Alentejo. Hear the silence. Dream in colours

This article on Alentejo illustrates the abundant offer that the region has in terms of wine and the tourism that derives from it. Whilst going into the region's wine history it also shows the region's potential. A good description of one of Portugal's most relevant wine regions, it goes on to describe the reality of the region's culture and people, including the typical Dolium wines there produced, resorting to an ancient technique inherited from the Roman occupation.

The serenity of a landscape that unfolds itself into beaches and golden plains, in ridges and lakes of colossal size, which translates into an astonishing wildlife and an all-year round attractive climate, is the framework of ancestral and deeply rooted cultures that were never forgotten and that live together in a casual way with the day-to-day of the 21^st Century. In Alentejo, enotourism is increasingly becoming a side invitation, as the projects of Torre de Palma (Monforte) and São Lourenço do Barrocal (Reguengos de Monsaraz) attest for.

A land of multiple shades, with unparalleled starlit nights (that dwarf Van Gogh’s representations) and days that illustrate poems from Florbela Espanca – “Noon: the hoisted sun comes down ablaze / shedding gold on everything (…)”, Alentejo is one of the most promising enotourism regions on a global scale. Creativity and entrepreneurship thrive, with increasingly perceivable results. In 2014, the American newspaper “USA Today” nominated Alentejo as the best wine region in the world to visit. And with each year, new projects emerge with a concern for sustainability, land preservation and a strong awareness for social significance within the community.

Throughout the historical course of wines in Alentejo we bore witness to a rebirth at the end of the 20^th Century. Portugal’s admission into the European Union impacted this region profoundly and at the end of the decade of 1980, we start witnessing a change. Up until then the adegas cooperativas were abundant, community cellars that intelligently and dynamically figured how to take an advantage from the first European community funds for modernisation. As opposed to the scenario of the adegas cooperativas on other regions during the same time, Alentejo takes a huge in its quality standards. Not only are the infrastructures improved, but also, in terms of human resources, experts with training started becoming indispensable. Due to all of this, the quality of the wines increases and the labels of Alentejo start achieving recognition.

Driven by these winds of change, new individual producers emerge, with cellars of their own. And it is here that our story begins. Those pioneers from the end of the 20^th century start from scratch. Whether in terms of means (they built cellars and structures to support allocation) or in terms of land. And so begins the acquisition of land for viticulture, land which had never been met with grapevine before or that for large decades were given no such purpose.

The truth is that all this re-emergence of the wine, revealing a fresh and modern attitude, paired with the natural and cultural conditions Alentejo has to offer for tourism, contribute to an unparalleled development of offer in Portugal. This region has seen in the past two decades, the number of producers grow exponentially, a growth paired with the amount of wine cellars that can be visited and with the emergence of hotel venues, many of which located within the same homesteads that produce wine.

The investments from the new producers characterize themselves for being well thought out and nicely executed for the most of it, making use of the most recent techniques and using the most modern equipment, making Alentejo the place where we can find the most sophisticated cellars in. There are even those who dub the region “New World”.

The truth is that all this transformation has always been portrayed by an open spirit (distinctively characteristic, in fact, of the people of Alentejo) and only that manner of being enables the traditional structures to be preserved side-by-side with the most advanced cellars, with the same way of making wine ever since the foundations. And that makes it a huge appeal for tourists. The cultural and historical values associated with this reality are precious, and the stay there can reveal itself as a journey throughout the history of the wine. Alentejo is the region where, even in the roughest days of the grapevines’ complete destruction (during the re-establishment of independence in the 17^th century, the Napoleonic wars, with the fostering of the Douro by Marquês de Pombal or during the Portuguese dictatorship of the 20^th century), the wine kept being made for local consumption, never having lost the ties to its mediterranean heritage.

Alentejo is also the region where the Roman knowledge was never lost. Highly advanced technology-wise, the Romans developed the fermentation in clay amphorae, having spread that technique to all the territories within the Empire. However, only in Alentejo was that custom preserved uninterruptedly for over two thousand years, constituting the dolium wine as a live witness to the Romanisation of the Iberian Peninsula (and particularly Alentejo’s).

The history of enotourism in Alentejo is rewritten daily and continuously and is surely related to history that comes along with the emergence of its new producers, as we have already seen. It also has to do with another very important and indispensable component, the fact that more and more tourists seek out Alentejo out of interest for its wine culture: the region’s natural, cultural and historical features, as well as the entities’ acknowledgement of that significance and the establishment of structures to divulge and take advantage of them. Alentejo has known how to make a powerful and notable brand out of itself.

