FOR a country renowned in the Age of Exploration for its seafaring adventures and colonies, Portugal has lived much of its wine-producing life in splendid isolation.
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NY Times Article: For the Next Big Thing, Look to Portugal
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Lovely piece Jamie :) Thank You for posting it here.
And here is the link for its Multimedia presentation. Lovely!. A must see & listen.
Please click here http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/h ... ocker.html
The "Banks of the Douro" speech tell us some nice things about the Douro Valley. And the pictures are great.
And here is the link for its Multimedia presentation. Lovely!. A must see & listen.
Please click here http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/h ... ocker.html
The "Banks of the Douro" speech tell us some nice things about the Douro Valley. And the pictures are great.
Last edited by Mario Ferreira on Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
PORTugal, One Country, 800 Years of History, 11 Distinct Regions plus Azores and Madeira, and Thousands of Wines
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The New York Times
October 5, 2005
For the Next Big Thing, Look to Portugal
By ERIC ASIMOV
FOR a country renowned in the Age of Exploration for its seafaring adventures and colonies, Portugal has lived much of its wine-producing life in splendid isolation.
There is port, of course, made from grapes grown along the Douro River, and Madeira from the island of Madeira. You would be surprised at how many people think of these fortified wines as British rather than Portuguese, and with reason. The British pretty much invented port and have dominated its shipping, though France and the United States are now the biggest port markets.
For years, if people thought at all of Portuguese wines, they thought of Mateus and Lancer's, cheap sparkling rosés known for producing monumental hangovers, which were as much a rite of passage for a certain age group as buying that first Jimi Hendrix record or claiming to have been at Woodstock.
For most of the 20th century, the Portuguese themselves were making and drinking indifferent wines. Very few went out into the rest of the world, for which we can be grateful, because they weren't very good.
But after Portugal joined what was then the European Community in 1986, the wine industry fundamentally remade itself, replacing outdated equipment, modernizing winemaking methods and improving viticultural techniques.
Today, Portugal is a source for distinctive wines that can be very good values, and some of the best Portuguese red wines, as the Dining section's wine panel learned, are coming from the Douro, the area best known as the home of port.
We tasted 25 dry red wines from the Douro, a rugged mountainous region that stretches from the center of Portugal's northern tier east to the Spanish border. Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Phil Pratt, wine director at "21" Club in Manhattan, and Ernani L. Silva, wine director at Trotters in White Plains.
Our immediate reaction was how widely these wines ranged stylistically. Some were simple and grapy, while others were earthy and, as Mr. Pratt put it, "savage." I think he meant it as a compliment.
Some were easy to enjoy immediately, while others were tannic, perhaps savagely so, and required aging. As a general rule, Mr. Silva said, these would benefit from decanting.
More than anything, these wines struck me as honest. They did not try to imitate flavors and styles that are popular elsewhere. They are not what marketers call "fruit forward," essentially one step removed from soft drinks. Nor were they rustic and simple. They were decidedly Old World in style, with tannins, mineral flavors and good acidity, excellent with food but not wines for people milling around in a banquet hall.
What makes these wines so distinctive? Look no further than the grapes: not a cabernet, merlot or syrah among them. The Portuguese have stubbornly stuck with their indigenous grapes, which in the Douro means names like tinta roriz (known in Spain as tempranillo), touriga nacional, tinta barroca, tinto cão and touriga franca. If these names spark a glimmer of recognition it is because they are the principal grapes of port. Touriga nacional is widely regarded as the best and most distinctive of these grapes, producing a wine of great power and personality that has been likened to cabernet.
But single-grape wines are the exception. Most are blends of some or all of these grapes, and each has its role to play - tinto cão can add a fine floral perfume, while touriga franca adds a more exotic quality.
Our top wine, the 2001 Quinta do Vale Meão, had all five grapes in its blend, and perhaps that accounted for the complexity of its aromas and flavors. Yet the wine offered more than complexity. It showed intensity and precision, the mark of a great wine. It cost $55. Indeed, four of our Top 10 wines were $55 to $60, and if that seems expensive, consider how many mediocre California cabernets, Burgundies or Brunello di Montalcinos can be had for the same price without complaint.
While Douro reds are beginning to attract attention, they have not yet gained widespread popularity, so many retail shops may still have older vintages because nobody has bought the wines. For that reason, because we buy all our wines in retail shops, we were able to taste a 1998 Vinha do Fojo from Quinta do Fojo, which was powerful and tannic yet still somewhat elegant, with flavors of menthol and dried fruit, and a 1997 Quinta da Gaivosa, a much softer, less structured wine with plenty of lush fruit. Alfama, a Greenwich Village restaurant with an excellent Portuguese wine selection, offers both, but from the 1999 vintage.
