Firstly I have not been into my blogging recently. Well, the last 7 months to be more precise. This coincides with the age of my first daughter, who is also 7 months old. Funny how that happens… I do promise to be more active from now on though.

I was able to get down to the Algarve for a little break recently. Here I visited the Quinta dos Vales winery once again to try some of the latest wines. It was quite pleasant there with the temperature in the low 20’s (centigrade), which is very acceptable to me in mid November. Although it is pretty quite in the Algarve at this time of year, it is a good chance to get a cheap hotel room and see the towns as fishing villages rather than tourist resorts.

At Quinta dos Vales there is the option of accommodation. Here you can stay in a villa amongst the vines, which is a very relaxing option in the peak season in the region. You will feel a world away from the resorts and packed beaches and bars. During the off season it is also a wonderful experience. Especially at this time of the year as the leaves on the vines are painting the landscape red, orange, yellow and brown.

Then of course you are in a winery. You have the wines to try! I have written about some of the Quinta dos Vales wines before. What took my interest this time around was not a “top of the range” wine. I was very interested in one of their entry level white wines. The 2010 Marquês dos Vales Primeira Selecção – Blanc do Noir. This is an unusual white wine. It is made from the Castelão grape variety. For those not familiar with the varietal, it is a red grape. As most of you will know, when you crush the majority of red grapes the juice is clear, the red colour comes from the contact with the skins, known as maceration. The exceptions are; Alicante Bouschet, Carmina, Deckrot, Dunkelfelder, Gamy Teiturier , Grand Noir de la Calmette, Kolor, Petit Bouschet, Pinot Teiturire, Royal 1390, Rubired, Salvador, Saperavi, Siebouschet and Sulmer. These red (or black) varieties also have red flesh so provide red juice. The most well know white wine from red gapes is probably Pinot Noir, but there is the option of making a white wine from most red varietals.

For this wine, the results have been very good. With white flower, pear and peach on the noise and a crisp fuity palate and a tangy dry finish it pairs very well with a wide range of simple sea food dishes – or simply to enjoy on a warm evening of the balcony or terrace. If you visit the winery it will probably be the first wine you taste, but do not forget about it when you come to making a selection on what to buy. They are many great wines to taste after this one, but at under €7 per bottle it is well worth taking a couple away with you.

So if you are planning your holidays for next year at the moment, or are looking at escaping the freezing temperatures where you are right now, the Quinta dos Vales winery is a great place to stay or visit.

By Chris Metcalfe

In the film, various wine makers share their stories and passion with the viewer. From the Azores to the Minho, Colares to the Alentejo, the variety of techniques and wine styles are as varied as you would expect from such a diverse cross-section of Portuguese wine regions. The touching and, in most cases sad, part of most of these people’s stories is that they feel their way of making wine will not be handed on to another generation, or anyone at all. Surrounding these hardy, mostly aging men’s land, very few vineyards survive. They have either been abandoned or turned into another agricultural pursuit.

Although this film (and some passionate people in Portugal) is trying to keep these traditional wine make practices alive, the people in the movie in the most part, have a very pessimistic view of their passion continuing past their lifetime. I am not sure what to feel after watching the movie. There is something different in all of the wineries shown, something that should be preserved for the Portugal’s heritage as much as for wine lovers. The film aims to show the slow death of these traditions in a hope to raise people’s awareness of them. The value of these wines cannot be measured by a mark out of 100. They are hand-made wines in a world of mass-production; they cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, so the value of these wines should be more than the few Euros you would pay for them.

I was fortunate enough to taste some of the wines from the producers (who were in attendance at the premier) and although some were an acquired taste I have to say, most were quite good. I know they will probably be different vintage to vintage, but really who cares? They tell a story in every bottle. That is something a modern winery will never be able to do. And I for one hope this film goes a long way in helping the people who are working to keep these traditions alive. The world of wine will be poorer if they do not exist past the current generation.