The serenity of a landscape that unfolds itself into beaches and golden plains, in ridges and lakes of colossal size, which translates into an astonishing wildlife and an all-year round attractive climate, is the framework of ancestral and deeply rooted cultures that were never forgotten and that live together in a casual way with the day-to-day of the 21^st Century.

Alentejo holds one of the purest and cleanest landscapes on the country (it’s the region with the largest area and lowest population density in Portugal). And the local architecture plays a part in this purity. With a mediterranean soul, it comes alive from the civilisation of clay and it is profoundly lonesome. Its wealth is its plainness. There shouldn’t be many other architectonical depictions in which, formally speaking, almost nothing can signify so much. Its bond to the earth, the strongly horizontal volumetry, present as much in its common and vernacular architecture as in its scholarly manifestations, transmit unique serenity and harmony.

The wine and the vine in Alentejo thus see themselves included in a global vision that encompasses culture, leisure, sport (the region has excellent conditions for numerous activities) and, obviously, gastronomy. The wealth of Alentejo’s cuisine is one of the solid pillars of Alentejo’s tourism, being an obvious reason of pursuit, curiosity for those that have an interest in wine culture.

The cuisine of Alentejo has made its way through history without losing its identity. Revolving around four different produce – bread, olive oil, wine and pork -, the cooking that exists today makes use of recipes that are over a thousand years old. With the exact same produce cooked just the same. “It’s a splendorous cuisine, with no vertigo of identity.”, as written by Alfredo Saramago. The region’s isolation and poverty urged the creative use of its natural and seasonal resources, and as of today it is still solid and healthy, savoury, defiant and timeless.

The human being is by nature restless. Curious. Demanding. The traveller whose interest lies in something as profoundly mysterious as well as beautiful, such as wine, is certainly amongst those who are demanding. And I believe that is what Alentejo figured. That’s the difference acknowledged internationally. An original offer, intelligent and supported. Over there, where silence is heard.

page 81-83, Wine magazine, September/October 2016 

A trip to the Douro Valey

ESSÊNCIA DO VINHO - PORTO opens this thursday

This event gathered all of the major national producers in a public showcase fair, so what a better way to kick off our blog! Here we get to know the specialitlies from each company and even more oddities among the various kinds of wine.

Official Inauguration around 15:30 with Rui Moreira

The Mayor of Oporto, Rui Moreira, officially opens the 14^th edition of the event ESSÊNCIA DO VINHO – PORTO, in Palácio da Bolsa, tomorrow, Thursday, around 15:30. “The prime wine experience in Portugal” will go on until next Sunday, the 26^th of February.

The big feature of this year is the premiere of the initiative “Portugal Wine Connection”. It is an exclusive session that will gather over 70 represented importers and foreign journalists to producers and winemakers on the event. The wine degustation in loco and the direct contact between economic agents, leaders of opinion and importers that operate in 14 foreign markets, has the double goal to increase international media notoriety for Portuguese wines and fuel new business opportunities. The action goes on this Thursday, in the Arabian Hall of the Palácio da Bolsa, from 16:30 to 18:30.

In the morning, even before opening to the public, an international jury will elect the new “TOP 10 Portuguese Wines”. The session occurs the first day, the 23^rd of February, from 16:30 to 18:30, in the Arabian Hall of the Palácio da Bolsa. The juries are 40 journalists, wine critics and sommeliers of 12 nationalities that will assess about 60 pre-selected wines by the magazine, WINE – A Essência do Vinho, that obtained the highest scores on the magazine’s tasting panel during last year. The white, red and fortified wines that reach the highest classification on this tasting will compose the “TOP 10 Portuguese Wines”, that will be divulged during a diner at Feitoria Inglesa, Friday, the 24^th.

Samples from the 19^th Century, Brazilian sparkling wines and cheeses, Alentejo’s dolium wines, classics of the Dão and the Douro

Over four days, ESSÊNCIA DO VINHO – PORTO will present through degustation free of charge over 3000 wines from 350 producers, national and foreign. At the same time an intense programme of 20 commented tastings unfolds, directed by specialists, that include novelties and rarities salvaged from the cellar.

