Grape varieties: New world meets Old world?

[Roy Hersh]

Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah - All exist in Portugal today. But should these world class grapes be expanded in the North with the native Douro grapes, to come up with great blends?

[Brian C.]

I imagine that it would be similar to what happened in Tuscany if blends with those grapes, or just those grapes alone, were to catch on. We'd have "Super Douros" or something like that, and the traditional Douro wines would still be designated as such. One question I would have is whether or not cab, merlot, syrah, and chardonnay actually grow well in the various regions of Portugal.

I think that Portugese wine is most unique as it is today. Like Italy, they have many of their own grapes that are rarely grown outside their borders. I don't really have a burning desire to find out what happens if merlot and cab are included in a field blend. There are plenty of countries that offer their own versions of merlot and cab and syrah. I like that I am drinking a wine that is completely unique to Portugal when I choose to drink a Portugese wine. I still think that this is the way for Portugal to establish itself over the long term, to promote its native grapes. The California model (let's plant these proven French grapes here) is a bit tired at this point, it would seem. The market is too saturated with this strategy. Portugal can do just fine promoting its niche instead of trying to enter a ridiculously crowded segment, I would think. It just can't be that everybody out there is waiting for proven French grapes in another part of the world with a 15% ABV.

There does need to be education on the Portugese grapes, though. I can't keep them all straight, there are so many. And there needs to be education on how the Portugese make their wines. The marketing will be the hardest part. I've said it before, but when my local shop featured Quinta dos Roques in their free Saturday tasting, it just flew off the shelf that day. There's a demand out there, waiting to be met. I just don't think that demand extends to a "Super Douro" quite as much.

[Moses Botbol]

Brian, I have to agree with you on that.

The world does evolve and why should the Douro be tombstoned into certain grapes could be the contrary view....

The World does not need another/new Cab, Chard, or Pinot. Portugal is unique and does a good job. In the end, most wine drinkers do not care what grape it is as long as it is pleasing. They’ll go for certain grape as there’s an assumption what they expect it to taste like. Just as I’ll buy a Dao and not care what grapes are in it because it’s Dao and I like wine from there… Personally, I am rarely a fan of single varietals outside of Burgundy or other similar Pinot Noirs.

[oscarquevedo]

I completely agree with you. Portugal is a too small wine region to need to recur to the international varietals. We have a handful of very good red grapes in Douro, which we can use blended or individually. If we start to spread the using of cab, merlot, syrah and chardonnay we would not differentiate our wines from the much cheaper new world wines and we would eventually fail. Douro and Portuguese wines can't be marketed as a commodity.

Last year we decided to plant half an hectare of Syrah just to figure out how it would work when blending it with our traditional varietals. This is more for fun and to learn with the experience than to get some profit from using the word syrah in our labels. Well at least this is what we think now!!!

[Glenn E.]

I agree with Brian, too.

If anything, Portugal needs to market its own grapes and styles more aggressively. It certainly does not need to adopt foreign grapes because the traditional ones are excellent. (Even though one of them is Tempranillo and another is allegedly a descendant of Pinot Noir. )