If you get a chance to see the film – do go along and watch it. But I do not foresee it being in your local cinema complex… You may need to wait until DVD sales are available. Here is a brief trailer for the film. If this film interests you – leave us a comment and I will provide you with more information on how you can see, or buy it soon. Or you can contact the director at his blog Reign of Terroir

By Chris Metcalfe

There are exceptions to the rule in the Algarve. One of these wineries is Quinta dos Vales. I visited them earlier in the year to see and taste for myself. I must admit, I was not sure what to expect. I was a little worried at the sight of brightly coloured artworks strewn across the property. After I had a look around the very well designed grounds and some of the vineyards, I began to realize they were set up for some serious wine production. All this could have been undone if the wines were not up to scratch.

I was guided through the tasting by Aderito , the horticultural engineer at the winery. Although his title may seem unusual for someone to be hosting a wine tasting, I can assure you he knew his stuff. His main role at the winery is maintaining the vines for optimal grape production. This is a hard, time consuming job at any winery, but at Quinta dos Vales there is one vineyard that is particularly temperamental. The Grace Vineyard regularly tests the winery’s patience. The intense workload for low yields seems like a thankless task. Maybe in many wineries now days it would have been dug up and replaced. Tasting the wine however (and a few times since) I can assure you the time and effort is well worth it.

The wine that interested me the most was the Grace Vineyard 2010 Branco. A white wine made from Arinto, Siria and Malvasia Fina. This wine I tasted as a tank sample and it still had some time to go before it would be bottled. Even so, it was very interesting – in a good way. It has mango, lychee and passion fruit aromas and on the taste it starts light and then becomes more robust with great acidity, a touch of oak and a long finish. It is better to have this wine with an equally robust meal – pork, strong fish or chicken dishes I think would be best. It is an excellent wine on its own, but when you compare it to most other white wines made in the region it is really outstanding.

Quinta dos Vales is located just outside the small town of Estombar. If you are in the Algarve this summer go and visit them and try their wines for youself.

By Chris Metcalfe

There are two reasons why Herdade do Portocarro is producing something different. One is the terroir. The winery is located in a unique area on the hilly banks of the Sado river. It is an Alentejo winery, but in the boundaries of the Setubal Peninsular region. To make it even more unique, it has a micro climate different to most wine producing areas in Portugal. They get a lot of sun, but not as much heat in the evenings as other Alentejo or Setubal peninsular wineries, thanks to an almost constant cooling breeze. The soils here are mainly clay and add an earthiness to the wines which is different from the schist or limestone soils of many other wine producing regions.

The second reason they wines are different, is the owner Jose Mota Capitão. I met him recently at the winery and tasted the individual wines from the grapes he grows, that go into his blends and single varietal wines. When tasting the barrel samples of the 2010 vintage wines with him, it was hard not to get infected by his passion for earthy, dry and complex red wines. The son of a doctor in Lisboa, Jose is not a third or fourth generation wine producer like many in Portugal. Jose’s passion for farming brought him to Portocarro, here he started growing rice and tended cattle and after many years of meticulously planning he started with the vineyards. Now he has a capacity for around 60,000 bottles per year; a very small volume by today’s standards. He does not want to produce more than that. In talking with him I found he stands very firmly in producing “hand-made” wines. To produce more than he does now, would mean he would have to automate the production a lot more, this he believes will reduce the quality of his wines, which he is not prepared to sacrifice.

The results are wines made with the intent to show the terroir, Jose’s personal taste and the grapes he grows. These grapes include Alfrocheiro, Aragones (known as Tempranillo in Spain), Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and most interestingly Sangiovese. The Touriga Franca and Sangiovese were the pick of the bunch, so to speak, when tasting them individually.

Herdade do Portocarro currently produces 3 wines:
Herdade do Portocarro – A good way to introduce yourself to the wines from the winery. At around €11 it is very good value.
Cavalo Maluco – Meaning “Crazy Horse” from his childhood fascination with the Native American leader, not the night club in Paris… This is the top blend from the winery. At around €27 it is a great wine for the price.
Anima – This 100% Sangiovese wine is a wonderful representation of the grape and a real surprise for me to see it in Portugal. It would seem too hot in Portugal to produce Sangiovese, but at Portocarro there are excellent conditions for it to grow and make great wine. At €27 it is great value compared to Italian versions of the same quality.

By Chris Metcalfe

For most people, experiencing wine comes at eating establishments rather than at wineries, so I would like to highlight a restaurant that offers great local food and wine in the Algarve. I was recommended this restaurant by the staff at Quinta dos Vales winery just outside Estombar. They gave me the GPS coordinates to place called Espaço Xarme in Lagos. Despite some tricky little streets in the old centre of Largos, I managed to find my way there.