The tasting “Dream Port Wines”, reserved to the international committee of journalists, rounds up on the 24^th the wines Carvalhas Memories Very Old Tawny Port 1867, Quinta do Vallado ABF Very Old Tawny Port 1888, Kopke 375 Anniversary Special Edition Single Harvest Port 1940, Taylor’s Single Harvest Port 1967, Ramos Pinto 40 year old Tawny Port, Homenagem João Nicolau de Almeida and Graham’s Very Old Tawny Port 90 (celebrating the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, batch 1912, 1924 and 1935)

Right on the first day, 23^rd of February, two Madeira Wines from the 19^th century, two Madeira wines from the 19^th Century, from the house of Barbeito, compose the session “Barbeito: Madeira Wines that stand the tiral of time”. Barbeito Malmsey 1875, 100 Year Old Barbeito Tinta Negra, BarbeitoBoal and Malmsey 1889 – 1890, 40 Year Old Barbeito Mãe Manuela Malmsey, 30 Year Old Barbeito Vó Vera Malmsey, 20 Year Old Barbeito Malmsey – Batch 14050, Barbeito Sercial 1992, Barbeito Verdelho 2000 make up the deluxe team of this commented tasting, in this case already open to the public (bound to room capacity).

Friday, the 24^th, a highlight to the tasting “Symington: seven decades of Single Quinta Vintage”, that will sum up the wines Graham’s Malvedos 1958, Graham’s Malvedos 1965, Dow’s Bomfim 1978, Quinta do Vesúvio 1995, Dow’s Senhora da Ribeira 1998, Warre’s Cavadinha 2001, Graham’s Malvedos 2004, Dow’s Senhora da Ribeira 2013 and Cockburn’s Canais 2014. Also on the same day, Taylor’s celebrates its 325^th anniversary with the tasting “Terra Feita: a great Plantation of Taylor’s”, that gathers Vintage Ports from 1982, 1986, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008. From the Dão, Sogrape showcases Grão Vasco whites and reds from 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1992, 2005, 2015 and 2016.

Saturday, the 25^th, more bottles that persist on defying time are opened, such as the Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande red 1975, and Sunday, the 26^th, the tasting “Kopke: 6 decades of Single Harvests” presents samples from 1957, 1967, 1978, 1981, 1999 and 2007.

Alentejo’s Dolium Wines, an ancestral tradition that in the latest years has been tirelessly recovered in Alentejo, wines from the Dão out of the noblest of red Portuguese grape varieties, the Touriga Nacional, old harvests, ranging from the decade of 1970, from Casa Ferreirinha, sparkling wines from Rio Grande Sul and wines and cheeses from Minas Gerais, Brazil, are some of the other highlights.   

And there will also be plenty of compromises between Port wines and chocolates and of laid back chatter that will help to better understand the wondrous world of wine.

The detailed programme is available online, at www.essenciadovinhoporto.com. The entry worth for a day of event has the cost of 25€ and grants access to 3000 wines from 350 producers and the official event cup, Riedel.

ESSÊNCIA DO VINHO – PORTO will occur the 23rd of February, from 3p.m. to 8p.m., the 24th and 25th, from 3p.m. to 9p.m. and the 26th of February from 3p.m. to 8p.m.

An association of EV-Essência do Vinho, in partnership with Oporto’s Trade Association, with the support from the City Hall of Oporto

The Editorial Staff | WINE – A Essência do Vinho

The world's greatest wine regions

Getting to know Portugal.

As an introduction to the reality of Portuguese Winemaking, it is only appropriate to let our viewers in on some basic information about it. On this text, taken from the work of João Afonso, “Curso de Vinho Para Verdadeiros Apreciadores”, the reader gets to know what makes our country unique when it comes to its wines. From a brief explanation of our climate, to the varieties of grapes used, to the key wine-yielding regions, this text serves as a starting point from which we can unfold our blog. About the work from which the text originates from, “Curso de Vinho Para Verdadeiros Apreciadores”, it is, just as the title suggests, a guide into the world of wine appreciation, going into detail into the various world renown wine regions, the differences between the various kinds of wines and the way they are produced and even providing a description on how to taste wine like a professional. With an easily understandable language, we would highly recommend it to those who’re seeking to study further into the subject.

From this text we established some of the grounds of wine-making. We have learned a few basic designations used in wine-making and we got to know more about Portugal and its wine-making.

