Food & Drink in the Algarve, Portugal

what to drink during your stay in the Algarve

The Wines of Portugal - Vinho Verde Update

Bom Dia

Once again I find myself writing this month's piece whilst enjoying the `island life' that my job so often manages to bring me - not this time though the rugged Algarve-like coastline of last month's location; this time a major city complete with its marina, beach and waterfront replete with the necessary bars and restaurants. In that latter respect, certainly being similar to the Algarve - and it is perhaps not surprising how conducive to both wine writing and wine drinking, not necessarily in that order, this atmosphere and ambience actually is. Certainly this is hugely better than the dismal, dank and grey weather that much of the U.K. has thrown at us in January. I use the example of working in Kent last week, where I hosted a Portuguese evening near Dartford and I had to work very hard, aided by my atmospheric pictures of Portugal, to conjure up the necessary feel for the wines; as good of course as they were. I am however heading for Edinburgh and the Lake District in a couple of days time for more tastings, so I can probably look forward to some snow!

Another aspect of the island or Algarve life is that it gives us the opportunity to enjoy the fantastic Rose wines that are thank goodness now enjoying a long-overdue resurgence, so as ever solely in the interests of my research (!) lunch for the past two (no, make that three in fact as another alfresco lunchtime has just passed) days has been accompanied by just such a Rosado wine! I will expand and expound more on my passion for Rose wines later in the year; perhaps as the summer approaches but first the recent tasting in Kent reminded me to update you on last month's topic of Vinho Verde. The group of 40-something, that's numbers not age, all enjoyed a VV that I very often show, being a good example of this wine readily available from our supermarkets - Quinta de Simaens 2004 (£5.49 in Waitrose). It made for a lovely opening to the evening, its crisp, fresh acidity attacking the taste buds, whilst having great fruit character and the ability to accompany food - fish dishes in particular; such as our ubiquitous, yet wonderful and tasty, bacalhao(s). For your interest, I include at the bottom of this article a complete list of the wines that we tasted in Kent last week, so if I ever come to visit your club, business or group, you can see just what to expect from the tasting. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to have a presentation on Portuguese wines - simply a tasting or maybe even a dinner.

Which reminds me - do please keep the emails coming (wine-educators@aol.com) and a big thanks for the messages following last month's opening article and I was glad to be able to answer your questions. I am always very pleased to hear from you all.

Reverting to my alphabetical world of wine, C is for Cooperative Wineries, a major part of the industry here in Portugal as in many other parts of Europe. These days our cooperative wineries are producing some excellent wine and they should not be dismissed as they have indeed been in the past. This month's pictures will hopefully give you an impression of some of the activities that take place at these very traditional and sometimes antiquated operations, and my travels in Portugal have included many of these, and meeting the inevitably short, squat & stocky winemakers whose families have been involved there for several generations.

A cooperative will usually have a (very) large number of members who will as a part of their terms of membership provide grapes to the winery each harvest; usually these days being paid on quality and the variety(ies) rather than quantity in order to raise the profile of the regions' wines. In theory, and now most often in practice, the resulting wines are typically very true to their origins in traditional Portuguese wine regions such as Bairrada & Dao, and also the more modern perceived ones such as Borba to the south. As the profile of the winery and the region becomes more and more recognised in the international marketplace, so the cooperatives are able to invest in better and more modern equipment. It is often surprising to suddenly stumble across the latest refrigeration unit or bladder press (sounds painful) as we walk around these dusty old concrete buildings. So then recognition spirals as the wines become even better still.

So I would seriously recommend that you explore the world of the Cooperative wines of Portugal - in fact I will set you a challenge for the next issue of this newsletter. Seek out a cooperative produced wine from your local retailer or supermarket, they will almost certainly be very reasonably priced and therefore offer extremely good value. Send me the details of the wine you try by email - price, retailer, along with your thoughts on it and I will include the best of the reports in a future column for the benefit of our other readers.

The wines from our recent Wine Club tasting in Kent - if you do try any of these, again please send me your comments:

Vinhos Brancos

1. Henriques & Henriques 10 year old Sercial; Madeira

(retail - Waitrose)

- refreshing apertivo wine, rich; a great alternative to white Port

2. Quinta de Simaens 2004; Vinho Verde (retail - Waitrose)

- see article above

3. The Cork Grove Fernao Pires 2003; Ribatejano (retail - Waitrose)

- powerful white wine from this great native grape

8. Henriques & Henriques 15 year old Malmsey; Madeira

(retail - Waitrose)

- sweet dessert wine but not cloying; great with mature hard cheeses

Vinhos Tintos

4. Ramada Tinto 2004; Estremadura (retail - Tesco)

- light, fruity everyday wine; good value and bset served slightly cool

5. Bela Fonte 2000; Beiras (retail - Sainsbury)

- from the native Jaen grape, showing excellent maturity & style

6. Vila Santa 2003; Alentejano Oakley Wine Agencies

- loads of complex flavour and powerful tannins; long-lasting flavours

7. Quinta de la Rosa Tinto Reserva 2001; Douro Morris & Verdin (BBR)

- big wine, very good structure and tannins

Martin Ward        Wine Educators International            www.wine-educators.com

If you would like to know more about Portuguese Food and Drink, why don't you dip into our Restaurants in the Algarve section and our series of articles on Portuguese Wines and Ports.  We also feature some Traditional Portuguese Recipes and a glossary of useful Portuguese food & drink words and phrases

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