Eric, being such a Mouchão fan I was wondering if you ever had any of the old Quinta do Carmo Garrafeira bottlings from the 1980s. Herdade do Mouchão and Quinta do Carmo were the two Reynolds estates where Alicante Bouschet was likely originally planted in the Alentejo (second half of the 19th century), and Júlio Bastos’ half a dozen solo vintages at Quinta do Carmo, with João Portugal Ramos in charge of the oenology, have iconic status - not only due to the quality of the wines, which was virtually unprecedented at the time, but because the Rothschilds criminally ripped out the majority of those old Alicante Bouschet vines after they bought half of Quinta do Carmo in 1992.
The brand was eventually sold to Bacalhôa and Júlio Bastos continued producing wine under the Dona Maria label, including very limited numbers of Alicante Bouschet sourced from the very few vines that survived the Rothschild terrorist attack (a wine he named Júlio B. Bastos, after his father). I still have two bottles of the 1986 Garrafeira and three bottles of the 1987. These have become progressively harder to find and I am increasingly reticent to open them.
Tomas, sadly I’ve only tasted the modern Quinta do Carmo wines. I did get a pair of the 2015 Julio Bastos Dona Maria when I visited last year. Reminded me of Mouchao, but with new oak instead of old Tonels. I want to try them together (once they release the 2015 Mouchao) after some bottle age.
Other favorites are:
Quinta do Crasto Maria Teresa
Quinta Vale Meao tinto
Wine and Soul Manoella
Niepoort Redoma Branco Reserva
Quinta da Falorca Garifeirra
Carlos Lucas Ribero Santo Vinha da Neve branco
Quinta do Sobral Vinha da Neta branco
Luis Pato Quinta do Ribeirinho.
Portugal is the opposite of Burgundy: if you’re really knowledgeable, and you know where to look, you might just find bad deals and poor QPR.
Tomas…thanks for the above statement. I am interesting in Burgundy wines.
I am confused about what is the meaning of the above statement. Are you implying that for Burgundy wines, if you are knowledgeable and know where to look, you may find good deal and good QPR.
For Portuguese wines…it is the opposite in that even if you are really knowledgeable and you know where to look, your might still just ( repeat just ) find bad deals and poor QPR.
Is my understanding of your statement correct ? If not, may I know what is right meaning ?
((((you might just - repeat : just - find bad deals and poor QPR))))
It’s as Ben said! Squires (persona non grata around here, I know) called the country a bargain hunter’s paradise. I’ve had some perfectly lovely wines for 5 or 6€, and you have to go below that price to regularly find plonk - even then with exceptions.
There is obviously no substitute for Burgundy, but there are Portuguese wines I’d recommend to Burgundy leaning palates. I’m thinking of Filipa Pato, of Niepoort’s Quinta de Baixo, and wines by Nuno do Ó (particularly the Druida whites) and Antonio Madeira.
There is no substitute for any wine imo. I cannot understand how the world has become so narrow, globalization seems to have lead to less and less diversity, and by doing so has caused so many great wines in Portugal, Spain & Italy to remain underappreciated despite such great history. The plus is that they are likely more affordable not only in relation to Burgundy, but due to Burgundy.
The challenge is that so much of the least expensive wines don’t leave those countries. I have had a tough time finding some of the quality sub $20 Portuguese here in NY. In fact the only I have right now is.
2019 Taboadella Vinhos Tinto Villae
It is fairly easy to get most of the bottles that are $50+, maybe even less.
Funnily enough I had the opposite impression: that Portugal’s expansion in foreign wine markets is mostly due to inexpensive wines (which makes sense, given no other obvious competitive factor in wines with a relatively obscure origin). Obviously this also applies to Spain and Italy to some degree - particularly Spain - but those countries work with larger quantities on average, and their hold on the market goes back longer.
Also, it would seem to me that a huge number of Portuguese wines, in all price ranges, don’t get exported (or very little) due to small quantities. A lot of FitaPreta’s labels only see a few thousand bottles each vintage. Caves Messias works in larger quantities, but their greatest wine, the red Garrafeira Clássico, is a decidedly limited edition. There are many more examples of this.
Villae is Taboadella’s entry level. Perfectly lovely weekday wines, with unmistakable Dão character in both colors. Any of the other Taboadellas will benefit from cellaring. There’s provavly no need to spend huge coin on the Grande Villae lineup when the red and white varietals are already both so good and so structured.
What I find interesting is that although Portugal produces much less wine than Spain and Italy, they produce nearly the same amount per capita. Is that because of so much Port which steals up the volume in exportation?
I don’t see the contradiction, to be honest. Given that Portugal is a much smaller country in both population and geographic extension, it will inevitably produce less wine even if the amount of wine produced per capita is comparable.
To be fair to forumites here, they are usually very clear to separate Mark Squires the wine critic from Mark Squires the ‘moderator’. The former generally praised, the latter consistently criticised.
I had 3.5 cases of the 2001 Redoma and still have a few left. It has gone through many phases, some better and some worse but always drank well above its price point. That wine always made me think, which I loved. It wasn’t just a nice $20 bistro wine. It was/is balanced, complex, and fascinating.
I also love all the Pato wines. Now that I can find them, I have been stocking up. And as Eric said, the 3B is great and the new house bubbles.
I didnt explain myself well. I meant more that since Italy exports so much, and since the per capita production rate is similar I would assume the amount of bottles that stay in Italy per capita would be very low compared to Portugal. But I am wondering if the amount of Port exported balances out the % of the overall production that is exported as a whole.
Thanks for the explanations - Ben and Tomas. Now my head is clear.
Before Covid-19, my wife and I always joint with friends ( a total of around 8 ) to visit Portugal ( and also Spain ).
Whenever we had sit-down lunch or diner we often automatically get 3 bottles of wine ( red or white ) and 3 bottles of water ( gas or no-gas ). They also informed us the wine is free ( one in a while, they up-graded the wines for us ) but they always charge us 3 euro per bottle of water.
Since I am the only wine drinker, we always have 2 bottle of wine left.
Portugal produced 6 626 562 hl of wine in 2020, Port being 752 493 hl of this amount. It exported 3 151 384 hl, for a grand total of 856 190 000€. Of this grand total, 611 902 hl were Port, for a value of 299 252 000€. Quick math would indicate that:
Portugal exported 47% of its total wine production in 2020 (more than I expected, although I know this figure has been steadily climbing for many years) and that Port represented almost 20% of exports.
81% of all Port was exported in 2020.
By comparison, Italy produced a whopping 47 200 000 hl in the same year, with Spain slightly behind at 37 500 000 hl. I don’t know what percentage they exported, though.
This. Their Tonel 10 is also terrific and less expensive. The other producer I quite like, who I haven’t seen mentioned and is also a Savio import, is Antonio Lopes Ribeiro. He is the winemaker for Casa de Mouraz as well as his own label. The Mouraz wines are really excellent and inexpensive.