A Portuguese tasting

The day before yesterday I attended a tasting of Portuguese products, which took place at Lord's Cricket Ground in the modern, featureless Thomas Lord Suite; this is an anuual event by a company called Atlantico UK, an importer and distributor of a wide variety of foods and wines from Portugal and Brazil. I attended the same tasting last year with my friend Alex A. and his wife, and was expecting him to come along this year as well, but the gods of commerce had other ideas and sent  more productive business his way, leaving me alone on this occasion. Still, we wine people are a hardy lot, and I did a lot of grinning, bearing, swilling and spitting in order to evaluate part of what was on offer and be able to write about it.

Some of you may know of my long association with Portuguese wines, going back more than thirty years, when, together with - and utilising his local knowledge - a Portuguese gentleman, we created a company  which for many years was a pioneering force in the development of the market for fine Portuguese wines in the UK. The aftermath of the late 80s-early 90s recession and the changing face of the market put paid to that project, to my great regret.

My affection and admiration for Portugal and its people remains undimmed, however, and I would very much hope to work with some of them again in the not too distant future, as I have always found them (yes, there are exceptions...) knowledgeable, modest, honest and hard-working. Keeping in touch with the wines and other products at least allows me to have an informed feel of what is going on, and tasting is an essential part of that process.

If I was expecting to be greatly impressed by the wines on show, different to the year before, I was somewhat disappointed: the wines I tasted were, by and large, well-made and well-presented but with few really high points. The potentially best wines on show (Cartuxa) were present but remained unopened while I was there, as the estate hadn't turned up and the importers were not organised enough or willing to present them. In the end I gave up and did not taste all the wines on offer, as the slightly unhelpful layout and taster's fatigue defeated me; I also, to my shame, forgot to taste the estate-bottled port on offer, a category that we were the first ever to promote and export (Champalimaud's exquisite Very Old Tawny and 1982 Vintage single estate wines in November 1986) in the mid-eighties.

There was also a white wine on show with a twee name and slightly naff presentation that is the first wine I have ever come across which tasted of nothing - Sad! (To imitate a newly elected world leader).

All in all the whites from Portugal are less interesting than the reds, with some of the local varieties producing rather flabby, round food wines, and the international varieties not showing to character. The real glories in white wine are mainly to be found around the single estate Vinho Verde producers, a currently underappreciated style on the international market. The reds show a bit more character and, I feel, have a better chance on the international scene.

One estate of note, and a very ancient one too (established in 1498), is Quinta de Pancas, situated just north of the Lisbon area. They skilfully blend local and international varieties to produce smart, modern European wines of quality and with personality. I was particularly taken with the Pancas Reserva 2013 (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Touriga Nacional, 20% Alicante Bouschet) with its dark colour, rich sweet red berry fruit and very long aftertaste.

A sister estate to Pancas is Quinta do Cardo, located in the interior north of Portugal near the border with Spain at an altitude of 750 metres and now producing organic wines. Here, in a mountainous region teeming with rivers, the grape varieties used are almost exclusively local and produce wines of restrained finesse with minerally overtones (white 2015) and reds full of red berry fruit, decent tannins and balance, though I found the flagship 2012 T.N. Reserva, inky and oaky, a bit short on the finish.

Quinta de Sao Sebastiao (San Sebastian to you and me) makes decent wines in what was bulk wine country - Arruda dos Vinhos not far from Lisbon. I tried three whites, quite liked the Quinta de Sao Sebastiao 2016 fresh white, and thought the Sao Sebastiao 2016 juicy, clean and easy to drink, but was disappointed with their 2015 Sauvignon Blanc (a first attempt, bound to improve), produced for the local market but lacking S.B. character and with a slight spritz. Alas I ran out of time and did not taste their reds.

CARM (Casa Agricola Reboredo Madeira) is located in the Upper Douro valley near the Spanish border, in a spectacularly beautiful part of the world that is perfect for making wine and olive oil. And they do both successfully with local varieties, smart presentation, panache and serious prices too. The white was delicate and fruity on the nose, with a green fruit palate and a long, slightly bitter, finish. The reds, as usual more exciting, were made from Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca and Tinta Francisca, with the Reserva and Grande Reserva 2013 wines showing well (Reserva: good deep colour, restrained yet rich nose, spicy and rich palate, long/Grande Reserva: Slightly lighter colour, refined and restrained nose, sweet red fruit round palate, long and good). I also liked the two olive oils on show, clean, delicate and classy.

Global Wines Portugal have assembled a portfolio of wine brands mainly from the north of the country (Dao, Douro, Bairrada, Vinho Verde), with some Alentejo and Lisbon thrown in. All are smartly presented, as befits a marketing organisation, with some traditional and some modern looks. The wines I tasted under the watchful supervision of the ever helpful and informative Patricia were all well made and from the Dao (Cabriz and Casa de Santar) and Bairrada (Quinta do Encontro); surprisingly the whites were more or less equal to the reds, with Cabriz Reserva 2015 (very closed distinguished nose, big/chewey/long palate) and Casa de Santar (bigger than the Cabriz, big mouthful of restrained fruit) whites standing out. On the red front the Cabriz Reserva 2012 (dark red colour, oaky/creamy nose and palate, long, good), Casa de Santar Reserva (vibrant red colour, blackberry and cream on nose and palate) and Quinta do Encontro Reserva 2014 (dark colour, ripe red berry nose, red fruit and tannin on palate, long) were interesting but not, to my mind, outstanding.

Some fascinating wines were made by Alves de Sousa in the Douro valley from their own properties and shown with great panache and affection by Domingos Alves de Sousa, one of the pioneers of the region. He showed me an amazing selection of wines, especially the reds, and they are so many that I will need to do a separate write-up for them. All in all I tasted eight wines (two whites, six reds) and missed out on his ports through my aforementioned negligence and lack of time! His passion and enthusiasm reminded me a bit of the late Eduardo Serpa Pimentel of Quinta da Pacheca, whose twinkling eyes, love of wine and kindness I will never forget.

One of the real glories of Portugal is, to my mind, its charcuterie, and there were several companies showing, though they seemed fewer than last year. The products on show were sensational and deserve to be known by international audiences, as they are as good if not better than their other international competitors to this, perhaps ignorant on the subject, mind; from the extreme north to the rich south they produced tasty, juicy products with excellent taste and texture - so impressive!

Olive oil on show was unctuous and clean, delicately fragrant with no aggressive edges, and the little cheese I managed to taste was flavoursome and ripe, a decent mouthful. I was unable to taste some of the soft drinks, beers and sweets on offer.

Of the pre-prepared foods the little brazilian cheesy dough ball was a delightful nibble, the cod balls (yes, I know...) yummy, the savoury pies tasty, the pasteis de nata (the glorious portuguese custard tarts) delicious. But the true star for me was the truly spectacular almond tart from 'A Tarte', as good as anything I have ever had along those lines in a very long time... Wow!

There were more things I never got a chance to taste, more's the pity. I should have allowed myself more time...