granitic soils and sunny slopes of Monção e Melgaço.
- Quinta do Vale Meao
The Douro Valley may be most famous for Port, but that is far from being its only great contribution the world of wine; too few people realise how good and how good value the table reds and whites made in the valley can be.
Quinta do Vale Meao was founded in the 1870s by one Antonia Ferreira, who dreamed of creating a model vineyard from nothing. It took her 8 years. Six generations later, the estate remains in the hands of her descendants.
- Quinta dos Roques
If nothing else the figures at Quinta dos Roques should add up, since both Luis and Maria Lourenco were maths lecturers before her father persuaded them to take over the family estate. That was in 1990 and since then the couple has presided over enormous changes and much research into the local varieties. But as Luis says, since they stopped being a mixed farm and concentrated on winegrowing they can see exactly which part of the business is loss-making!