Maybe recent releases? In 2021 Maria Pato told us this. I guess she could be incorrect.
It’s entirely possible that these Sogrape releases might’ve hit markets after 2021. However, I’ve understood that Luís Pato has always been the biggest - but not the only - proponent of Sercialinho. There are about 10-ish hectares of Sercialinho in Portugal (most of it in Bairrada) and I doubt Pato owns more than a few hectares of Sercialinho.
Sticking up for her old man. 
If it’s a very Nebbiolo like Sangiovese why not 
Agree with the weight of Sangiovese being closer to Schioppettino
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Fully agree with the first above 
As for the second - yes, I think it’s less about the vintage temperature (even if the taste profile will change). Yields is quite likely one big factor, and as you mentioned…
The variety doesn’t like much direct sun and in Cialla the diurnal temperature difference is quite extreme, especially towards end of the growing season.
@Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m
@Michae1_P0wers - good Pineau d’Aunis is great!
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Rinera is the entry version of the Cialla Schioppettino, a very good choice. Slightly less serious but even more drinkability yet high quality!
That’s also a good price for it.
This sounds like a dream, the family and I were supposed to go to Portugal this year but found out we were adding to our family. I will hit you up for some recommendations when I travel there.
Sure thing, but you shouldn’t forget to consult @Tomas_Costa - when it comes to these things, it’s always best to go to the source!
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Good stuff, Otto. If you have them. it would be cool to also see some photos of you and your crew enjoying yourselves on the trip.
Thanks!
Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not big on selfies! Nor did I take many pictures of our crew - and anyways couple of them asked not to get their faces published online, so I’m going to respect their wishes. 
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Report from Day 2 continues!
From Quinta das Bágeiras we continued our tour of Bairrada to Caves São João. As I told in my earlier post, I had emailed them how we might drop by for a quick visit if we had enough time - but since they were closing at 6 pm and it was 20 minutes to 6 when we left Quinta das Bágeiras, we weren’t even sure if we managed to get there before they closed.
Well, fortunately we did - it was 5:53 pm when we arrived, so we still had a wealth of minutes left to do some last-minute purchases!
Let me first give some preface to this visit: this producer popped up on my radar some ten years ago when I was still working at a wine shop. We had just acquired a case of 1980 Caves São João Frei João - of which I had never heard before - so I bought one bottle out of sheer academic curiosity. And it was wonderful! Thus my interest on this winery was kindled. Since then, I had one Caves São João wine here, another one there - but what struck me a bit odd at first was how these wines always seemed to be old. Like not just a handful of years old, but virtually always decades-old! I had to start to look into this producer more closely.
What I learned (partly then, partly now on our visit to the winery) was that the history of Caves São João (CSJ) started in 1920, when three Costa brothers - José, Manuel and Albano - started a family business for marketing Port wines and liqueurs. Back then this meant buying Port wine and bottling it under your own name - CSJ didn’t have any vineyards of their own, so the business was a 100% négociant operation.
However, this kind of business came to a somewhat abrupt end in the early 1930’s, when the regime of António Salazar started to regulate Port trade more closely, followed by the creation of Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto in 1933. CSJ began changing their focus into locally made wine and in 1934 started producing sparkling wines - which had been a local specialty in Bairrada since the late 1800’s - with the help of a French oenologist, Gaston Mainousson.
An important aspect in CSJ’s history is how the winery survived even after the creation of Salazar’s brainchild, Junta Nacional do Vinhos, which encouraged the consolidation of vine growers to form wine co-operatives; only very few large wineries were allowed to operate during this time - Caves São João was among these few. However, it wasn’t easy working under the Salazar regime - from the 1950’s onward only the co-operatives were allowed to purchase grapes; négociants could buy only finished wine, meaning that producers like CSJ were completely at the mercy of the local co-operatives’ quality.
I personally don’t know why, but it seems that for the main part of its history CSJ has bottled much more wine than it sells. I guess they sell enough to stay in operation without any problems, but this also means that they have accumulated a bewildering amount of old vintages in their expansive wine cellars! Only in 2013 CSJ finally opened their cellars of old wines to the public, starting to release selected old vintages in controlled quantities - probably explaining the large amount of old vintages of Caves São João wines one can still find quite readily on the market!
So, in short, learning how CSJ still had an almost endless stock of old vintages prompted me to include at least a short visit to this winery on our trip to Portugal. I’m really happy that in the end we made it there, despite our somewhat stretchy schedule!
So here we are, five minutes before the closing time.
We came in to the cellar door shop with plans to just buy a few wines and be on our way, since they were closing very soon, after all. However, upon our arrival we were warmly welcomed and told how they were worrying we wouldn’t turn up after all! After we had browsed the price lists for a minute or two, we were asked if we wanted to see the cellars after all. Sure thing!