3.1 Portugal

Its geographical position makes it unique in terms of identity and character of its people and the products of its land.

The wide array of climatic influences, along with orographical and geological features, make Portugal one of the most diversified territories on the planet. Every few ten miles, there’s a change in the climate, the soil, the landscape, the customs and in all good things the earth provides. A good example of this are Minho’s Vinho Verde and Port Wine, originated in regions whose borders mix up between each other, and that, whilst one is «green» (hence the name “Verde”), the other’s sweet, generous and one of the ripest wines in the whole world.

In this small rectangle we have maximum temperatures similar to those in the Sahara, minimum ones similar to those in northern Europe, mildness, such as that found in the Isle of Madeira and similar to the most heavenly of tropics. You can find everything in this land and the wines and their diversity speak for this unmatched and absolutely characteristic wealth.

I consider it a privilege, for someone who enjoys tasting and drinking wine (aside from living well) to have been born in a country such as Portugal.

Viticultural Portugal

We have in our country, wines that have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), the ones we call DOC, wines with a geographical indication, called Regional Wines, and those that are neither one nor another, being simply called Table Wines. Supposedly, this is a hierarchical classification from the best to the worse but, in fact, we can find anything on all categories and mostly between the first two (DOC and Regional). In most regions, there is no qualitative difference whatsoever, neither none that can hint as to the chosen designation.

Speaking of numbers, we have 250 000 acres of vineyards and we occupy only 3% of the world’s area, however, considering its used farming land, our country has the most vineyards in the whole world. We produce an average (1998/2008) of 6.6 million hectolitres, we’re the 10th largest world producer and the 4^th biggest consumer, with 48 litres per capita. The industry employs around 277 000 people (2^nd place in Europe), we also have the largest number of wine grape varieties per square kilometre, we’re number 10 on the international wine commerce ranking and in 2012 we exported 705 million euro (42% of the total production). We are, truthfully in every way, a «Country of Grapes and Wines»

Effectively, you can produce wine all over the land with adiversifying quality. The reasons are essentially three: the climate, the soil and the varieties of grapevines.

(…)

The core wine regions and producers

They’re half a dozen: from north to south those are Vinho Verde, Douro, Dão, Bairrada, Setúbal Peninsula and Alentejo (in which Madeira is also included, addressed in its own chapter). All the other regions produce excellent wines as well, but without the media and commercial coverage of the previously selected ones.

(...)

page 65-67, Curso de Vinho para Verdadeiros Apreciadores

In the House of Port

A guided tour through the Port and Douro Wines Institute, located in the historical center of Porto. The extract of the article writen by José João Santos is very interesting. It dives into one of the organisations responsible for giving such good reputation to Port Wine for almost two centuries, and yet, only in recent years people started to notice that it was there (which is someting quite difficult because the building is very big). A small guided tour to the heart of the Institute, Port and Douro Wines, finishing with a small list of its main exporters.

Here we learn that Port is not only in Gaia.

It is a place not very known to the public, which, for that reason, is important to get to know. There works many of the services of the institute that treats Port Wine (and Douro Wine since 2003), among laboratories, a tasting chamber and even a library with a valuable archive. (…)

It is one of the buildings that gives the historical center of Porto its unique look, classified has World Heritage by UNESCO since 1996. Its order of construction was given much earlier, in 1843, to be the headquarters of the Commercial Banc of Porto. The Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP) would be created only in the XX century, in 1933, and two years after, in 1935, it occupied its current installations, after being working temporarily in the neighbor Palácio da Bolsa, other of the city emblems, also very connected to the wine and the entrepreneurial spirit of Porto.

(…)

“It would be almost a crime keeping the doors of this building closed. We have to open it more and more, because it’s an element of the city”(…)to justify one of the thoughts claiming the building as the “first place open to visit and in contact with Porto Wine before the visit to the cellars, in Vila Nova de Gaia”. It would make sense, let us add, if not for the city of Porto being under a remarkable affluence of tourists all year around. “it would be like an introduction to Port Wine”, completes Manuel de Novaes Cabral (current president of the Institute).

(...)