Here I met with the owner and Chef Augusto Lima. Augusto’s life-long love of food comes across as soon as you strike up a conversation with him. His cooking days started at a very early age. After being banished from the household kitchen for nearly destroying it at age 6, he spent his time replicating what he saw using earth and water in his imaginary kitchen outside. At 18 years old, he unexpectedly got his first experience as a head chef, due to the owner and chef of the placed where he worked being involved in a minor car accident. With a fully booked restaurant and some convincing from the owner’s wife, he took over running the kitchen. Despite some imperfections here and there, the meals were received very well.

His passion for the local ingredients led him to Vincent Nas at Ermitage in Almacil. Here, while working along-side him for 4 years, he learnt much of what he brings to his own restaurant; great local ingredients made in innovative ways. And I can tell you it works very well! I was very impressed by the local and quite rare Algarve Churro lamb that was recommended for me to try along with a local red wine.

Although Espaço Xarme was only opened in early January this year, another innovation was launched last week. Augusto has decided to offer “mini courses” of Algarve and Alentejo produce, along with local wines by the glass. I highly recommend it if you are interested in getting to know more about the local food and wine of the area – or if you like me and just want to experience more of it.

In the word of Augusto – “We exist because we love what we do. Welcome! It will be a pleasure to cook for you.” I for one will be back to try some more, sooner rather than later.

By Chris Metcalfe

As a part of the conference they had some of the best wine critics, including Jancis Robinson, Charles Metcalfe, Neil Martin, among many others, blind tasted many Touriga Nacional single varietal wines to come up with the top 10. And here they are!

Alfaraz Touriga Nacional 2008 – Alentejo
Churchill’s Estates Touriga Nacional 2008 – Douro
Encontro Touriga Nacional 2008 – Bairrada
Herdade São Miguel Touriga Nacional 2008 – Alentejo
Inquieto Touriga Nacional 2008 – Douro
Marques dos Vales Grace 2008 – Algarve
Munda 2008 – Dão
Pedra Cancela Touriga Nacional 2008 – Dão
Quinta da Pedra Alta Touriga Nacional 2007 – Douro
Quinta das Marias 2008 – Dão

It is nice that one from the Alentejo in there. The home of the grape is the Dão region, but it has been made famous by the Douro region using it in Porto as well as making some great single varietals. Other regions have taken it and are producing they own distinctive wines from the grape. As I am a big fan of the wines of the Alentejo, it is great for the region!

Another great thing is that there is an Algarve winery in the top ten. This region is not often thought of as a wine producing area. It is more thought of as a holiday destination, but there are great areas to grow and produce wine there. I hope there are more wineries coming up there and the existing ones get more recognition soon.

I have been to similar events before, however this one had something different about it. The interaction between the producers and tasters was the highlight of the evening for me. The producers were out in front of their wines, rather than standing behind a stall or table as you find in most events. Wine producers are a passionate bunch, especially when they get to talk about their wines, so this set up allowed them to get out among the people and their enthusiasm was fantastic all evening. I managed to talk with many of the producers and for most of the evening they seemed to be having as good a time than I was.

As for the wines, there were too many very good ones to name them all. The whites I enjoyed were the Quinta dos Cozinheiros 100% Fernão Pires, the Vale d’Algares 2009 Viognier and surprisingly there was a 2004 Chardonnay from Mark Stephen Schultz which I wasn’t expecting to like – but I did. As for the reds; the 2009 Rubrica from Luis Duarte, the Anima L7 with 100% Sangiovese from Herdade do Portocarro and the Paulo Laureano 2007 Reserva were all very different and excellent wines.

