Although some wineries will be too busy with harvest to look after visitors, it is the best time to visit the wineries and see all the action taking place. From picking and pressing to filtering and fermenting, this is when the action is when you are at a winery. I am very much looking forward to be out and about at the wineries again during harvest, and I hope to capture that in one of my future blogs.

For this blog however, I am going to concentrate on one wine I was able to taste, buy and re-taste at home recently. So this week’s Wine Experience of the week is the 2007 Red Reserva from Encostas de Estremoz (slopes of Estremoz), which is on most of the bottles from Quinta da Esperança (farm of Hope).

Like many wineries in Portugal, they use many “new world” wine making techniques alongside the traditional Portuguese traditions. For this particular wine, it enhances the aromas and taste to make it a very unique experience to enjoy. This is a very dark colored wine with 14.5% on the label so not for the timid. The big flavors of Alicante Bouschet and the elegance of the Touriga Nacional grapes are complimented by the softer Touriga Franca grape. All these grapes are synonymous with Port production further north in Portugal. Here they have been blended to make a great table wine. The aromas are of strong blackberry and raspberry fruit along with some lavender and a hint of chocolate. The initial big bold fruitiness at the beginning softens as it goes down and the finish is tongue-suckingly good.

It is not a wine you would sit down and drink on its own, especially on a warm summer day, but with something like a lamb tagine, or a good meaty stew it is perfect. If you are lucky to have any left after the meal, it is also nice with some good quality cheese. So if you see this wine in the shop, give it a try.

The reason a wine producing cooperative is so effective, is because rather than selling on the product they receive, they turn the grapes they receive into wine for resale. The farmers would not be able to produce wine in enough volume or quality to be profitable by themselves, but combining a lot of small growers gives the cooperative the chance to make the volume and quality of wine for their grapes to be profitable.

So this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the 2004 Cinquentenario from Adega Cooperative de Palmela. This is the top type of still wine they produce from the best of the grapes brought to them from over 350 farms around the region. The grapes that go into it are Castelão, Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional. This wine is not produced every year. In good years they are able to select the best grapes to make this wine. It is quite dark in the glass and has a stewed berry and toasty aroma. To drink it has lots of fruit, but is lighter than the nose suggests with some spiciness to finish. It goes very well with a light meat dish, or pasta.

I was taken through the process at the winery. Most of the process is pretty much the same as you would find anywhere. The interesting part, along with most cooperatives, is the receiving process. You can imagine how busy it is when over 350 different trucks and tractors turn up all wanting to off-load their grapes at harvest time. Each of the deliveries need to be weighed and checked for quality. The best quality grapes go into the production of the best wines, lower quality grapes, depending on the quality of the harvest, will go into lower quality table wine production. They will never turn away grapes, however they farmer does get less money if they grapes are not in top quality when they arrive, but the vast majority are in good condition. A receipt giving to the driver to confirm what they will get for payment and then it is on to the next receptacle full of grapes. The cooperative then goes about making their different still and fortified wines.

In the case of the Cinquentenario, which is aged for 2 to 3 years in oak and bottle before it goes on sale, the cooperative only covers its costs long after they have paid for the grapes. The cooperative does not exist to make a profit, it is there for the local farmers, so the money you pay for the wine as a consumer goes back to the community, which is a nice feeling. And the €15 you part with for this wine is fantastic value for the quality – and long may that continue!

The main reason behind not drinking red wine is not because I couldn’t have a glass or two with a bit of heat. It has more to do with taste buds not being in the mood for heavier food, which I tend to enjoy a glass or two of red wine with. As this is all about the experience of enjoying wine, there is no point in forcing anything because it will lessen the experience. Last week though, the weather cooled enough for something a bit meatier. I also had my eye on a wine I had wanted to try for a while.

So this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the 2005 Esporão Trincadiera. The Esporão winery is a great place to visit. The impressive tower rising out of the vines is always a nice sight to see no matter how many times you have visited. We visit this winery on our trips out to the Alentejo and it is always leaves an impression. They also have archeological sites within the property, with finds dating back to pre-Roman times. They also support local artists. The labels on their Reserva and Private Collection wines are designed by artists from Portugal.

Back to the wine… Usually, as with many of Portugal’s native grapes and wine making traditions, Tricadeira is blended with other grapes for the end product. At Esporão for example, they use it in their Resverva wine, along with Aragonês , Cabernet Sauvignon and Alicante Bouschet. In combination with these grapes the end product is balance and it is always a lot of fun getting your nose and mouth around where the different grapes are adding to the wine. On its own though, Trincadeira make a wine with a deep color, with plum, spice and some vanilla aromas. With all that going on it gives you a bit of a fright about how big it will be. At 14.5% alcohol it has a fair punch to it. On tasting it however, it is a less scary with some berry flavor as well as the plum and some spice to it and some good dryness to finish.