Our Best Value was a $12 2000 reserva from Sogrape, one of Portugal's biggest producers, which makes wines from all over the country. I've always found the wines to be pretty good and excellent values, and this well-balanced wine, with dense fruit and complexity, was no exception. By contrast, the $60 2001 Pintas from Wine & Soul, is in a different league, with tough tannins that ought to soften over time, spicy, earthy aromas and lots of fruit. Ms. Fabricant called it "sophisticated."
That term was previously reserved for port, but no doubt we'll be seeing it applied more and more to Portuguese table wines. Aside from port companies that have increasingly gone into the table wine business, winemakers from France, Italy and Germany have all taken a bead on Portugal as the Next Big Thing. With continued progress in winemaking, and further research on cultivation of the distinctive Portuguese grapes, it's likely that Portugal will really hit its stride in the next few years. Pretty soon, we'll be remembering those $60 bottles as remnants of a more innocent age.
Tasting Report: Moving Beyond Memories of Mateus
Quinta do Vale Meão 2001
$55
*** ½
Rich and complex yet precise and focused; should soften and evolve with time. (Importer: W. J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, N.Y.)
Quinta do Fojo Vinha do Fojo 1998
$56
***
Polished and balanced; flavors of plum, dried fruit and menthol stand up to firm tannins. (Europvin, Oakland, Calif.)
Wine & Soul - Pintas 2001
$60
***
Dense yet balanced with spice, earth and fruit flavors. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Quinta da Gaivosa 1997
$30
** ½
Soft and lush with plenty of lingering fruit flavors and a touch of earthiness. (Aidil Wines and Liquors, Rahway, N.J.)
BEST VALUE
Sogrape Reserva 2000
$12
** ½
Balanced and accessible with dense fruit, licorice and mineral flavors. (Evaton Inc., Stamford, Conn.)
José Maria da Fonseca Domini 2000
$15
** ½
A straightforward crowd-pleaser, with aromas of berries, spice and chocolate. (Commonwealth Wine and Spirits, Mansfield, Mass.)
Quinta da Manuela 2000
$60
**
Likeable and earthy with fruit, mineral and mint flavors. (Tri-Vin Imports, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.)
Lavradores de Feitoria Quinta da Costa das Aguaneiras 2001
$25
**
Tannic with jammy, meaty flavors and aromas. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Lavradores de Feitoria Três Bagos 2002
$17
**
Intense sweet fruit, firm tannins and plenty of oak, yet balanced. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Quinta dos Quatro Ventos 2000
$25
**
Dark fruit flavors balance tannins and acidity to a standoff. (Tri-Vin Imports, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.)
October 5, 2005
For the Next Big Thing, Look to Portugal
By ERIC ASIMOV
FOR a country renowned in the Age of Exploration for its seafaring adventures and colonies, Portugal has lived much of its wine-producing life in splendid isolation.
There is port, of course, made from grapes grown along the Douro River, and Madeira from the island of Madeira. You would be surprised at how many people think of these fortified wines as British rather than Portuguese, and with reason. The British pretty much invented port and have dominated its shipping, though France and the United States are now the biggest port markets.
For years, if people thought at all of Portuguese wines, they thought of Mateus and Lancer's, cheap sparkling rosés known for producing monumental hangovers, which were as much a rite of passage for a certain age group as buying that first Jimi Hendrix record or claiming to have been at Woodstock.
For most of the 20th century, the Portuguese themselves were making and drinking indifferent wines. Very few went out into the rest of the world, for which we can be grateful, because they weren't very good.
But after Portugal joined what was then the European Community in 1986, the wine industry fundamentally remade itself, replacing outdated equipment, modernizing winemaking methods and improving viticultural techniques.
Today, Portugal is a source for distinctive wines that can be very good values, and some of the best Portuguese red wines, as the Dining section's wine panel learned, are coming from the Douro, the area best known as the home of port.
We tasted 25 dry red wines from the Douro, a rugged mountainous region that stretches from the center of Portugal's northern tier east to the Spanish border. Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Phil Pratt, wine director at "21" Club in Manhattan, and Ernani L. Silva, wine director at Trotters in White Plains.
Our immediate reaction was how widely these wines ranged stylistically. Some were simple and grapy, while others were earthy and, as Mr. Pratt put it, "savage." I think he meant it as a compliment.
Some were easy to enjoy immediately, while others were tannic, perhaps savagely so, and required aging. As a general rule, Mr. Silva said, these would benefit from decanting.