While strolling around the endless cellars we we were told some additional information about the history of the winery I didn’t know before:
In the early 1970’s the family owning the winery purchased Quinta do Poço do Lobo, an old 37-hectare property located in Pocariça, Cantanhede - about 20 km / 12 miles southwest from the CSJ winery. After the large political, economical and social changes that followed the Carnation Revolution (1974), wine négociants’ mandatory reliance on wine co-operatives started to wane and soon afterwards CSJ could start making their own wine from the estate vineyards at Quinta do Poço do Lobo. In 1985 they planted some Cabernet Sauvignon at the estate, followed by some other international varieties later on.
Currently Caves São João owns about 40 hectares of vineyards, plus purchases fruit from another 30 hectares in Bairrada. The winery doesn’t own any vineyards in Dão, nor do they purchase any fruit from there - only finished wines from long-term contract growers.
Historically Caves São João has always been a curiosity in how they never concentrated only on the local wines of Bairrada, but also on the wines from the neighboring region of Dão. In the 1950’s they introduced Frei João, a Bairrada wine, soon followed by Porta dos Cavaleiros, a Dão wine. However, their signature red wine has always been a wine simply known as “São João” (or São João Reserva or Reserva Particular), which was a wine made by blending fruit from both Bairrada (for structure) and Dão (for freshness and elegance). This is a wine they still produce - and with Buçaco, they are one of only two producers making this kind of unique blend.
Interestingly, the first oak barrels arrived at the winery only in the early 2000’s! Before this, all the wines were vinified and aged only in large concrete tanks. Today the style is not as “old-school” as it used to be - in addition to using French oak barrels (some new, some old), most of the wines are still fermented spontaneously, but with some styles of wine (or if the fermentation is sluggish), selected yeasts are employed. While the wines before the 2000’s are bound to be as traditional as these wines come, some wines from the past 20 years can be a bit more modern in style.
The endless bottle cellars behind the CSJ cellar door shop look like this.
Today the annual production is around 800,000 bottles. Most of it is sold within the next couple of years following the harvest, but some is kept in the library stock.
Of the old bottles, the lesser vintages have been sold off and only the best selected vintages are kept in the library stock.
However, even if only some vintages are kept, the amount of old bottles is unbelievable. If I understood correctly, they haven’t done a thorough inventory in a while, so the exact number of bottles is a bit unclear, but it’s estimated to be somewhere between 1,5 and 1,8 million bottles. At the annual production of 800k bottles, that would mean there is around one million older bottles aging away in these cellars!
You can clearly see nobody has touched the older bottles for some time.
In the winery part of the building they had some oak barrels, too.
We also saw some older concrete tanks (left), old toneis (top) and stainless steel tanks (right).
The sizes of some of these older concrete tanks were simply mind-boggling.
After we had checked out the first building, we went to see another building located right across the road. Unlike in the previous building, these cellars were built underground.
In these underground cellars we didn’t see just more old bottles aging away, but also tons and tons of pupitres with sparkling wines aging sur pointe. At every moment Caves São Jõao has about 15,000 bottles of sparkling wines that need to be hand-riddled daily.
Sparkling wines represent more than half of the annual production at Caves São João; about one third is red wine and only approximately 15% is white and rosé.
At this point I thought they were happy to let us buy some wines and kick us out, but to our positive surprise, they had made time for us to taste some of their wines (and aguardentes!).
(However, at this point I also realized we’d never be in time for our dinner at 8 pm, so I messaged our hotel / restaurant, telling that we’d be late - they replied that it would be no problem as long if we’d order the food now and be there on time so that the dishes would arrive at the same time with us. I placed orders and selected three bottles of wine to go with them and continued happily with the tasting.)
- 2017 Caves São João Bairrada Luiz Costa - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
The 6th edition of this Método Clássico cuvée that is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Aged sur lattes for at least four years before disgorging. The wines is labeled Brut Nature, ie. the dosage is 0 g/l in the liqueur d'expedition, but there is a tiny bit of residual sugar in the base wine. 12,5% alcohol and 1-2 g/l residual sugar.
Pale lemon-yellow color. The nose feels ripe and somewhat tropical with rich aromas of yellow stone fruits, some juicy appley tones, a little bit of exotic fruits and light leesy notes of yeast. The wine feels ripe, broad and tropical on the palate with a medium body and juicy flavors of sweet Golden Delicious apple, some peachy tones, a little bit of bready autolysis, light nutty notes of almonds, a hint of pineapple and a leesy touch of yeast. The ample, voluminous mousse feels creamy smooth and the medium-plus acidity keeps the wine in balance, even if it is a bit on the soft side. The finish is round, gentle and fruity with a medium-long aftertaste of exotic fruits, sweet appley tones, a little bit of leesy notes of yeast, light nutty notes of almond and a hint of star fruit.
