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    “Portugal’s advantage in wine terms – its isolation, which has kept its inheritance of indigenous vine varieties intact and virtually unaffected by Chardonnay- and Cabernet-mania – has also been its disadvantage. The Portuguese have had this strange habit of… making wines to suit the palates of other Portuguese rather than making the sort of fruity, juicy-yet-structured wines that appeal to the majority of the world’s wine consumers. The wines that have traditionally been most respected within Portugal are incredibly tough reds that have typically spent rather too long in storage before being bottled and some slightly tired whites whose unfamiliar flavours may strike some outsiders as slightly rank. In fact Portugal has some first-class raw materials and is increasingly demonstrating the will and skill with which to transform them into exportable wines.

    It is so sad that top-quality Portuguese wine is not has much widely known and appreciated. Admittedly, the fact that Portugal now has such a vibrant wine culture (I’m told that something like seven annual wine guides are published in Portugal) has meant that prices for wines most highly regarded by the Portuguese have escalated, but these wines have such a strong personality, I don’t think any interested drinker should deny themselves the Portuguese experience.

    Portuguese wine is well placed to take advantage of current fashion for “heritage varieties.”

    1999… “The Alentejo Region, hot and dry, in the southeast, is perhaps the most promising source of accessible table wines, full-bodied, with intense colours… and this is without a doubt one of the most promising wine growing regions in the world.””
    by Jancis Robinson
  • Archives

A Portuguese Orient Express – BEIJING

On a modern day Sino-Luso vinous encounter last month we joined a group of Portuguese winemakers embarked on an epic journey to Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong, to showcase Portuguese wines to the booming Chinese market. This is the 1st in a series of 3 posts, followed by Shanghai and Hong Kong.)

The trip started [...]

Conversations with Hans in Oporto – Part IV – Incógnito and Reserva

(During Carrie and Hans Jorgensen’s recent passage through Oporto, I had the opportunity, after a pleasant dinner at the local restauranta Casa Aleixo, to exchange a few words with Hans about the wines of Cortes de Cima. It’s based on this brief conversation that I wrote these texts, divided into 4 Blog posts, with short [...]

90 points for Reserva 04 at the Octavian Vaults Library Collection Tasting

And now for some ‘old’ news and some ‘new’ news!  First the ‘new’ news is that we have again entered the 2nd edition of the IWC Wine Library Collection tasting, or now with a new fancier name,  The Octavian Vaults Library Collection(2009), and once again for 2nd year running, come out with high marks on [...]

How well does an Alentejan age?

And now for some ‘old’ news and some ‘new’ news!  First the ‘new’ news is that we have  again entered the 2nd edition of the IWC Wine Library Collection tasting, or now with a new fancier name,  The Octavian Vaults Library Collection(2009), and once again for 2nd year running, come out with high marks on [...]

Vinalies 2009

Here are the latest results from the Vinalies 2009 competition from Paris!
3 Golds – for Reserva 2004, Syrah 2005 and Incógnito 2005, and 1 Silver – for Aragonez 2005

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