High plains drifting
A CLOUD of bluebottles rises off the grapes as José Almodôvar taps the side of the crusher. It's four o'clock on a mid-October afternoon and it's 30ºC. The grapes, sitting there since the morning, are already whiffing of vinegar. Not a good end to a tour of Portugal's southern wine regions of Alentejo and Ribatejo - one that only reinforces the view that quality is patchy, to say the least.
There are a few jewels in their crown - Espor‹o, Quinta do Carmo, Fi£za and Cartuxa have all made a noise in the international wine press - but they weren't on the agenda. "We thought it would be a good idea for you to visit some wineries that are not yet available in the UK, but are seeking agents," said the Portuguese Trade and Tourism Office, hopefully. "Plus a few that are in the UK, but don't get much coverage."
Of a 10-strong line-up laid on by the Comiss‹o Vitivinºcola Regional Alentejana, only two wines showed well (Espor‹o Reguengos Reserve 1996 and Jo‹o Portugal Ramos Trincadeira 1997). Many of the whites were just too old. Why, we asked, when these wines are best drunk young and fresh? "We had a big vintage in 1996," admits one producer, "and we won't release the 1997s until 1996 stocks have finished." A barrel sample then? "We can't do that because the wine-maker isn't here." Another common refrain. Three of the six wineries visited shared the same (absent) wine-maker - one Jo‹o Portugal Ramos, who makes his own (very good) wine in the Alentejo (available in the UK through Oakley Wine Agencies, 01787 220070).
It wasn't all negative. The belief that indigenous varieties can make a significant stand against international varieties on the world wine market was pretty solid. And where international varieties are creeping into both these regions' soils (still only 2% of vines planted), they are mostly destined for a successful blend with home-grown grapes. In the odd case where international varieties are bottled separately (Casa Cadaval's Pinot Noir, for example) the true potential of the terroir showed its face. But most here believe that their own grapes, with their amusingly unpronounceable names, are where the future lies.
The Ribatejo is two hours north-east of Lisbon. It's rich in agriculture and flat as a pancake. Maize grows as tall as buildings, along with beans, melons, apple and citrus trees, and grand, if faded, mansions are dotted about the countryside, flanked by huge palm trees.
The broad sweep of the River Tagus cuts through the farmland, which floods periodically. Vines do well here - there's some 39,000 hectares in all - and yieldsare high. The resulting wines are mostly rather uninspiring dry whites, which end up in Lisbon's tascas. Reds are catching up fast, with 40% of overall production, and even pip whites at the post in DOC wines, with 53%.
The fresh, appley Fern‹o Pires is the most widely grown white, while reds are made mainly from Periquita (also known as Castel‹o Frances). Other Ribatejo reds include Trincadeira, Castel‹o Nacional and Baga.
The Ribatejo is also one of the few regions in Portugal where international varieties have taken a hold. It produces an average 1.5 million bottles of DOC wine, against 3.75 million bottles of vinho regional. This has been a bad year, though. While some producers are struggling to make even a quarter of their usual production, some growers didn't bother to pick at all. This goes for the Alentejo too. The rain just kept on coming - grapes didn't even get a chance to ripen properly, not to mention the disease.
Quinta da Alorna was luckier than most. "We've spent a lot of money controlling those diseases," says Alorna's Francisco Borba. He's a real fan of Fern‹o Pires (Alorna has 80 hectares), though he's aware that it has an image problem in the UK - rather unnecessarily, as it's more than a match for a whole range of fish dishes.
He's also very hopeful about Meuda - a rather obscure red variety that shows some interesting characteristics, notably the Marmitey, fruit-with-a-hint-of-ox-blood in the '97 (barrel sample) that would go a bundle with offal, and the '96, which whiffs overpoweringly of Pontefract cakes. Borba also blends Meuda with Cabernet Sauvignon - with some success. He should have a UK agent by January, he says.
Trincadeira, on the other hand, is the future for Casa Cadaval. It's another of the region's principal grapes and it's getting rave reviews as a single varietal. Oddbins, apparently, can't get enough of it, and Cadaval is busy planting more. It'll be up to 98 hectares by 2003, says owner Condessa Teresa de Schonborn Wiesentheid.
In 1993, she decided to focus on quality wines. A lot of vineyards were ripped out and yields were cut. The Condessa makes about 250,000 bottles a year - and she's particularly proud of her Pinot Noir. Casa Cadaval belongs to a small band in the Ribatejo making single varietals from international varieties. Both the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet Sauvignon (1996 current releases) are valiant expressions of both grapes and worth the detour, as they say.
On to the Alentejo, south-east of Lisbon. Youhave to make a huge detour to reach CADE (Companhia Agrºcola de Desenvolvimento), in thewine-growing district of Vidigueira. There areeight districts - Portalegre, Borba, Redondo, Reguengos, Evora, Moura and Granja/Amareleja make up the rest.
It's on an unusually hilly bit of the vast, baked plains of the Alentejo - the region covers a third of the entire country. We're 70km directly south of Evora and, on a good day, you can see Spain. There are 13,500 hectares of vineyard in the Alentejo - that's only 3.5% of Portugal's vineyards, producing equal amounts of red and white wines. Principal white grapes are Roupeiro, Rabo do Ovelha and Ant‹o Vaz and, for the reds, Periquita, Trincadeira and Aragonez.
About half the world's cork comes from here, and cork oaks, half-shaved like a marine's haircut, crowd the landscape. The heat is quite something. "It can hit 43ºC in the summer," says CADE's winery manager Mafalda Monteiro. She shows us the dams - all three of them - that irrigate the vines. Most growers have to make do without an irrigation system, the cost is far too prohibitive (one dam costs Esc60m (£4.8m)).
The winery belongs to an economist based in Lisbon, Dr Carmona e Costa, who bought the farm at the end of the 1980s. The first vines were planted 10 years ago, and more are going in - mostly Trincadeira and Cabernet Sauvignon. The top wine is Quatro Caminhos (both red and white), though the more basic Pousio (red and white) could be a good candidate for a restaurant house wine. Again, there's no UK agent yet, but Monteiro is hopeful for 1999. n