A tasty and balanced but maybe also a bit too round and tropical bubbly. I guess this wine is an emulation of classic Champagne, seeing how it is based on the classic Champenois varieties and aged on the lees for several years before disgorgement. However, the warmer climate of Portugal shows through in the fruit profile and somewhat softer acidity - even if the wine clocks in at the same ABV as a Champagne, the wine shows noticeably more ripeness and a slightly more exotic flavors than your typical Chardonnay-Pinot Noir Champagne. Fortunately the wine was Brut Nature - I'm not sure if the acidity would've been sufficient to carry any more weight or sweetness. All in all, this wine might not challenge a classic Champagne qualitatively, but works a pleasant, softer alternative for those moments when the occasion calls for a fruitier, less acid-driven style of bubbly. Priced somewhat according to its quality at 20,47€.
(89 points) - 2021 Caves São João Baga Bairrada Espumante Bruto Natural Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
A método clássico sparkling wine made with 100% Baga from the estate vineyards at Quinta do Poço do Lobo. Fermented in stainless steel tanks. Aged for a minimum of 18 months on the lees. 13% alcohol, non-dosé.
Youthful, pale whitish-green color. The nose feels youthful and somewhat primary with aromas of ripe pear, some floral notes of apple blossom, light honeyed tones and an oceanic hint of salty sea air. The wine feels youthful, fresh and surprisingly aromatic on the palate with flavors of pear and some floral tones, a little bit of steely minerality, light crunchy notes of Granny Smith apple, a hint of honeyed richness and a touch of aromatic herbs. The acidity feels very brisk and racy, whereas the mousse comes across as quite gentle, smooth and creamy. The medium-long finish is rich yet dry with a brisk aftertaste of ripe apple-driven fruit, some primary notes of pear drops, a little bit of aromatic herbs, light mineral notes of wet rocks and a hint of floral character.
A nice and lively little bubbly, but perhaps a bit simple and linear to my liking. The fruit profile is still dominated by fermentation aromas reminiscent of pear - even pear drops - and the floral character feels a bit too much as well. The sense of freshness and balance here is great, but otherwise the wine comes across as a bit too banal. However, at 10,50€ the wine is priced more or less according to its quality.
(85 points) - 1974 Caves São João Bairrada Frei João - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
A special re-release of this vintage to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the carnation revolution. A blend of Maria Gomes, Bical and Cerceal Branco. Fermented and aged in concrete tanks.
Rather deep and moderately evolved yellow-green color. The nose feels evolved and nutty with attractive aromas of caramel and chopped nuts, some honeyed tones, a little bit of mushroomy funk, light notes of bruised apple, a hint of toffee and a touch of dried yellow fruits. The wine feels broad, evolved and richly-textured on the palate with a medium body and quite intense flavors of bruised apple, some oxidative nutty tones, a little bit of browned butter, light sweeter notes of stone fruits, a hint of apple peel bitterness and a touch of creaminess. The high acidity lends great sense of freshness and structure to the wine. The finish is rich, lively and complex with an evolved aftertaste of tart green apples, some concentrated honeyed tones, a little bit of mushroomy funk, light dried-fruit nuances, a hint of browned butter and a touch of oxidative nuttiness.
A beautiful, complex and wonderfully evolved Bairrada white at its peak. The wine is definitely on the tertiary side of things, but still so full of life and energy that it's definitely not past its peak yet! Wonderful, engaging stuff. However, feels too pricey for its quality at 485€ - even if this is a rare anniversary bottle, that's some very ambitious pricing over there. Normally you can find similar old Portuguese whites at 1/10 of the price!
(94 points) - 2019 Caves São João Arinto Bairrada Reserva Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
100% Arinto from the estate vineyards at Quinta do Poço do Lobo. Fermented and aged in old French oak casks.
Medium-deep yellow-green color. The nose feels fragrant and quite complex with aromas of fragrant flowers, some nutty oak notes, a little bit of hay, light appley tones, a hint of sweet, creamy oak spice and a touch of ripe citrus fruit. The wine feels harmonious and nuanced on the palate with a medium body and flavors of ripe Golden Delicious apple and nutty oak, some waxy tones, a little bit of salty-savory umami character, light chalky mineral nuances, a hint of savory old wood and a touch of zesty citrus fruit. Lovely bright acidity. The finish is lively, crisp and slightly evolved with a long, not-that-fruity aftertaste of apple blossom and wild flowers, some woody notes of savory old oak, a little bit of hay, light chalky mineral tones, a hint of fresh red apple and a touch of crunchy white fruit.
A nuanced and sophisticated white that was a bit of a conundrum. The wine felt stylish in its somewhat low-key, not-that-fruity overall character, but it was hard to make out whether the style was because of somewhat rustic winemaking, or because this is how their Arinto behaves with wood. I really don't know, but I enjoyed the layered, slightly understated style of this wine - it wasn't big on character or emphasizing any certain elements, but there were lots of fine details here and there. Plus the combination of high acidity and somewhat chalky minerality kept the overall impression quite fresh and precise, even if the wine was not really about freshness, per se. Solid value at 17,32€.
(90 points) - 2022 Caves São João Bairrada Rosé Reserva Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
A blend of Baga (50%) and Pinot Noir (50%) from the estate vineyards at Quinta do Poço do Lobo. Fermented and aged in old oak pipas and stainless steel tanks. Blended and bottled in spring following the harvest. 12,5% alcohol.
