Just clearing up out the back of the Chapel and found a CD with some photos on it of a trip I went on last year to Portugal with some of the UK's leading independent merchant's. Thought it would be quite nice to share.
We started off at Quinta do Ameal who is making some fantastic Organic "Vinho Verde". The wines are actually single varietals and not in what the UK market would recognise as "vinho verde". They are doing some really good work there and I would expect them to make quite a name for themselves in the next few years - really refreshing wines with good weight and great attention to detail in the vineyard and the winery.
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| Mateus |
We then hopped back into the minibus and headed of to Chateau Mateus - famous as the image of the most (in)famous of all Portuguese wine. What a lot of people don't know is that the building was only ever used as the image - thewine was never produced here. It was a marketing solution to the fact that "all" French wine was associated with a Chateau and Portugal had none. The producers of Mateus therefore asked the owners of this beautiful property of they could use it as the image for their wine. When deciding on the fee the owners of the property opted for a lump-sum as opposed to a percentage based on volume of sales. OUCH. It is now home to Lavradores de Feitoria which is basically a collection of wineries who have pooled resources and make some good wine under their own brand. I stock their
red and
white.
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| Niepoort winery - Douro |
Next we were off to the legendary Niepoort and his new purpose built wine estate, high in the hills of Douro. Dirk Niepoort is a true modern Portuguese wine legend, he makes both wine & port but neither is a compromise. Many producers will make a wine from the stuff they don't make port with but Niepoort treats his business with the respect it deserves. The wines are produced as wines in their own right and they receive world-wide acclaim. At the moment I just stock
"Drink Me" (in the wines - I do a wide range of his
ports) but would love to have the demand to include things such as "Redoma" - a fantastic white and a great red also.
Following on from Niepoort we headed off to Dao where we visited Quinta dos Roques. In my opinion, along with Alvaro Castro, Quinta dos Roques are the Dao's leading lights. We tasted through the entire range and they have some fantastic single varietal wines - their white Encruzado is a real stand-out wine for me. I currently list the entry-level range - Correio
Tinto & Blanco (not on website yet for some reason - check back soon!). After a long tasting a boozy supper we headed off for a good nights kip in a beautiful old hotel. We were up bright and early the next morning however to delve deeper in to the heart of Dao where we headed off to see boutique biodynamic producer "Casa de Mouraz" - where I'll pick up next time!
We started off at Quinta do Ameal who is making some fantastic Organic "Vinho Verde". The wines are actually single varietals and not in what the UK market would recognise as "vinho verde". They are doing some really good work there and I would expect them to make quite a name for themselves in the next few years - really refreshing wines with good weight and great attention to detail in the vineyard and the winery.
Following on from Niepoort we headed off to Dao where we visited Quinta dos Roques. In my opinion, along with Alvaro Castro, Quinta dos Roques are the Dao's leading lights. We tasted through the entire range and they have some fantastic single varietal wines - their white Encruzado is a real stand-out wine for me. I currently list the entry-level range - Correio Tinto & Blanco (not on website yet for some reason - check back soon!). After a long tasting a boozy supper we headed off for a good nights kip in a beautiful old hotel. We were up bright and early the next morning however to delve deeper in to the heart of Dao where we headed off to see boutique biodynamic producer "Casa de Mouraz" - where I'll pick up next time!
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