Portuguese Wines Offer Tremendous Quality and Value

Kim Zamel, owner of the Wine Shack, has become an ardent advocate for Portuguese wines.

Not Port, the sweet after-dinner fortified wine made from an assortment of native grapes or those simple rosés popular in the 1970’s, but the lively, dry white and complex red table wines that Portuguese producers started making in recent decades,

Zamel, who opened the Wine Shack late last year, offers five Portuguese bargains, at around$10 or so, and she may add more, she said, explaining that the wines offer incredible value for the quality. She and her staff started to taste the wines, added a few, and “it just started to go from there.”

Alison Nobre, co-owner of Fado, Huntington’s seven-month-old Portuguese restaurant, is equally enthusiastic.  “They’re unbelievable values,” she said. She initially populated her wine list with bottles that would sell for less than $20, but kept going. “People are just so receptive.”

Largely unknown on this side of the Atlantic -- only 3 percent of Portugal’s wine production is exported to the U.S. -- are indeed delicious values.  There are many great wines under $10 and a few priced at $100 or more.  All, however, are bargains compared with wines of comparable quality from other wine producing regions around the world.

In the last few decades quality has improved to the point where wines from Portugal are finding favor among wine aficionados and value-oriented consumers alike.

They reds, especially some of the robust offerings, mostly made with unfamiliar grapes, make terrific companions to roasts and grilled meats. They range from about $10 a bottle and up. But even the dearest of bottles won’t set you back as much as a fabulous red Bordeaux.

Portuguese whites, often sold as Vinho Verdi or under such varietal names as Alvarinho or Loureiro, are Portugal’s most popular whites and are perfect for sipping on the patio on a summer afternoon. They are not overly serious wines. Best served icy cold, they tend to be aromatic and fruity with lively acids and sometimes have a bit of a spritz. In other words, they’re crisp and refreshing.  Most sell for less than $15 a bottle and some for as little as $4. They’re also wonderful paired with seafood — not surprising since so many of them are made from grapes grown along Portugal’s Atlantic coast.

Portuguese wines have remained largely a secret, because they are mostly made with indigenous grapes, often with hard to pronounce names that do not resonate in our minds. Touriga nacional is the national grape of Portugal.  Other grapes include Alicante bouschet, aragonez (a/k/a tinta-roriz, a/k/a tempranillo), baga, castelao, touriga franca, just to name a few. Now, some regions are starting to grow and blend in cabernet sauvignon and syrah. Portuguese producers together make 340 different field blends, or blends, wines produced from different grape varieties inter planted in the same vineyard.

Portugal, Europe’s western-most country and about the size of Indiana at 575 miles long and about 140 miles wide, has nine main grape growing regions with diverse soil types and climates and distinctive styles. The regions are Vinho Verde, Bairrida, Extremadura/Lisboa and Setúbal along the cool Atlantic coast; Dao, Douro and Beira in the warm interior north; and, Tejo, Alentejo and Algarve in the warm southern plains.

Portuguese wine names won’t seem so strange once you discover them. 

Some already have. Wine Spectator magazine counted two Portuguese wines among its 2010 Top 100 list.   CARM Douro Reserva 2007 ($27) with a score of 94 points ranked No. 9 and Quinta do Vallado Douro Reserva 2008 ($53), was listed at No. 22 with 96 points.

The Vallado, which is 100 percent touriga nacional, is a big, tannic wine with notes of plums and spices will benefit from several more years more in the bottle before it’s best enjoyed.  The CARM is an intense, fruity red blend.

Other names to look for include Quinto do Crasto, Churchill Estates, Niepoort , Porca de Murca and Evel

Zamel’s offerings include a pair of crisp, fruity vinho verdes, Twin Vines ($8.99) and  Quinta da Aveleda Grinalda Vinho Verde ($12.99),  among the whites.  Her reds include Periquita 2010, an entry-level flavorful wine ($10.99); the soft, fresh-tasting Loios 2009($11.99), and the fruity Domini 2008, ($13.99).

At a trade/press tasting earlier this week in New York City, sponsored by Vini Portugal, a trade group, I enjoyed the highly popular crisp, peachy Casal Garcia Vino Verdhe 2010 ($8) and a creamy Morgado Santa Catherina 2008 with a touch of oak and pear notes ($22) among the whites; CAAR Ciconia 2009, a rich, touriga nacional red with notes of cherries and currents ($9), the powerful Fita Preta Preta red,  a blend of 50 percent Touriga Nacional, 35 percent  Alicante Bouschet and 15 percent Cabernet Sauvignon ($50).

For a broader sampling, I recommend an excursion to Fado, which offers 10 wines by the glass as well as 20 Portuguese red wines and 20 whites by the bottle. Among the most popular reds is an easy drinking red from the Douro, called Veedha (life in Portuguese), and the Ciconia. They sell for $25 and $23, respectively. Fado’s most expensive wine, at $65 a bottle, is a hard-to-find red, Esporado AB Alicante Bouschet 2007.

Fado also offers 20 different ports, the fortified dessert wine that most people associate with Portugal, and three Madeiras, another fortified, sweet wine.

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The Wine Shack will be offering various kosher wines for sampling now through Passover (April 19).

Today, from 4:30 p.m-7:30p.m., Huntington’s Superstar Beverage will be offering samples of Innes & Gunn barrel-aged Scottish ales.

Bottles & Cases sampling schedule this weekend includes X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, today, 1-4 p.m.; Maker’s Mark Maker’s 46 Bourbon, Courvoisier VS Cognac, Fair Vodka, Goji Berry Liqueur today 4-7 p.m.; Russian Standard Vodka and El Mayor Anejo Tequila, Saturday, 1-4 p.m.,  Jameson Irish Whiskey, Three Olives Chocolate and Root Beer Vodkas, Saturday, 4-7 p.m., and Gosling's Black Seal Rum and Gosling's Rum Swizzle, Sunday, 1-4 p.m.