This wine goes well with red meat, or duck with a heavy sauce. The roundness of the flavors come alive with food, making it even more enjoyable with the particular fruit and spice it has. It may be a new grape to many people, but I encourage you to give it a try and see what you think. It’s different to many of the French grape varieties that seem to dominate the shelves outside of Southern Europe, so if you come across this with, give it a try and see what you think!

They build castles on top of hills you know… Up there with a view to the very tempting Atlantic Ocean on one side and the plains of the Alentejo in the distance on the other, the sun was beating down on the sandstones making it like an oven. The wind was hot and dry too, so the oven was fan forced… Never the less with glass in hand I set about discovering the wines of a few new producers in this region. I saw some familiar faces, many familiar brands, but I was happy to find a few new producers I had not sampled before.

Even with the valiant attempts of the very friendly people representing their wineries, the red wines were just too warm to be enjoyed fully. The whites however were extremely refreshing! I have written a lot on the red wines from Portugal. They are so interesting and varied here that I will not get sick of them any time soon. However, in the heat of the day, I am rarely going to be looking at a big rich meal to go with a red wine. Fortunately, Portugal’s wine producers are tuned in to this need and are producing some very interesting and, as always, great value white wines too.

I tried a few from Cooperativa De Pegoes, Xavier Santana, Bacalhoa, Cooperativa de Palmela. Each using similar grapes, apart from Bacalhoa who were making a very interesting Semillon-Alvarinho . The main grape varieties for white wine production in this region are Arinto, which is usually used to blend with other white grapes to give the wine some extra lemony acid to the wines. Fernão Pires, which has a more floral character. The other white grape is Antão Vaz. This produces a finer, smoother and a subtler wine, so blending it with the other grapes makes sense, however it also makes a great single varietal wine.

This week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the Herdade da Comporta 2009 Antão Vaz. Herdade da Comporta is a part of the Setubal Peninsular region, although it is situated on the other side of the Sado River from Setubal… The old term for the region was Terras do Sado, which makes a lot more sense for this winery, but I am not sure if we need other region developed just for this winery. The wine itself has a very pale color with aromas of lemon peel and pineapple. Tasting the wine give you a delicate flavor of tropical fruit and lemon, but ends with some light acid and dryness, which is fantastic on a hot day. It goes well with seafood, fish or even a light salad. Alternatively, you could just sip it by the beach on its own. You need to be careful with it though, despite the light pallet, it does pack in 14% alcohol. At around €8 it is fabulous value for quite an elegant and very tasty wine.

If you have not tried Portuguese white wines before, this varietal would be a good place to start. It is different to your traditional white varietals, but not so different it will distract you from the pleasure of experiencing it. Then if you like it, you may want to venture toward some other whites from Portugal!

I have been asked by a few people what I would compare Touriga Nacional wines to. That is a tricky one. It is a native grape to Portugal, and with most of the natives here, it has its own character which make the wines from Portugal so interesting. It isn’t quite as big and heavy as a Shiraz/Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon; however it has more depth to it than a Tempranillo or Pinot Noir. As I said it is tricky comparing it to more widely planted grapes. My advice is to give one a try and find out for yourself. While you are at the wine shop, pick a blended Portuguese wine as well – this should give you a good taste of Portugal.

So this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the 2006 Herdade das Servas Touriga Nacional. Traditionally most of the production of this grape is in the Douro and Dão regions of Portugal, however more and more of it is being planted in other regions, including the Alentejo where Herdade das Servas is near the town of Estremoz. This wine has a deep purple color and an aroma of violet flowers and intense red berries. Tasting the wine gives you darker berry flavors which lead to the dry but rounded tannins and some good spice. The finish is long with a bit of a chocolaty taste. It has spent at least 12 months in mainly French oak, however it doesn’t have an overpowering oaky flavor. It would go well with grilled pork or beef, but you need to have some herbs and spices with it to bring out some of the notes in the wine.

This wine will develop well with age, so in 5 to 10 years it will have even more complexity and be a lot smoother. As I said above you need to experience the wines made from this varietal for yourself to make your own mind up about it. On your next visit to the wine shop see if you can find a single varietal Touriga Nacional and give it a try. I am sure you will be impressed. Or even better, if you come to Portugal, get in contact with us and we can take you out to some of the vineyards and you can experience some of the best for yourself.