More than anything, these wines struck me as honest. They did not try to imitate flavors and styles that are popular elsewhere. They are not what marketers call "fruit forward," essentially one step removed from soft drinks. Nor were they rustic and simple. They were decidedly Old World in style, with tannins, mineral flavors and good acidity, excellent with food but not wines for people milling around in a banquet hall.
What makes these wines so distinctive? Look no further than the grapes: not a cabernet, merlot or syrah among them. The Portuguese have stubbornly stuck with their indigenous grapes, which in the Douro means names like tinta roriz (known in Spain as tempranillo), touriga nacional, tinta barroca, tinto cão and touriga franca. If these names spark a glimmer of recognition it is because they are the principal grapes of port. Touriga nacional is widely regarded as the best and most distinctive of these grapes, producing a wine of great power and personality that has been likened to cabernet.
But single-grape wines are the exception. Most are blends of some or all of these grapes, and each has its role to play - tinto cão can add a fine floral perfume, while touriga franca adds a more exotic quality.
Our top wine, the 2001 Quinta do Vale Meão, had all five grapes in its blend, and perhaps that accounted for the complexity of its aromas and flavors. Yet the wine offered more than complexity. It showed intensity and precision, the mark of a great wine. It cost $55. Indeed, four of our Top 10 wines were $55 to $60, and if that seems expensive, consider how many mediocre California cabernets, Burgundies or Brunello di Montalcinos can be had for the same price without complaint.
While Douro reds are beginning to attract attention, they have not yet gained widespread popularity, so many retail shops may still have older vintages because nobody has bought the wines. For that reason, because we buy all our wines in retail shops, we were able to taste a 1998 Vinha do Fojo from Quinta do Fojo, which was powerful and tannic yet still somewhat elegant, with flavors of menthol and dried fruit, and a 1997 Quinta da Gaivosa, a much softer, less structured wine with plenty of lush fruit. Alfama, a Greenwich Village restaurant with an excellent Portuguese wine selection, offers both, but from the 1999 vintage.
Our Best Value was a $12 2000 reserva from Sogrape, one of Portugal's biggest producers, which makes wines from all over the country. I've always found the wines to be pretty good and excellent values, and this well-balanced wine, with dense fruit and complexity, was no exception. By contrast, the $60 2001 Pintas from Wine & Soul, is in a different league, with tough tannins that ought to soften over time, spicy, earthy aromas and lots of fruit. Ms. Fabricant called it "sophisticated."
That term was previously reserved for port, but no doubt we'll be seeing it applied more and more to Portuguese table wines. Aside from port companies that have increasingly gone into the table wine business, winemakers from France, Italy and Germany have all taken a bead on Portugal as the Next Big Thing. With continued progress in winemaking, and further research on cultivation of the distinctive Portuguese grapes, it's likely that Portugal will really hit its stride in the next few years. Pretty soon, we'll be remembering those $60 bottles as remnants of a more innocent age.
Tasting Report: Moving Beyond Memories of Mateus
Quinta do Vale Meão 2001
$55
*** ½
Rich and complex yet precise and focused; should soften and evolve with time. (Importer: W. J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, N.Y.)
Quinta do Fojo Vinha do Fojo 1998
$56
***
Polished and balanced; flavors of plum, dried fruit and menthol stand up to firm tannins. (Europvin, Oakland, Calif.)
Wine & Soul - Pintas 2001
$60
***
Dense yet balanced with spice, earth and fruit flavors. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Quinta da Gaivosa 1997
$30
** ½
Soft and lush with plenty of lingering fruit flavors and a touch of earthiness. (Aidil Wines and Liquors, Rahway, N.J.)
BEST VALUE
Sogrape Reserva 2000
$12
** ½
Balanced and accessible with dense fruit, licorice and mineral flavors. (Evaton Inc., Stamford, Conn.)
José Maria da Fonseca Domini 2000
$15
** ½
A straightforward crowd-pleaser, with aromas of berries, spice and chocolate. (Commonwealth Wine and Spirits, Mansfield, Mass.)
Quinta da Manuela 2000
$60
**
Likeable and earthy with fruit, mineral and mint flavors. (Tri-Vin Imports, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.)
Lavradores de Feitoria Quinta da Costa das Aguaneiras 2001
$25
**
Tannic with jammy, meaty flavors and aromas. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Lavradores de Feitoria Três Bagos 2002
$17
**
Intense sweet fruit, firm tannins and plenty of oak, yet balanced. (Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, N.C.)
Quinta dos Quatro Ventos 2000
$25
**
Dark fruit flavors balance tannins and acidity to a standoff. (Tri-Vin Imports, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.)