Bring the sunshine into your life with wines from Portugal
Feb 5 2010 by Helen Savage, The Journal
Her highly unusual but delicious pure Petit Verdot (a Bordeaux grape that seems far happier in Portugal) is now on the list.
When I sampled the previous vintage at a Top Fifty tasting in London two years ago, I rated it one of the very best reds in the show. Azamor Petit Verdot 2006 is a bargain indeed at £16.
The wines are not sold in any retail outlet, but all can be ordered online through the website, www.portovino.co.uk. They’re keen to attract new customers through tastings, specially arranged for private groups, corporate bodies and wine clubs.
Feedback from the first round of tastings is very positive. “People seem very pleasantly surprised by the wines and find them very approachable and easy to enjoy,” says Paul.
Expectations that do exist are often confounded: “If folk know anything about Portuguese wines at all, they expect reds, but they’ve been impressed by our whites.”
And as he admitted to me, Paul himself has also had to think again: “Though we said at the outset the only wines we’d never sell were port and Mateus Rosé, we ended up shifting lots of port in the run-up to Christmas. We’ve discovered that a lot of ladies really enjoy tawny port, and everyone loves the sweet Moscatel de Setúbal. Its crisp acidity and lovely orangey flavour is irresistible.” They still don’t list Mateus, but their one rosé, Casal Garcia 2008 (£8.50), is dry, crisp and very attractive.
Most of their wines fall in a price range from £7 to £16, but Paul is keen to add a few finer wines to the list. Although reserva-quality wines are not cheap, they can be very good.
“It can be hard enough to sell Portuguese wine,” he admits, “but what else would you get for that quality at £25?” He’s convinced that the market for such special bottles is growing. “We’re not going to go mad. We’d just like to add about 10 more lines to the list.”
Paul is also keen to work with other small importers in our region to put on tasting events and market their wine together to the on-trade.
Another option is a wine club to offer more variety than that of the restricted range of the individual partners – all of which is very good news for local wine lovers.
If folk know anything about Portuguese wines at all, they expect reds, but they’ve been impressed by our whites
WINE OF THE WEEK
Beaujolais Villages 2008, £5.35 Morrisons
Light, juicy red, with an inviting smell and taste of red fruits – a surprisingly satisfying mouthful.
Ideal with white meat or pork dishes.
WINE EXTRAS
I was very tempted to choose Quinta de Pancas, Touriga Nacional Reserva 2007 as wine of the week, but wanted to say a bit more about it. It’s quite wonderful. I had a bit of a cold when I tasted it and was bothered that I might not fully appreciate its smell. I needn't have worried. I was overwhelmed by a heady scent of black cherries in alcohol – huge and intense. And the flavour is fab too – powerful and just as concentrated, but with lovely juicy acidity and fine-grained, silky tannins. It’s £18 from Portovino (www.portovino.co.uk) and better than many a bottle costing twice as much.
If you can’t afford quite that much but still want something special, Quinta da Fronteira 2006 from the Douro Valley, which includes the superb Touriga Nacional grape in a rather more traditional blend, has great depth of ripe, black fruit, also with soft, silky tannins and a long spicy finish. It’s £11 from Portovino. Highly recommended.