For this post however, I would like to focus on a wine that was not for sale at the Adegga Wine Market, but I was lucky enough to get a small taste of! So, this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the 2008 Petit Verdot from Cortes de Cima. Why was it not on sale I hear you ask! Well they have only made 800 bottles of it. The Petit Verdot grape itself is becoming more commonly grown in Portugal, particularly in the hot and dry Alentejo region. It’s usually found in blends in Bordeaux, (mainly in the Medoc) and here in Portugal, too, it is usually used for blending. I have tasted one or two 100% Petit Verdot’s from Australia, but this is the first from Portugal for me – and it is interesting. Lots of red fruit and a touch of mint in the aroma, with a fresher fruit in the taste mix with some toasty oak. The finish is fresher with some good acid there. It would be great with roasted meats with the acid cutting through the fats at the end. So it is perfect for this time of year when Christmas dinners are approaching. For around €30 it is good value, especially if you want something new and different to try. They do sell it online from their web site, but check where they can send it to. If you are looking for it be quick – they are selling out quickly.

It was a tough choice to select a wine out so many good ones for this week. I hope to get to some of the wineries who were represented at the event in future. If so, I will be sure to share more experiences with you.

Most importantly, thanks to Andre and the Adegga team for putting on the event. I think it was a great success. I had a very good time, met some very nice people and had some great discussions with the producers. I look forward to the event next year already.

By Chris Metcalfe

I was accompanied to the event by David and David from Angle Fine Wines, a wine club/retailer in Glasgow Scotland. They had been visiting many of the wineries in the Alentejo region over the previous few days to see for themselves the wonderful landscapes and taste the great wines of the region. I was pretty impressed they chose the Alentejo region to visit in Portugal. They seemed suitably impressed by the wines and the region when I met up with them just after lunch and accompanied them into Lisbon.

After a drink in the sun close to their hotel, we headed to the conference centre. With 220 different producers to choose from it was going to be a bit of a task deciding which to visit. We decided to narrow it down to a couple of region. The first stop on entering was the Jose Maria da Fonseca stand as it was very close to the entrance. They also had not been able to taste their wines so they were encouraged to so at the fair. So after that I decided to take them to a few more Setubal Peninsular producers. Then on to a few more Alentejo wineries around Estremoz which they were not able to visit while they were here.

By chance, somewhere along the way, when we were waiting on a gathering at one of the stands, we decided to go to the one next door. Borges was the producer. They have estates in the Douro, Dão and Minho regions. I was interested in the Dão wines they produce, as I do not often get to try that many from the region. Each of the Dão wines I tasted were quite good, however it was a wine from their Douro region that interested me the most.

This week’s Wine Experience of the Week is a Port wine. I realized that I have not done a piece on a Port wine yet. This is not because I don’t like it… It is more because there are so many out there that that are very similar, it is difficult to find something out of the ordinary. The 2007 Vintage Port from Borges however, does provide something a bit different. It has great red fruit and plumb aromas. While tasting you also get some spice to go with your fruits along with some good tannins and a great long finish. It is made from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz grapes all from the same vineyard. It is well worth the €35 retail price!

Many of you may know the different classifications of port, but for those who don’t, here is a very brief run-down. White, Ruby and regular Tawny ports are the most common you see in the supermarket or wine shop. They are blended from recent vintages and then bottled. As the price suggests these are the entry level port wines.

Next we have Late Bottled Vintage Port. These are wines that were picked and barreled to be vintage port, but didn’t quite make the grade to be considered vintage port. As the name suggest, these wines spend quite a while in the barrel before being bottled. This gives the wine something of a vintage port taste without the need to bottle age it for a long time.

Then there are aged Tawny ports, which bring together wines aged in barrels for many years before being blended and bottled. Depending on the age you will often find them to become lighter in color as the barrel aging takes away the deep red you find in new ports. The year on the label is something of an average, where a 20 year old port is made up of a blend of many aged barrels that fit the profile of a 20 year old port.

Lastly there are Vintage Ports. These are wines that are produced from one particular year’s harvest and often like the 2007 Borges Vintage Port, from just one Vineyard. These are only made in the years of great harvests, much like reserve table wines. Vintage ports take on the particular character of the year’s harvest. This gives them a different aroma and taste than ports that are blended from many different years. They require at least 2 years in the barrel and then 20 to 30 years aging in the bottle before they are thought to be at their best.

So if you are looking to buy this or any other vintage ports, remember to age them or buy them already aged to get the full experience of a vintage port. Most others you can enjoy straight away. If you have anything to add on different types and things that appear on port labels, please add a comment below. Also if you are looking for a big wine experience in Portugal – try and time your visit with next year’s Encontro com o Vinho! It is a great evening.