Pale, almost colorless peachy color. The nose feels youthful, round and quite fruity with rather crowdpleaser aromas of pear, some honeyed tones, light spicy nuances and a hint of creaminess. The wine feels dry, crunchy and lively on the palate with a medium body and fresh, somewhat primary flavors of ripe pear, some honeyed tones, a little bit of stony minerality, light sharp notes of Granny Smith apple, a floral hint of apple blossom and a candied touch of peachy primary fruit. The high acidity lends great freshness and sense of structure to the wine. The finish is dry but also very youthful with a medium-long aftertaste of pear-driven primary fruit, some steely mineral tones, a little bit of honeyed richness, light sharp notes of tart Granny Smith apple, a hint of savory spice and a vague touch of creaminess.
An enjoyably brisk and refreshing rosé that suffers quite badly from its still surprisingly primary overall character that lends it a bit too much roundness and candied sweetness to the fruit department. With its modest alcohol and great level of acidity, this could be a very impressive rosé indeed, but it feels as if the winemaking doesn't fully match the style or the quality of fruit. Maybe the wine should see a bit more oak in lieu of stainless steel tanks - and maybe for a longer time? Or maybe the wine was fermented with selected yeasts that promote the production of those fruity fermentation esters? Or maybe the wine was just fermented in too cool temperatures? I don't know. I feel I'd want to love this wine more, but at the moment it doesn't do much for me. It's a nice and wonderfully fresh rosé, but I feel it could be even better. Hopefully aging the wine for a few years might help. Perhaps a bit pricey for the quality at 17,32€.
(86 points) - 2019 Caves São João Colheita - Portugal (22.4.2024)
The "traditional" blend of São João: Baga and Touriga Nacional sourced from vineyards in Bairrada (50%); Alfrocheiro, Jaen and Touriga Nacional from vineyards in Dão (50%). Aged for 8-9 months in French oak barrels. 13% alcohol.
Dark, youthful and rather opaque blackish-red color with a faint purplish hue. The nose feels open, youthful and characterful with aromas of fresh dark forest fruits, some inky tones, a little bit of ripe bilberry, light meaty nuances, a hint of kirsch and a touch of oak spice. The wine is dry, youthful and savory on the palate with a moderately full body and intense flavors of ripe blackcurrants and fresh dark berries, some inky tones, a little bit of fresh, tart red plum, light gravelly mineral notes, a hint of sour cherry bitterness and a woody touch of oak. The overall feel is pretty stern and structure-driven, thanks to the high acidity and ample, grippy tannins. The finish is fresh, savory and tannic with a long, dry aftertaste of dark forest berries, some crunchy crowberries, a little bit of floral lift, light gravelly mineral tones, a hint of crunchy red plum and a touch of woody oak spice.
A fresh, vibrant and quite stern Portuguese red that feels a bit more modern than the traditional São João reds, but is still much more "traditional" and classically styled than most other São João reds of today. The emphasis is both on the vibrant and dark-toned yet surprisingly fresh and crunchy fruit flavors and on the quite firm and tightly-wound structure that could easily use another 5-10 years of aging. At the moment the wine is still pretty tightly-knit, so I heartily recommend giving the wine at least a few years of additional age. However, based on the balance between the firm structure and quite intense fruit, I have no doubts this wine will continue to age as gracefully as the old, traditional São João wines. Excellent stuff with lots of upside - expect the score to go up as the wine ages. Outstanding value at 12,60€.
(92 points) - 2019 Caves São João Bairrada Reserva Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
A blend of Baga (40%), Touriga Nacional (35%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (25%) from the estate vineyards at Quinta do Poço do Lobo. Fermented and aged for 15 months in French oak casks. 13,5% alcohol.
Deep, youthful and rather opaque black cherry color with a faint inky-purple hue. The nose feels feels fragrant, somewhat sweet-toned and a bit polished with layered aromas of ripe dark berries, some floral notes of violets, a little bit of elderberry juice, light inky tones, a hint of dark plummy fruit and a toasty touch of dark-toned oak spice. The wine feels dry, crunchy and quite ripe, but also surprisingly light on its feet despite its ripeness and rather full body. There are intense flavors of crunchy crowberries and sour cherries, some savory spicy tones, a little bit of elderberry juice, light astringent notes of chokeberries, a toasty hint of chocolatey mocha oak and a touch of inky character. The wine is pretty muscular and tightly-knit with its high acidity and ample yet ripe, quite grippy tannins. The finish is ripe, rich and rather grippy with a long, intense aftertaste of dark fruits, some dark-toned notes of toasty oak spice, a little bit of elderberry juice, light floral notes of elderflowers and violets, hints of crunchy crowberry and fresh blackcurrant and a touch of inky character.
