Exploring the Best Wine in Portugal
Hi, I’m Ismail of Europe Diary, and many of you have asked me to create a blog about the “Best Wine in Portugal.” So here it is—we’re diving deep into the wine scene of Portugal. Let’s go!
A Rich Wine Tradition
Portuguese wines have a lot going for them. The country has a long history, many indigenous grape varieties, diverse terroir, and, on top of that, the wines are generally pretty cheap. It’s the 10th largest producer of wine, and while the country overlooks the Atlantic and was instrumental in discovering the rest of the world, it was also isolated for a long time. This isolation allowed it to stick to old traditions, methods, and varieties. With Port and Madeira, Portugal continues to produce some of the most famous fortified wines in the world. However, there are also great table wines coming out of Portugal, especially today.
Tasting Lineup
Leon prepared a lineup of Portuguese wines that we can taste together. Well, technically, I’m going to taste them, and you can sit back, relax, and enjoy them through me.
2019 Vale Brut from Jose
We’re starting off with bubbles, as one does, with the 2019 Vale Brut from Jose. A sparkling wine from Bairrada, Doc Bairrada is the most important region for sparkling wine in Portugal. They use the grape variety Baga, which can produce both really structured and intense red wines and fresh, vibrant sparkling wines.
The tradition of producing sparkling Baga in Bairrada dates back to the end of the 19th century. This winery, founded in 2005, does whole bunch pressing and ferments in stainless steel and barrels. They leave the wine on the lees for 18 months to give it a bit more roundness.
Well, let’s just pop the cork.
All right, didn’t spill any! That’s pretty good.
Listening to sparkling wine being poured is music to my ears. The wine is a copper color with a slight red tinge. It looks appealing. It is more fruit-forward than some rosé wines would be. It smells of cherries, raspberries, and strawberries—very fruit-driven but not overly sweet. There’s also a little bit of a rye bread flavor coming through.
On the palate, it’s rich and concentrated, finishing very fresh, vibrant, and lively. At 12 percent alcohol, the concentration is there but not too much. I think this is really good! It might be a bit surprising to hear that Portugal can produce great sparkling wine because people assume that sparkling wine needs to come from a cool climate in Northern Europe.
Bairrada is very close to the Atlantic, bringing lots of freshness from the ocean. They manage to maintain freshness and acidity, ensuring the wine is lively. It’s important to pick the harvest date correctly for sparkling wine. Generally, you harvest early to keep good acidity and freshness levels.
I really enjoy this one and would rate it 88 points. It might not have the complexity to go above 90 in my book, but I would love to drink this with some cured ham. Just delicious!
2022 Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contact from Vinho Verde
Next up, we have the 2022 Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contact from Vinho Verde. Vinho Verde is an interesting region; on one hand, there’s bulk wine production of very simple, slightly fizzy, sometimes off-dry white wines, and on the other hand, you have very complex ones. Alvarinho often plays an important role in these high-end wines.
The grape variety combines delicate fruit flavors with good freshness and nice body, especially when it’s left in contact with the lees. This winery started in 1997, and the Alvarinho Contact, as the name suggests, gets some skin contact to extract more flavor and texture into the wine.
This wine is not an orange wine; it’s fairly light in color and smells really nice—apricots and white peaches. It doesn’t have a lot of yeast flavors coming through; it’s beautifully fruity on the palate with lots of freshness.
This is what you call mouthwatering! It has a vibrant acidity but doesn’t have the concentration and body of other great Alvarinhos. I would rate this 88 points. This is exactly the light, fresh white wine you want while enjoying some seafood—prawns, fish, even grilled fish. Everything that comes out of the sea feels right, considering this grows next to the ocean.
2021 Druid Encano Reserva from Dao
The next one is the 2021 Druid Encano Reserva from Dao. Dao is further inland from Bairrada, surrounded by mountains and ranging from 200 to 1,000 meters in altitude. It’s a wild and beautiful region that produces amazing red wines. They work with the Portuguese flagship varietal Touriga Nacional and also use Tinta Roriz, which is actually Tempranillo in Spain, and Jaen, which is Mencía in Spain.
The Osso companion states that Enusado is the jewel in the crown of white wines from Dao, and I agree. This winery was founded in 2012. They use lots of native grape varieties in Dao and spontaneously ferment the wine, using barrels—20 percent new and 80 percent used.
They leave the wine in contact with the yeast cells for ten months, giving it more complexity and body. It combines bruised apple characters and green apple notes with delicate oak flavors, resulting in a complex and balanced palate.
You wouldn’t necessarily think that Southern Europe has so much freshness and tension. The acidity is quite high, and the finish is very long, but there’s still body. This one doesn’t have a lot of alcohol—only 12 percent—so it’s really refreshing.
I would rate this 90 points. It’s a beautiful, complex wine, and I would drink this with fried chicken. I think it would even work well with KFC, as the acidity would break up the fattiness of the crust without overpowering the meat.
2019 Vicente Duoro from Niort
Next up, we have the first red wine, the 2019 Vicente Duoro from Niort. The Duoro Valley is most famous for Port wine, but as consumption for Port has declined, people have started looking at other options. Niort was one of the pioneers in producing table wines.
The Nebo winery was founded in 1842 and now has projects in different regions and countries. This wine is a blend of various rare varieties, primarily Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca. Most wineries in the Duoro Valley are co-planted, so different grape varieties are grown together, and everything is harvested at once.
The wine was fermented in stainless steel and then aged in barrels for 22 months. However, I don’t get a lot of barrel flavor here. It’s actually much more fruit-driven with a restrained fruit character, smelling of blackberries, black pepper, licorice, and spices.
On the palate, it’s quite lean and structured. I think it’s good, but I believe it misses a bit more body and richness. There’s something missing, so I would rate it 86 points. This is a wine from the Duoro Valley, a warm climate that typically produces rich and concentrated wines, but they purposely went for a more restrained and structured style.
2019 Fita Prata Palpi Tinto from Alentejo
The last one is the 2019 Fita Prata Palpi Tinto from Alentejo. Alentejo is a huge region in the south of Portugal, covering roughly one-third of its landmass. It’s most well-known for cork production—most corks used in the world for wine come from Alentejo. However, the region wasn’t always seen as a high-quality wine producer, but that has changed over the last few decades.
This wine was founded in 2003 by Antonio Makanita, who collaborates with English consultant David Booth. In this blend, they use Alicante Bouschet, a grape that adds quite a lot of color, and Alfocheiro, another synonym for the same grape variety.
This wine was fermented spontaneously, with a post-fermentation maceration for 21 days to extract more color and tannins. It was then aged in barrels for 18 months. This is well-made, combining the spicy flavors of the oak with the sour cherry character of the fruit on the palate.
It’s juicy and rich, with present tannins and good acidity. It feels very complete, so I’m going to rate it 93 points. It’s a beautiful, really good red wine.
Conclusion
This was a really fun tasting! As you can see, Portugal can bring quite a lot of different styles and grape varieties to the table. All of these wines were around $20 each, so they’re still pretty affordable while delivering serious quality.
My favorite two were the Palpi and the Encano, both beautiful wines that you probably haven’t tasted before, so you should check those out. But the others were also really good—there was no dud here; they all performed well!
Thank you for reading this blog! My question for you today is: What do you think about Portuguese wines? Do you like them or not? Let me know down below! I hope to see you guys again soon. Until then, stay thirsty!