So this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the Quinta de Alcube winery and their 2008 Alcubìssimo. This wine made from is mainly made from late picked Castelão grapes. It is a very different wine from Portugal, where they are famous for dessert wines such as Port, Madeira and Moscatel de Setúbal. This wine is not fortified; the late picked grapes are botrytis affected which, in combination with cooling the grapes before pressing, stop the fermentation and leaving the wine sweet. The aroma of the wine is also lighter than fortified wines, with red fruit and spice. The taste is fresh to start, with red fruit and a touch of citrus, and then it becomes spicy and finishes with rich molasses. It would go well with a caramel desert or with cheese and fruit to finish a meal.

The winery is quite small. A lot of their time goes into sheep cheese production as well as the winery. This was another great surprise, and I ended up with 2 cheeses which were fantastic too! They only produce around 250,000 bottles of wine here. As a family run farm, with just 4 people working there, they use machines to pick the majority of their grapes. This doesn’t detract from the quality though. They have a good range of wines and all are quite good. All the sales of their wine are from the cellar, but they seem to be selling though quite well. It may be difficult to find outside of Portugal, however if you do I recommend you give it a try. It is very different and it is refreshing to know interesting and innovative wines such as this are being made in an old world country.

The next experience was a dinner with some old and new friends in a great restaurant called Chapitô, also in Lisbon. It was great to catch up with friends who were in Portugal on holiday. It was also very good food and a spectacular view over Lisbon and the Tejo river from the restaurant. Once again many wines were poured and much fun was had by all.

The linking factor in these two experiences was one wine we had. So this week’s Wine Experience of the week is the 2009 Cortes de Cima Chaminé. It is a different take on the use of the mainly Aragonez and syrah grapes that are blended to make this wine. It is bottled young and not aged in oak as most wines are in Portugal. It is light bodied, juicy and easy to drink. It is perfect for a warm evening as an alternative to a white or rose, especially if the food on the menu would benefit being accompanied with a red wine. It is a very easy reliable wine and at under €10, it is very good value. For people who do not like oaked red wines and want something a bit lighter this is a good option.

Rather than my usual further discussion on the wine, I would like to focus on some technology the wine bottle uses. Cortes de Cima use Adega’s AVIN numbering system. This is similar to an ISBN number for books. If you search this number AVIN2123282427445, you will find all the information you would ever need on the wine.

Another cool thing if you have a smart phone, you can bring up Adegga.com and then scan coded image to the left. This will bring up other people’s reviews and information on the wine. This was demonstrated by the Adega team and is a very impressive party trick. Many Portuguese wines are now carrying the AVIN number. Hopefully it will catch on in other countries as well. If so, all wines will have a unique code which you can search, rather than looking up the name on Google… Then you will be able to find all the information you need. Very handy if you are at the wine store and want to know if a new wine you have spotted is something you may enjoy.

Look out for this wine, I am sure you will enjoy it if you are looking for a light red alternative. Also look out for wines with an AVIN number on the back label. I think this new numbering system will help many people choosing wine and getting a greater experience from their wine. And it is a great party trick!

It is similar for red wines from Portugal. Most of the red table wines are blends. Trincadeira, Aragonez/Tinta Roriz, Castelão, Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet are the most common native grapes. Each of these grapes make great single varietal wines, however when they are blended you get the aroma and taste of Portugal.

With that in mind, this week’s Wine Experience of the Week is the Cartuxa 2006 Tinot Reserva. It is a blend of Trincadeira, Aragonez, Alfrocheiro and Alicante Bouschet grapes. The Alfrocheiro grape is grown widely in the Dão region, but there are also some grown in the Alentejo where this wine is from. Each grape is fermented separately, then blended and matured for 15 months in French oak. Then it is matured in the bottle for 18 months before release.

The winery is a very interesting place to visit. It is the site of an old Jesuit retreat from teaching in the University of Evora. The inside the main building, it maintains pretty much the same temperature year round. A perfect retreat from the hot summers – and the aging of wine. The winery is well worth a visit if you are in Portugal.

The wine a dark ruby colour and has a very rich aroma of plum, coffee and licorice. The initial taste is rich and fruity. A lot more smooth and mild than huge aromas hint at. Then comes toasty flavors followed but chocolate and then a long spicy and slightly aniseed finish. This is what Portuguese red wines are all about; interesting, individual and quite big at 14.5% alcohol. A great wine for under €20 from the winery!

It will go very well with red meat or stew-like dishes. If you see it, or any other blended Portuguese red for around the same price, give it a try. I am sure you will be impressed.