Besides the possibility of acquiring wine bottles of several producers and Port Wine Houses, the store in the Institute possesses a tasting room which allows visitors to contact with sets and different categories of Port Wine, from the 2€ ones (white and LBV) to the 5,70€ ones (a Ruby Reserve, a LBV, a Tawny 10 years and a Tawny 20 years). The visitor can also acquire publications regarding Port Wine and the Douro Demarcated Region, consult book collections in the impressive Institute library, watch videos that illustrate the Douro region and the making of wines produced in set region and even request for a guided tour through the laboratories and the Tasting Chamber.

The IVDP laboratory was created simultaneously with the Institute. A team of 35 elements analyses annually an average of 8,000 processes, which equals something like 150,000 analytic parameters. The Tasting Chamber tastes daily, in the morning, a maximum of 20 Port wines and three times a week, in the afternoon, DOC Douro wines. Not every tasters of Port taste Douro wine and no taster of Douro wine can taste Port wine. (…)Each Port wine takes two to three days to be evaluated. In the case of DOC wines, five days.

The importance of rigor

 (…)

”The work consists in coordinating a group of tasters, orientate their training, to assess external tendencies in order to have precision in the tasting of the wines, reflecting what the companies and its consumers want. We try to have a high level of demand”, explains Bento Amaral, one of the faces of the institute. “The average quality has risen greatly, both in Vintage Wines as in Reserves. There’s a smaller percentage of rejections: on average, 5% in Port wines and 16% in Douro wines”.

A task for a generation

Little by little, the president Manuel Novaes Cabral has been opening the Institute to other cultural manifestations, such as book presentations or poetry sessions. “We have sought to be open to many things, including cultural activities, bringing close together different audiences to Port Wine”, he says. Another project goes to the creation of a room with photographs of the previous IVDP presidents, “a kind of gallery that cherishes this institution”.

(…) the president of IVDP acknowledges the difficulties in communication when questioned on how Port Wine can, and should, reach the consumer. We stand before a wine full with many particularities, which possesses two main families (tawnies and rubys) but also a series of other factors: age, single harvest, the Reserves, the Single Quinta, whites, and, more recently, rosés, types of maturing…

“Port Wine is a very complex reality and very hard to transmit, sometimes even including some specialists. We often complain about this complexity, in communicational terms, but this complexity is good. When communicating we have to be able to transform this apparent difficulty into an advantage. There is work to be done for the Institute but also for its brands”, the president of the IVDP considers.

To desecrate Port Wine is another inevitable theme. “Port Wine doesn’t want to lose its traditional and even ritual character, but we want to find new consumers through, of course, some innovation. And the Port Wine sector has been innovating, with the example of rosé, in the market for the last six years, or even cocktails”, he adds.

On the matter of demand and customer service, Manuel de Novaes Cabral considers that there have been a favorable development, starting with the city of Porto. “Ten years ago I would it find very difficult counting with my fingers the venues that knew how to serve Port. Fortunately, now I don’t have enough toes nor fingers to count them. There’s a general development in the food sector, most of the middle/high class restaurants in the city have an acceptable, good, and, in some cases, excellent service (…)”.

(…)

“It’s a task for a generation”, claims Manuel de Novaes Cabral, emphasizing the importance of making the portuguese market, on different levels, a priority.

“Now, and in recent years, Portugal represents 14% to 15% of the market of Port Wine. That’s very little. That’s why I say that the portuguese market is yet to be explored. Port has always been made to be exported and is not by chance that even today is served in inadequate glasses – we all know the importance of glasses and temperature -, being often treated as a liquor”, he insists. (…) “Our priority isn’t to sell more, but to sell better”, claims Manuel de Novaes Cabral.

The main markets of Port Wine

A list of markets of Port Wine, between January and August 2013, according to data provided to the magazine WINE by the IVDP.

• 1º France - (around 50 million euros, with a share of 24.8%). Special categories represent 16%.
• 2º Portugal – (30.2 million euros, with a share of 15.1%). Special categories represent 17.2%.
• 3º Netherlands – (24 million euros, with a share of 12.1%). Special categories represent 17.2%.
• 4º USA – (~19 million euros, with a share of 9.5%). Special categories represent 78.2%.
• 5º Belgium – (~19 million euros, with a share of 9.4%). Special categories represent 16.3%.

According to the data provided by the IVDP, between January and August of 2013 the special categories represented 34.9% of total sell of Port Wine.

