WINES OF PORTUGAL 7th ANNUAL GRAND TASTING – NYC
sponsored by VINIPORTUGAL
This past Monday, April 4th, I was fortunate to attend this event held at Lincoln Center in NYC. Exhibiting were over 50 producers, most showing several wines, so one has to remember to spit and choose carefully before palate fatigue sets in. I was only partly successful at both, so here are some hazy impressions, from memory.
Once one gets over the nausea of having to enter a hall named 'The David H. Koch Theater', I found that even though the trade tasting has just ended, all the producers were still present and most appeared to have their full lineups available for the public tasting. Not too mobbed, either. A nice booklet with all the available wines was presented, along with bottles of water and some snacks. Nicely done, vini Portugal (they run worthwhile tasting rooms in Lisbon and Porto, too).
I started sipping a few wines in a rather random fashion before realizing I should have a strategy. Preferring wines from the northern part of the country (I find Alentejo often too new-worldy warm climate), I would try to hit up Douro producers who were unfamiliar (or just plain shouldn’t be missed) and dip into Beiras (Dao, Bairrada, etc.) when it looked worthwhile. Sadly, very little was available from the Minho (vinho verde’s region). So here are a few interesting wines and general observations.
From that later region I tried a few wines from Quinta de Santa Maria, at the near Barcelos. They had a delightfully aromatic Alvarinho, which had to be called a vinho regional Minho because this is not an Alvarinho region (officially, that is along the Minho, up near the Spanish border). Also, a Touriga Nacional (TN) with perhaps the lowest alcohol I have ever seen, 10.6%! Very herbal and different than the usual inky stuff one encounters in the warmer regions. Unfortuantely, no red vinho verdes made from Vinhao!
Moving south into the Douro, I tasted a lot of wines. Frankly, the heavy, tannic wines from this region are hard to taste in large numbers over the course of a couple hours. A few general observations: some producers would be wise to cut back on their new oak. Not as bad of a problem as found in some places, but especially acute with some of the ‘Reserva’ wines. OK in a way, because the lower priced non-reservas are sometimes just right. Also, while ’07 was a lauded, ripe vintage in the Douro, ’08 has many very drinkable wines, less brooding, slightly nervier but still ripe overall.
Notable reds: virtually all the wines from the unfamiliar Q. da Prelada – including a stunning ’04 vintage Port and nutty 10 year tawny (almost as good as the 20 yr.). Table wines were fine too – distribution in the Pacific NW, but not here. Q. do Vallado has a stunning ’08 Reserva Field Blend (65% mixed old vines/ balance TN). This was perhaps the best Douro wine I tasted. Looking for US distribution was Q. do Popa, nice across the board, especially an old vine field blend and a Tinta Roriz varietal wine. Interestingly, Luis Pato is their winemaking consultant. A pair from Q. de S. Jose – regular DOC and Reserva stood out as finely calibrated wines. Finally, a wine I can actually purchase at my local shops for about $13, the Flor de Tecedeiras ’08, was a great QPR Douro. The Tecedeiras Reserva ’08 could turn out to be a nice wine, but is a bit brooding and deep at the moment (some well sited very old vines here).
I’m a big fan of the under appreciated wines from Dao and Bairrada (don’t overlook the remarkably good whites). Sao Domingos has a wide range of QPR methode champenois espumantes made from native grapes (Bical, Maria Gomes, Baga…) which are nice substitutes for good Cava. Their ‘07 Bairrada Colheita Tinto (mostly Baga) is a good introduction to a Baga based table wine. The charming Luis Pato was working a stand and besides his excellent still wines he poured me a couple espumantes made from 2010 vintage Baga grapes: one from Q. do Moinho and the other from Vinha Pan, both well known vineyards known for his still wines. He does a green harvest and makes these delightful salmon-colored sparklers from the dropped grapes. I especially loved the Vinha Pan version, dubbed ‘Informal’: bursting with strawberry and an earthy almost tannic edge but still very refreshing.
Moving east to Dao, I got to taste the wines of Vinha Paz, which are widely praised in Portugal, but not well distributed here. Good stuffing, especially on the mostly TN Reserva, but a bit more oak than I had bargained for. The surprise standout from Dao was the lineup of Q. de Lemos, who was presenting a range of stylishly labeled single varietal (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Jaen) and blended wines. They appear to have a NYC based distributor, but I haven’t seen them; the pricing is steepish, though.
Going even further east to Beira Interior, Q. dos Currais is trying to find US distribution – their ’09 Siria (a white grape) was freshly aromatic and appealing to this Riesling lover and their reds were quite nice too. Q. do Cardo has a lovely, nervy ’08 TN Reserva, grown at high altitudes.
Looked around at the Alentejo producers trying to find a pure Alicante Bouchet to try. Some say this grape is really at home in the south of Portugal, but apparently the importers must not believe that Americans would buy them. I did find one from Q. do Carniero that was DOC Lisboa – nice wine at a reasonable price. Had a few sips at the stand of the noted Alentejo producer Herdade da Malhadinha Nova; the wines seemed pretty impressive, but my palate was pretty much shot by then.
Staggered home with a few gifts as well….. a great way to spend the evening.