A vibrant, intense and pretty firmly-structured Bairradino red that feels a tad modern and polished with its understated yet perceptible toasty oak tones and faint Cab aromatics. However, true to the regional style, the wine is impressively structured with its combination of high acidity and ample yet not too tough or aggressive tannins. I admit that I enjoyed the somewhat less polished and slightly more austere 2019 São João Colheita "classic blend" more, whereas this feels a bit more approachable and "understandable" to a more international palate. However, this is not really a lesser wine in any way - and most likely this wine will lose those slightly more modern leanings with enough age. Seeing how intense, balanced and structured this wine is, I wouldn't worry about leaving the wine to age for another decade or two - it feels like it is built to age. Great value at 17,32€.
(91 points)
During my visits to different wineries, I’ve been to some tastings in wine cellars that have been mouldy - and in these cases it has been quite difficult to taste the wines in these cellars, because there has been a rather dominant old cellar smell that easily overwhelms more delicate wine aromas. However, I want to point out that even though the cellar walls and ceilings were covered with spider webs, dust and thick, almost velvety mold, the air there was remarkably fresh, completely without any stuffy aromas!
The ceiling really did look like this.
After the tasting we still had a few short moments to make some purchases. We maybe went a little bit overboard again once we heard that they, too, could ship the wines to us in Finland at reasonable prices, so we didn’t need to carry those wines with us for the remainder of the trip.
After making our purchases, we thanked heartily Sandra, who had been showing us the cellars and pouring us their terrific wines - and were on our way to our dinner at our hotel, located about a 10-minute drive away!
Arriving at the hotel…
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@Otto_Forsberg I’m thrilled to hear about your experiences with the wines that have long informed my taste and my love for this hobby. Most of us on the board are (fortunately!) acquainted with Caves São João, but I really felt that Bágeiras would be something right up your alley, and I’m glad my tip paid off. These wines deserve to be widely appreciated, but at the same time I’m glad I can continue to afford them.
In a somewhat related topic, I forgot to add to the discussion on pricing brought up by @Adam_Frisch. In a nutshell, I’m aware that inexpensive wines - let’s say 5€ and under - are what allows Portuguese producers to make a living and earn a profit. They’re the cause of their wealth, not their ruin. Small, artisanal producers are not prone to sell wines at these prices, since they lack economy of scale.
The Southern European culture of wine as an inexpensive staple and compliment to the table is a hill I will die on: it “trickles up” and provides the roots for the incredibly dynamic and creative environment we find in Portuguese wine. The vast majority of wine lovers I know over here started out with our cheap, yet honest, everyday table wines (as someone who started out with a glass of champagne in Paris when I was 16, I am a notorious exception, but the person who bought it for me - my dad - began his path with the inexpensive co-op wines that dominated the domestic market 40 years ago).
Last but not least, as someone who earns above average for Portuguese standards but has very limited funds by US standards, I’m glad I’m able to purchase and consume wine of such variety and quality without going bankrupt. If people like me couldn’t do this there wouldn’t be any relevant wine business left, as others have alluded to.
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Time for the final update on our travel day number two!
After our visits at Quinta das Bágeiras and Caves São João, we finally arrived at our hotel, Curia Palace. It is part of the hotel group Alexandre de Almeida Hotéis, which some of you might recognize for the more widely-known hotel of Buçaco Palace.
Originally we were planning on staying at the Buçaco Palace hotel, which is located in the Buçaco mountains between the wine regions of Bairrada and Dão - basically because of me and The Driver loved the Buçaco wines and were interested to see the place where the wines came from! Some time before our trip I had asked Tomás to contact the hotel winery if they were available for a visit and a winery tour, but to my understanding, Tomás never received an answer from them, so we just let the matter go.
However, shortly before our trip, one of our friends informed us that the Almeida hotel group owns another palace hotel much closer to the wineries - one that also serves Buçaco wines in their restaurant - so having not heard anything from the Buçaco winery, we decided to change our plans. As this other palace hotel was located so much more conveniently - only a stone’s throw away from the wineries we visited - we cancelled our stay at the Buçaco palace and booked rooms at the Curia palace hotel instead!
As I explained in my previous update, we had already pre-ordered our dishes and wines for our dinner at the Curia palace restaurant, so when we checked in at the hotel reception (relatively late), we were kindly asked to get ready for the dinner as quickly as possible. As we had dined some eight-nine hours before at Mugasa, they didn’t need to ask us twice! As we were already getting pretty hungry, we just threw our luggage into our rooms and made our way directly into the hotel’s Belle Époque restaurant.
I’m not a big fan of rosé wines, but one of the few rosé wines I really love is the exceptional Rosado Reservado by Buçaco Vinhos. Unfortunately - due to the tiny production - there were no vintages of Rosado Reservado available now. However, what I had ordered in advance for us were a bottle of Buçaco’s brand new Rosado bottling - just to have something to drink before the entrées - and bottles of Branco Reservado and Tinto Reservado for the entrées and the main courses, respectively.
When we arrived at the restaurant, there was only one couple dining in this huge dining hall, and by the time I took this photo, us four were the only ones left!
