Portugal’s Southern Coastline is fast gaining recognition as a serius wine region, and one of the leading producers there is now exporting to Malaysia.
The Algarve coastline of southern Portugal has long been known for its beaches and golf courses, but as recently as 10 years ago, it was all but unheard of in wine circles. The country is of course most famous for its Port wine, produced from the grapes of the Douro Valley in the verdant north, but over the last few decades, wines from the same region and elsewhere in the country have earned recognition amongst connoisseurs the world over.
Portuguese wine, however, has never been easy to find outside of Portugal. Here in Malaysia, a few specialist importers have introduced some of the better-known labels of the Douro region and the Alentejo further south to specialist dealers and restaurants, but these wines are overshadowed even by the relatively little-known wines of Spain, let alone Italy or France.
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The Algarve has been discovered only recently as a serious wine-producing region. With its microclimate, protected by low mountains to the north and cooled by the Atlantic to the south, it has all of the climatic conditions to match world-class regions such as California or Australia. .e soil, ranging from sandy and rocky on the coastal plains to schist-clay in the foothills, is likewise idyllic and ideal for high quality viticulture as the plants are forced to root deep into the mineral rich and humid soils and hence is better than more arable parts of the country. Another important factor contributing to the quality of the wines now being produced in the Algarve is the very fact that this traditional agricultural area of southern Portugal is today mostly under the influence of young entrepreneurs who combine traditional wine making knowledge with technology of the 21st century. Nearly all of the privately owned wine estates are relatively new business enterprises that have been equipped from scratch with the latest machinery, both in the vineyards and in the winery.
The result is a successor generation whose wine improves year on year, as vines become more established and they hone their skills to get the best out of the raw product, and today, the Algarve has wines that can easily match significantly higher priced wines from well-known producers like France and Australia.
At the forefront of the emerging region is the Quinta dos Vales winery, an estate that has won more than 70 national and international medals and awards for its wines – more than any other in the region over recent years – making it one of the leading award-winners in the country. The brainchild of German businessman and artist Karl Heinz Stock, the estate combines wine with art and tourism and should be credited not only for the quality of its wines, but also for elevating the profile of the Algarve as a wine-producing region.
Production here is all about quality, with two of Portugal’s leading consultant oenologists, Paulo Laureano and Dorina Lindemann, responsible for creating the wines using strict quality management and a close control over yield by reducing production in the fields by up to 50% guaranteeing more concentration of quality in the grapes.
From the outset, the owner’s brief was to produce a distinctive choice of wines with the long-term objective of making them some of the best in the country. .ey were one of the first wineries in the country to produce a Blanc de Noir, a white wine made from red grapes: the Marquês dos Vales Selecta using the Castelão (also known as Periquita) grape variety. They have also shown innovation by introducing the Viognier grape to the Algarve to produce a top-quality varietal, another of their well-known white wines. The main label produced at Quinta dos Vales is the Grace Vineyard, and perhaps most notable of all are the distinctions received for their red varietal made from Portugal’s indigenous Touriga Nacional grape.
Some of the world’s leading wine experts were invited to blind taste a selection of Touriga Nacional varietals from all over the country, including some of the top producers from the Douro region in the north of the country. The event was chaired by UK wine expert and critic Jancis Robinson, and judges from Europe, Asia and the United States were asked to select the top 10, amongst which the Grace Vineyard Touriga Nacional 2008 was included, causing something of a stir, being a new wine from the emerging Algarve region.
The Touriga Nacional grape is revered in Portugal for producing concentrated wines with deep, intense aromas and rich flavour due to the variety’s small berry and relatively low yield. It is fast gaining international recognition, helping to put Portugal firmly on the map as a country that focuses on quality as opposed to quantity with wines that are created to attract wine lovers.
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The wines of Quinta dos Vales are available in Malaysia through:
Viva Vino (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd,
28, Jalan SBC 8, Taman Seri Batu Caves 68100 Batu caves, Selangor
Tel: +60 3 61869205
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
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Source: The Expat May 2013
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