The main 11 markets (with a share superior to 1% of sales in quantity and value) represent, together, 90.4% of the total commercialization in value and 93.5% of the total commercialization in quantity. (…)

page 93-102, Wine magazine, November/December 2013 

Grape Varieties: Portugal VS France

Portugal VS France. In the wine world, France and Portugal are big competitors, even if silent to the general public. Big coorporations look to export, to improve, more and more. Therefore, the mix of grape varieties in one country due to settlements and opportunities is a reality? But is it the way? The right way? This extract of an opinion article written by Paul J.White, a North American wine critic, with profound knowledge in Portuguese wines and based in New Zealand for WINE magazine, in March 2013 exposes the opposing sides in the wine business, a fight not known by the general public. It raises very important questions. Should grape varieties be restricted to the country of origin? How can they affect an entire industry? And how important is the history, the tradition of a country to its wine?

If Portuguese people want Viognier, well, they better look for it in southern France, where it is abundant, good and cheap. You won’t find me drinking Australian wine to understand the real potential of the French Touriga, the Encruzado or Sercial.

As you probably already know, I believe that choosing to plant French grape varieties over Portuguese ones is a big mistake. Isn’t it better to focus on the varieties that helped the country evolve and try elaborate the best possible wine from them? That being said, we need just to pour the wine into the glasses of consumers and let it express for itself. I admit that it is easier for me to state it than to those that must make a living off the wine and sell it.

The french varieties are planted mainly in Lisbon, Tejo, Bairrada and the region of Alentejo. The reasoning is complicated. The first three regions, with a strong Atlantic influence, have fresher climates, which make the growth and consistent ripening of the grapes harder, so they decide to adopt other varieties, easier to cultivate and sell. The Portuguese response to the New World, Alentejo boomed out into the market in more recent years. With the exception of a few traditional producers, the majority lacks a long record of autochthonous plantations of grape varieties, therefore they possess a greater flexibility choosing on what to plant. If some of the main problems in Alenjeto reside on its hot climate, in which the grapes sometimes over ripen, amass excessive alcohol and lack some of the natural acidity, the experimentation with french grape varieties ended up resulting in the discovery of solutions to tackle these problems. Yet, the rise in french grape varieties has also created a problem of identity in all of these regions.

Douro, Dão, Vinho Verde and Madeira have strong personalities directly related to the grape varieties of the region and the traditional style of their wines. However, what about the regions I mentioned before? Where do their identities reside? How are their real types of wines? Do they truthfully express themselves in Portuguese, in Portuguese with a French accent or in French with an emphasis on the Portuguese, or even so, simply, in bad French?

Usually I get two main reasons to explain the use of French grape varieties in Portugal. One suggests a tendency in the Portuguese market for the French grape varieties of the moment. One other defends that the foreign markets can’t understand Portuguese varieties, reason why it’s easier to sell wines made up from the familiar French varieties. I’m not convinced. It’s understandable that Portuguese consumers want to try the flavors of the moment in San Francisco, London, Buenos Aires or Hong Kong. If Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Viognier and other French grape varieties are standard there, why couldn’t the Portuguese try them as well? It’s only fair. But it raises some concerns. Will Portugal be able to produce French varieties as good and interesting as the ones cultivated in their country of origin? (…) Yes, all is possible but from my experience Portuguese wines made from French grape varieties rarely live up to the quality of the ones made in other parts of the world.

(…)

About the other reason I hear for the opting by French varieties?... I’ve been saying that American, Canadian, British, Scandinavian and Asian consumers don’t know the Portuguese grape varieties and even have some difficulty pronouncing them, for which they end up opting for the more familiar French varieties. But that doesn’t explain why those same consumers have gotten used to search for wines from grape varieties such as the Italian Fiano or Aglicano, or the Spanish Mencía and Albariño, during the last decade. If today they are among the most renowned wines in the world, five years ago they were virtually unknown.

(…)

The honest truth is that for every grapevine planted in Portugal with a French grape variety one other had to be torn off or replaced. Which leads me to point out the solution I prefer. Why plant French grape varieties in Portugal when there are so many other good native varieties that can yield much more result?

(…)

What if the Portuguese grape varieties were to be widely spread throughout the country, regardless from the regions of origin, being tested at other locations? That would be much better than trying to follow the already exhausted obsession of the New World for French varieties. Instead of looking to copy the tendencies with a predictable end, wouldn’t it be better if we anticipated the ones to come?

page 12-14 of Wine maganize, March 2013 edition