It didn’t take more than a few minutes after we sat down when we were served some tasty mussels as appetizers!
At this point we requested the white and red wines to be opened and have the Tinto Reservado decanted off the deposit. However, the cork of the first Tinto bottle turned out to be dried-up, crumbly and stuck in the neck, so the waiter apologized and procured another bottle. Unfortunately, the cork in this bottle turned out to be as dry and brittle as with the first one. When the waiter informed us that they had no more of the requested vintage at hand, I offered to open the bottle in her stead, if she could fetch us a sieve for the cork particles - the poor waiter didn’t seem to be particularly familiar with troublesome corks, unlike us, so I ended up digging the remaining chunks of cork from the neck of the bottle with moderate success. Fortunately this tiny ordeal wasn’t a problem with anyone, so after one completely disintegrated cork and a careful decant through a sieve, we finally managed to get ourselves a nice open bottle of 2011 Tinto Reservado.
Poached egg and jamón Serrano on a mushroom fricassée - at first the Serrano ham was a bit dry and chewy, but everything was just spot-on after I soaked up the ham pieces in the mushroom stew! (You can also see the remains of the cork of our Tinto Reservado on the right.)
Bairrada-style goat stewed in Buçaco red wine, served with boiled potatoes, turnip sprouts and garlic. Pretty rustic, absolutely delicious!
And the wines:
- 2021 Alexandre d'Almeida Buçaco Rosado - Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada (22.4.2024)
Unlike the multi-regional Rosado Reservado, this new label is 100% Baga only from Bairrada. 11,5% alcohol. Annual production 1500 bottles.
Quite intense, medium-deep salmon-pink color. The nose feels youthful, fresh and precise with aromas of crunchy apples, some leesy tones, a little bit of melon and a hint of zesty citrus fruit. The wine feels dry, racy and slightly linear on the palate with a medium body and bright flavors of fresh red apples, some saline mineral tones, a little bit of crunchy red currant, light citrus fruit nuances and a hint of incisive steely character. The wine feels brisk and structured with its high acidity. The finish is dry, firm and quite acid-driven with a moderately long, palate-cleansing aftertaste of fresh raspberries and crunchy redcurrants, some saline mineral tones, a little bit of ripe lemony citrus fruit, light crunchy notes of apple and a hint of steely minerality.
A tasty and refreshing little rosé with good sense of freshness and intensity. However, the overall feel is a bit linear and anonymous - while wonderfully fresh, the wine lacks the magic of the Rosado Reservado. Unlike its fantastic bigger brother, which has a rather idiosyncratic character of its own, this wine feels more like a, say, Bandol rosé with an extra dose of refreshing acidity. A good rosé in its own right, but nothing out of ordinary. Good value at 21€ for a bottle in the Curia Palace Hotel restaurant.
(90 points) - 2016 Alexandre d'Almeida Buçaco Branco Reservado - Portugal (22.4.2024)
A blend of Maria Gomes (1/3) and Bical (1/3) from estate vineyards in Bairrada and purchased Encruzado (1/3) from Dão. Fermented and aged for 12 months in new 300-liter French oak barrels. 13,5% alcohol. Annual production up to 10,000 bottles, but not made every vintage.
Golden, pale-to-medium-deep straw color. The complex nose feels sweet-toned and slightly evolved with rich, quite buttery aromas of lemon marmalade, some bruised apple, light perfumed floral tones, a little bit of browned butter and sweet toasty oak tones, exotic hints of fresh mango and ripe pineapple and a touch of cantaloupe. The wine feels broad, rich and complex on the palate with a full body and juicy flavors of ripe yellow stone fruits, some creamy oak tones, a little bit of browned butter, light exotic fruit notes of mango and cantaloupe, a hint of saline minerality and a touch of toasty oak spice. The mouthfeel is rich with a slightly viscous texture, yet the high acidity lends the wine great sense of balance, structure and freshness. The finish is long, rich and complex with an intense, slightly sweet-toned aftertaste of buttery and slightly nutty oak, some bruised apple tones, a little bit of ripe nectarine, light steely mineral nuances, exotic fruit hints of mango, cantaloupe and honeydew melon and a touch of tangy salinity.
A rich, complex and quite hedonistic white that feels surprisingly similar to a Viña Tondonia Blanco, only with quite a bit more noticeable oak impact. I was quite surprised how pronounced the new oak characteristics still were, even at the age of almost 8 years. However, it feels like age had helped the wine to develop some tertiary complexity and integrate those oaky tones better with the fruit, so the wine is obviously evolving in the right direction. Despite the evolved tones it feels as though this wine is still on an upward trajectory and will continue to develop and improve for many years more. I'd let the wine age for another handful of years, just to let the oaky tones integrate even more. Good value at 65€ for a bottle in the Curia Palace Hotel restaurant.
