If Portuguese wine was a fairytale character it would probably be Cinderella. Overshadowed by its wicked sisters in other parts of Europe, such as Bordeaux in France and Tuscany in Italy, Portuguese wine has been quiet on the international scene.

Port wine dominates Portugal’s international wine reputation, eclipsing its more humble but very delicious reds, which are popular on Portuguese dinner tables.

Port wine is a drink created by the British for the British, who sought out Portugal’s affordable and accessible grapes to feed their drinking habits after they declared war on France. Port was a popular drink on the tables of British nobles from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and to this day it has retained some of the ‘stuffy’ reputation associated with Victorian elegance and decadence.

As a result of its overseas popularity, specially in the US and Europe, Port is the Achilles heel of Portugal’s wine industry. Great Port houses overshadow the country’s fantastic, ‘true’ to the earth’ reds and Portugal is one of the last countries people think of in relation to robust table wines.

To create delicious red and Port wines, winemakers need outstanding grapes, which are abundant in Portugal’s Douro region. This dual need creates a conflict for wine producers who are tempted to dedicate their best grapes to develop red wine, rather than noble Port, which is experiencing fading market demand. The former is not only easier to produce, it is also the favoured drink of domestic Portuguese wine drinkers who consider wine a simple pleasure.

These factors – quality red grapes, a rich winemaking history, and a modest international reputation – combine to make Portugal the last bastion of great, untouched reds.

Famous critics, like Robert Parker from the United States, have given glowing reviews of wines produced elsewhere in Europe, such as the Sangiovese blends in Tuscany, and wines from Spain’s Ribera Del Duero region across the border from Portugal. These reviews generated incredible popularity, booming sales, and sky-rocketing prices for the wines, benefits which have alluded Portugal’s table wine industry.

National Treasures

Portugal’s Douro Valley is famous for its Touriga grape variety. Not only does Touriga make great table wine, it also creates majestic Port. The variety yields perfumed wines and is eminently adapted to a range of soils and aspects. Touriga is a great ambassador for Douro wines and its taste is reflective of the environment in which it grows.

The Upper Douro Valley (Douro Superior) crosses into Spain and the landscape is dramatically and dangerously steep. The Lower Douro Valley meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The Douro region is operated by a consortium of producers known as the ‘Douro Boys’. The association’s founders are: Cristiano van Zeller of Quinta Vale Dona Maria; Dirk van der Niepoort of Niepoort; the Roquette family of Quinta de Crasto; the Olazabal family of Quinta do Vale Meao; and Jo?o Ferreira Alvares Ribeiro of Quinta do Vallado.

The association is unlike any other European wine association – membership is by invitation only. The Douro Boys are great ambassadors of Douro table wines and have brought about a winemaking renaissance in the valley.

Fladgate Partnership is another Portuguese wine consortium, of which the famous Fonseca Guimaraens Port wine house, established in 1822, is a member.

Australian-trained wine maker, David Guimaraens, is the sixth generation Guimaraens at the helm of the Port wine house, having inherited the role from his father in 1992.

Guimaraens said he would not produce table wines because both Port wine and good table wine requires the use of top-quality grapes, and if the harvest was divided one wine type would surely suffer.

Alentejo, a Portuguese wine region south of Lisbon, is one of the most beautiful pieces of land in Europe. Alentejo’s Mediterranean climate allows winemakers there to produce intense, fruity wines. Like elsewhere in Portugal, very few wines are made using common grapes like Cabernet or Sauvignon, which keeps Alentejo wines true to their Portuguese heritage. Marketers are magnifying the voice of these tasty wines.

Despite Alentejo’s Mediterranean/Continental climate, its wines vary from vintage to vintage. For example, the 2003 vintage was hot and powerful, while the 2004 vintage was cooler with more structure and complexity. The 2005 vintage is characterised by its elegance and power, which is the perfect combination to allow wine to age happily for years.

As a general guide, Douro wines are fragrant, with a depth that drives their rigorousness.

Alentejo wines, on the other hand, are softer, rounder, but no less intense and powerful.

Another Portuguese wine region is Bairrada, an area famous for its delicious Leitao  or suckling pig and the Baga grape variety.

Bairrada is inland and surrounded by gently flowing streams and rivers. Talented winemaker Luis Pato and daughter Felipe, whose wine labels contain images of wild ducks (Pato means duck in Portuguese), creates a Baga wine from his single-grape vineyard that is used in the rigorous Master of Wine exams in London.

The Baga variety creates such a rich red wine that a sparkling made from the grape is served with Bairrada suckling pig. The combination of sparkling red and suckling pig may seem like a strange one, but as this writer can attest, it really works.

The winemakers and regions discussed above cement Portugal’s position as Europe’s last stronghold of great wine at good prices. Thankfully, Portuguese wine has not fallen victim to the dilution of its traditional grape varieties by household names such as Cabernet, Merlot, and Sauvignon. Instead it remains the hallowed home of true Portuguese grape varieties like Touriga and Baga, of which the latter is not found anywhere else in the world.

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