14 Portuguese wines, not Port?

We’ll be travelling there this summer, and I have looked at some of the threads in the other forums, as well as consulted some books, though the few I could find were pretty old. In any case, I’m wondering what the great non-port wines of Portugal are considered to be? What , if any, are up there with Unica or Lopez de Heredia, or excellent, and of course age-worthy Bordeaux or Burgundy or Barolo (both red or white–I’ve had some alvarinhos with age that I’ve liked). I’ve encountered names like Casa Ferreirinha Riserva Speciale or Barca Velha, but when I read the notes I can find on CT, it’s not clear what I’m getting into, so that knowledge from experienced tasters would really help.


Thanks in advance!

Barca Velha

Colares!

Some threads here about these wonderful, idiosyncratic wines. And they age so effortlessly. I’ve had a few from the 1960s over the last couple of years.

Wine and soul - Pintas

Not that they are necessarily world beaters, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of the various Port houses dry red Riservas–eg Quinta de Crasto, etc. Seems hard to find many of these in the US.

Most of the Port houses make still wines these days. If you can, look for some reports by Squires - whatever you think of him, he’s been tasting them for years now and is respected by many ITB.

Yep. These are about as close to immortal as you can get, besides Madeira. Been thinking about opening a '69, but worried it’s still a baby…

Michael

I popped a ‘69 recently with Berserkers Fu, Carnes and MarcF. I don’t think Fu cared about it, but it’s pretty intriguing wine.

Definitely Caves São João. I’ve had their basic Reserva 2000 vintage, 1982 Bairrada Frei João Reserva and 1985 Dão Porta dos Cavaleiros Reserva and they were all amazing! And they aren’t even expensive.

I think you are assuming red wines, but some whites are age-worthy as well like Caves Sao Joao ‘Poco do Lobo’ , but it might be too cheap for you if you are planning on paying Barca Velha prices.

Joshua, we’re heading there in the fall, I’d be curious if you had any interesting travel plans, places to stay etc. I’m just starting to research.

John

Niepoort’s dry reds, especially the Batuta cuvee, come to mind right away. Stern stuff for sure, worth it if you let them age. I’ve never had enough patience :slight_smile: The Redoma is a little more accessible but usually 7 years at least is always a good call with those.

The two best are probably:

Alexandre d’Almeida Buçaco Reservado (old vintages if you can find them - both red and white are superb with extended age).
Ferreirinha (Barca Velha of course, but also the Reserva Especial).

There’s also a bunch of very good, relatively unknown producers - if you can find anything old, just buy it, try it, and buy some more. Apart from the above, they won’t cost you much!

A friend opened the 1985 Frei Joao Bairrada Tinto Saturday, it was interesting and had plenty of life.
Barca Velha can be great, but hard to source and has gotten expensive.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks,
Please keep them coming, new posters, or same, if others come to mind. For some reason, I always thought Colares was a sweet wine; glad to learn I’m wrong before making it over there. Barca Velha definitely has gotten expensive from what I can tell. I will look out for Caves São João, Ferreirinha, and Alexandre d’Almeida, among others.

Joshua, we’re heading there in the fall, I’d be curious if you had any interesting travel plans, places to stay etc. I’m just starting to research.

John

John, I will PM you or post something in Travel by and by. We know some people with a place in Lisbon, so definitely have some places there. There are also a number of good old threads by Roy (Hersh) and others relating to places outside of Lisbon, where he apparently gives tours.

The 2001 is still in good shape. The bottle I had a few months ago didn’t show any signs of going over the hill any time soon. I’d guess it has at least 2 more years and probably 5.

In the Lisboa region, Quinta de Chocapalha. Sandra Tavares of Wine and Soul parents’ estate. She makes the wine, her sister sells them. Their Arinto is an age worthy white. My favorite reds are the Vinha Mae (has a bit of Syrah) and the CH (100% Touriga Nacional).
In the Alentejo, Herdade do Mouchao. Perhaps my favorite. Their flagship wine is mainly Alicante Bouche with a bit of Trincadera. Needs lots of age. Foot tread in lagars, then aged in 5000 liter ovals. Quinta do Mouro makes great red and whites, a classic producer. Cartuxa is a large producer, part of a nonprofit who’s profits go to the local community. Their flagship wine is Perimanca both red and white and are up there with Barca Velha in reputation. The white is a bargain. Their Reserva red is almost as good as the Perimanca at a third the price. Susana Estaban in the north of Alentejo makes great wines. She does an annual project with another famous Portuguese winemaker on a rotating basis called “Sidecar.”
In the Dao, Alvaro Castro is one of the greatest winemakers in Portugal. He has the Quinta da Pellada. Great wines. The Carosel is their flagship 100% Touriga Nacional. Quinta de Saes is his other estate. Both estates are great at all price points. Carlos Lucas makes a fantastic Encruzado. Encruzado is my favorite white grape after Riesling. Very much like a white Burgundy and ages just as well.
In Bairrada, Luis Pato is great. His single vineyard Baga wines are stupendous. His daughter Filipa Pato has her own winery. She does a bit more experimenting than her father with amphora and such. Don’t miss out on their sparkling wines.
In Vinho Verde, my favorites are Quinta do Ameal, especially their Louveiro and the Soalheiro estate. These wines can age.
In the Douro, there are the usual suspects. Niepoort, Wine and Soul, Casa Ferreirinha, Quinta Vale Meao, Quinta do Vallado, Quinta do Crasto, Viera de Souza, Quinta da Levandeira.
If you see Vertice sparkling wine, it’s always worthwhile.

I concur with the point with Colares. I’ve had a red Colares or several from every past decade until the 1930’s and none of the wines had started going downhill (except for 1984 that was flat and dead).

Based on my experiences, the red Colares wines develop for some 30-40 years and then they stop evolving. Every wine seemed more aged than the previous one when we went down from 2010’s to 2000’s, to 1990’s, to 1980’s… but from 1970’s onwards back to the 1930’s wines the wines felt quite similar to each other. If you had them blind in a random order, it would’ve been impossible to say which one was the oldest and which one the youngest. So if any of you people have Colares 1969 or some other vintages, those wines can be kept easily for another 50 years - but most likely they won’t be much different from what they are now.

Some other names to look for are red and white Bucaco (probably the closest thing to R. Lopez de Heredia if an older vintage), the aforementioned Caves Sao João and Luis Pato wines and many other Bairrada reds, Borba wines from Alentejo, many Dão reds (like Alvaro Castro mentioned above) and Niepoort’s Redomas (I’ve had all the older Redomas back to the first commercially released vintage and they are either drinking now beautifully or still feel relatively young).

What he said.

I would add the wines of Luis Seabra to the mix as well. His top Douro white is phenomenal.

The baga grape has the tannin and acid to age well. Luis Pato and his daughter, Filipo Pato, both make very good baga wines. I’ve had the father’s wines at 15-20 years and they showed very well in good vintages.