(94 points) - 2011 Alexandre d'Almeida Buçaco Reservado - Portugal (22.4.2024)
A blend of Baga from the estate vineyards in Bairrada (60-65%) and purchased Touriga Nacional from Dão (35-40%). Fermented and aged for 12-14 months in 300-liter French oak barrels (50% new, 50% once used). 13,5% alcohol. Annual production up to 10,000 bottles, but not made in every vintage. The cork in our bottle was very dry and crumbly, disintegrating completely upon opening.
Dark, quite opaque and somewhat evolved blackish-red color. The nose is fragrant and somewhat evolved with attractive, complex aromas of lifted minty and piney (but not vegetal) greenness and sweet dried-fruit notes of prunes, some ferrous notes of raw meat, a little bit of dried fig, light leathery nuances, a hint of cigar box, a touch of dried black cherries and a whiff of kirsch. The wine feels rich, savory and textural on the palate with a medium body and layered flavors of wizened black cherries and meaty umami, some salty beef jerky tones, a little bit of dark pruney fruit and dried figs, light balsamic nuances of VA, a hint of tobacco and a touch of crunchy chokeberry. The overall feel is pretty sinewy and structured with the high acidity and quite ample yet not tough or aggressive tannins. The finish is long, complex and moderately grippy with a savory aftertaste of wizened black cherries and pruney dark fruit, some balsamic tones, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, light leathery nuances, a hint of tobacco and a touch of minty greenness.
An excellent but also surprisingly evolved vintage of Buçaco Reservado - I wonder if the wine has been kept in an environment that's too dry, perhaps standing upright? At least the dry, crumbly cork suggested so. Despite its somewhat prematurely evolved dried-fruit flavors, the wine was still full of energy, flavors and structure and it paired effortlessly with the dishes it was served with. Good stuff, but based on this bottle alone, I wouldn't expect the wine to evolve much. However, I'm pretty sure a wine with a good cork will come across as much younger with more potential for additional development. A fine wine and worth its price at 110€ for a bottle in the Curia Palace Hotel restaurant.
(93 points)
At this point - after we had finished our main courses - happened something I really did not expect. The lady from the reception arrived at our table, and naturally I expected her to request that if it would be possible, we could pay for the dinner right now, as it was already getting pretty late.
However, she asked if we were still interested to see the Buçaco winery after the dinner, as we obviously seemed to be keenly interested in the wines, and António Rocha - the Buçaco winemaker (and former director of the hotel) - happened to be available! We answered with a slightly confused yet thrilled “yes” and she told us that he’d be waiting for us at the reception whenever we were finished!
Well, we were pretty much finished with the dinner at that point anyways, so we paid our bill and headed for the reception where mr. Rocha was waiting for us!
The Belle Époque restaurant was pretty empty after we had finished!
Only at that point we learned that Buçaco wines weren’t actually made in the Buçaco palace anymore! Some thirteen years ago, the actual hotel winery had moved to the Curia palace and only a part of the wine cellar remained at the Buçaco palace. We had inadvertently moved our lodging from the namesake place to the actual winery!
To those who know nothing about Buçaco Vinhos, a small recap might be in place now.
In 1917 the Buçaco palace was turned into a hotel and the owner of the hotel, Alexandre de Almeida, wanted to offer local food and beverages to the customers, so in 1920 he began producing wine at the hotel. Already from the beginning, the wine have always been a blend of Bairrada and Dão wines - which is only natural, when one takes into account how the palace straddles the border between these two wine regions.
Since the introduction of the red Tinto Reservado, the range has expanded with a white (Branco Reservado) and, more recently, with a rosé (Rosado Reservado). In exceptional vintages they’ve also produced a very limited special release of the red Reservado, Vinha da Mata, made only in exceptional vintages and exclusively with Baga (70%) and Touriga Nacional (30%) sourced from a small Vinha da Mata vineyard in Bairrada, near the Curia palace hotel.
For the most part of their history, these wines have been relatively unknown - basically the only people who have known about these wines were the people who stayed in Alexandre de Almeida hotels. However, recently these wines have started to gain recognition - and as a result, a few more labels have been introduced.
As the Buçaco Reservado wines aren’t particularly affordable (at least by Portuguese standards), they’ve introduced an “entry-level” range of wines made entirely with Bairrada fruit. As for the other end of the spectrum, they’ve also introduced the super-premium range of wines under the label Místico, which are specially selected lots that age for a lot longer (20-22 months) compared to the standard Reservados (12-14 months). The Místico Tinto is a bit more Baga-driven than the regular Tinto Reservado.
The Buçaco wines were made at the Buçaco palace until the early 2010’s, after which the production was moved to the Curia palace, which is located closer to the Bairrada vineyards. António Rocha has been making the wines for approximately two decades now.
After short introductions in the hotel lobby, mr. Rocha took us to the Curia winery. One might think we would end up in fancy, early 1900’s-style cavernous underground cellars of the palace - but no; we walked outside and around the palace, into the small garage-warehouse buildings located behind the palace.
Newer vintages of Buçaco in the stacks on the right, older vintages of Buçaco aging on the wooden shelves to the left.
Here mr. Rocha told us how the Buçaco wines are made and how they still have dozens and dozens of different old Buçaco vintages aging away!
Although only a selection of the past 15 or so vintages were available at the winery restaurant, they actually still have tons of vintages going back for several decades!
Mr. Rocha digging up a bottle of Tinto Reservado 1958 - unfortunately we didn’t get to taste any of these older bottles, only ogle them!
These were the only bottles of Rosado we could find (bottom left)!
The rare Buçaco Místico.
After mr. Rocha had showed us around the warehouse - um, cellar - we moved to a completely different part of the palace backyard, to one of the palace’s garages - which, naturally, held the very compact hotel winery!
Here mr. Rocha explained his winemaking more in detail and also let us taste through all kinds of samples of wines, including different white and red wines aging in barrels and stainless steel tanks. We also couldn’t help but notice the meticulous care mr. Rocha took with the wines and the equipment - everything was cleaned immediately after use and whenever we took a barrel sample, the barrel was topped off immediately afterwards with some wine from the stainless steel tanks.
One white wine we tasted was exceptionally electric and racy, prompting mr. Rocha to ask us what we think of it. It turned out to be the base wine for the future Buçaco Bairrada Espumante!
Mr. Rocha pouring us a sample of the base wine for the Buçaco sparkling wine.
At the moment there was already a batch of sparkling wine aging in bottles with the lees, whereas this newer vintage we tasted was still sitting in stainless steel tanks, waiting to be bottled. When we asked if the sparkling wine was going to be good, mr. Rocha answered in the lines of “Hah! Of course it’s good! There are probably less than ten decent producers of sparkling wine in Portugal, and probably only one is as good as I am!” Them’s are pretty big fightin’ words from a person yet to release a single sparkling wine under this label!
However, mr. Rocha’s confidence is not unfounded - these are some darn fine wines!
So, in the end, we had a quick but immensely interesting and rewarding visit we never expected to have! Some things we learned during our visit with mr. Rocha:
- At the moment, Buçaco has approximately 4 hectares of estate vineyards in Bairrada, whereas the Dão portion is purchased, not made from estate fruit.
- The annual production is about 20,000 bottles. The wines are made today at the Curia palace hotel, but both the Curia and Buçaco palace hotels still have cellars full of older vintages.
- The red and white Reservados make up the core of the production; up to 10,000 bottles annually - although not made in every vintage. The annual production of the Rosado Reservado is only 2,000 bottles.
- Today they also have an entry-level range of wines made exclusively from Bairrada fruit. The annual production for these is 6,000 bottles red; 5,000 bottles white; and only 1,500 bottles rosé.
- They’ve made sparkling wines starting with the 2019 vintage and it is aged for a minimum of two years on the lees before disgorgement. The debut vintage is not yet released, but it should become available later in 2024.
- The wines are made specifically to be enjoyed by the hotel customers, which means that the older vintages are available only at the hotel restaurant. The hotel also sells Buçaco wines, but only the most recent vintages are available.
- Of the annual production, about half is sold in the Almeida hotels (through restaurants and take-away purchases) and about 1000 bottles are sold to an agent in Brazil. Dirk Niepoort is the only local agent Buçaco Vinhos works with and Niepoort usually buys about 30 to 40% of the annual production. Only a tiny amount of annual production is stashed away as a library selection in the cellars of the palace hotels.
When we were about to leave, mr. Rocha told us that if we wanted to buy these older vintages, they were only available at the restaurant. We weren’t sure if that included take-away purchases as well, or just drinking the wines at the restaurant, but we were sure to find more about this the first thing in the morning! We gave final big thanks for mr. Rocha for taking us out on a late-night winery tour and returned to our rooms for our well-deserved rest. What a day - and this was only our first complete day in Portugal!
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I was told that one of the generations, during the Salazar period, was loath to sell their wines since their biggest markets were colonies and former colonies in Brazil, Mozambique, and Angola. They basically kept buying and making wine, but did little to sell it. Kinda hoarders in that respect.
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I wonder if that wine hoarding is a common trait with certain Portuguese wine producers! Can’t help but think of the huge stock of old Madeiras at d’Oliveiras.
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Great report! Looking forward to hear how the next morning went…
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I am hanging on every word of this remarkable trip report and can’t wait for the next edition!
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Most of that huge stock came from their purchases of other companies.
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Yup. However, for the longest time they didn’t want to export any of those wines! No matter if the wines came from their own barrels or from company purchases, my point was that they steadfastly held on to those wines! 
If you wanted to buy old Madeira, you really had to travel to Madeira to buy those bottles - I wouldn’t be surprised if you also needed a letter of recommendation just to buy one bottle. Their way of running things back then sounded more like wine hoarding rather than wine selling! 
Well, they are unusual in that they only release wine when they think it’s ready. I haven’t figured out exactly what that means. They only first released the 1910 Malvasia Candida just last year. 
By the way, it’s superb stuff and on par with anything else from the 20th century.