My top 10: exciting Rhône discoveries Matt Walls
There’s so much for wine lovers to discover in this huge and varied region in Portugal’s southeast, where innovative producers are exploring the potential of their native varieties, with exciting results. Sarah Ahmed points the way, highlighting some top producers and great wine buys
Year in, year out, much like its reliably sunny climate, Alentejo’s red wines shine at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Together with the Douro in the north, the southern Portuguese region is the country’s most consistent Gold and Platinum medal winner. In 2020, the results rammed home Alentejo’s super-power – ‘the special one’ excels at both ends of the price spectrum, with Platinum awards for four red wines: Comenda Grande’s Reserva 2014 blend; Herdade dos Lagos, HDL 2018; Herdade do Peso, Trinca Bolotas 2018; and Tiago Cabaço, Blog 2017. There were also two ‘Value Platinum’ accolades and a ‘Value Best in Show’ for its biggest producer, Cooperativa Agrícola de Reguengos de Monsaraz (Carmim).
Size and diversity
For Alexandre Relvas Jr (Casa Agrícola Alexandre Relvas) – who produces a range of labels including volume brand Ciconia and just
4,000 bottles of the Herdade de São Miguel line’s Pé de Mãe – the foundation for this success is twofold. The first factor is quality consistency. He says this is ‘due to the climate, dry harvests and modern winemaking facilities’.
The second is diverse terroirs. These allow for ‘high-yield vineyards of 10-12 tonnes per hectare [versus 3t/ha for prestige cuvée Pé de Mãe] with nice concentration and ripeness’. Relvas also notes that these are ‘some of the most special, high-end terroirs of Portugal’.
It makes perfect sense when you consider Alentejo’s size. Stretching for some 200km from north to south (and book-ended by the Atlantic coast to the west and Spanish border in the east), it represents one-third of mainland Portugal’s land mass. North to south, three contiguous districts – Portalegre, Evora and Beja – collectively define the boundaries of Vinho Regional Alentejano which, on
average, basks in more than 3,000 sunshine hours a year (the total for the UK in 2019 was 1,446 hours, according to Statista).
However, within this expanse of rolling plains interspersed with granite, schist and marble-hewn mountain ranges, there are big differences in latitude, elevation and exposure – depending on topography and relative proximity to the tempering Atlantic or the interior’s temperature extremes.
Eight sub-regional pockets enjoy DOC status (see ‘the facts’, p54) and each one is distinct. Leading winemaker and consultant Susana Esteban explains: ‘Portalegre [also a DOC] is completely different from the rest of Alentejo, and Estremoz [in Borba DOC] has nothing to do with Beja [the region’s southern boundary].’ Featuring in my ‘Top 20 Atlantic Whites from Portugal’ article (August 2020 issue), Cortes de Cima’s and Vicentino’s 21st century Atlantic-facing vineyards on the southwest coast reveal yet another dimension.
Hive of industry
Today, some 300 producers articulate these differences, accounting for almost 40% of Portugal’s certified (quality) wines. But it was another story in the 1980s, even though Alentejo’s continuous tradition of winemaking predates its Roman settlers. With production concentrated in the hands of cooperatives and focused on local consumption, Alentejo – historically a poor, rural area – produced just 4% of quality wines.
‘Private winemakers and wine-growers brought quality and innovation to the region,’ explains João Portugal Ramos, at that time one of a cohort of highly sought-after young Portuguese consultant winemakers, whose number included Paulo Laureano, Rui Reguinga and Luis Duarte.
The tide turned towards the estate model after Portugal joined the European Union in 1986. Much like other regions, Alentejo benefited from development grants and started courting new, quality-focused export markets in earnest. Unlike other regions, which drew from extensive pre-existing plantings, Alentejo was ripe for fresh exploration with a new palette of exportfriendly grapes, including Syrah and Bordeaux reds, as well as non-local varieties such as Touriga Nacional and Arinto.
From nearby capital city Lisbon, savvy captains of industry – notably José Roquette (Esporão) – diversified into wine, importing fresh ideas and, in Roquette’s case, cuttingedge winemaking know-how in the shape of David Baverstock, an Australian winemaker.
The success of these pioneers helped to engineer a new wine-growing landscape, with sizable but meticulously conceived vineyards and wineries, equipped with irrigation and temperature control from the off.
Not without justification, Ramos claims: ‘Today, Alentejo is the leading [Portuguese] region in terms of wine-growing practices.’
Mixing it up
This cutting-edge platform underpins Alentejo’s bedrock of reliably smooth, fruity, approachable reds and buffs fruit to a high sheen in polished, ageworthy examples (often released with bottle age). For complexity and balance, most are blends, although Alicante Bouschet (featuring heavily in wines I generally recommend from this region) scales giddy heights solo too. Introduced during the 19th century, the red-fleshed teinturier (a
Petit Bouschet x Grenache crossing) ripens fully, but imparts savoury complexity and terrific structure.
Thin-skinned Trincadeira thrives in Alentejo, retaining leafy/tobacco aromatics and good freshness; Aragonez (Tempranillo in Spain) brings elegant red fruits and spice; Castelão and Alfrocheiro offer juicy, midpalate flesh. Touriga Nacional reliably imparts bergamot notes, good fruit and structure. Of the international varieties, Syrah is the most widely planted and flourishes here, bringing exuberant, black-fruited intensity, while much pickier Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot contribute structure and elegance.
Thanks to the tempering influence of the Serra de Portel mountain (between Beja and Evora), Antão Vaz is a traditional single varietal strength of the Vidigueira sub-region; modern and traditional talha examples (vinified in clay amphoras) can be stunning. Together with Roupeiro and Arinto, it is the mainstay of modern rich, tropical, citrus blends, the best of which display admirable drive; while succulent Verdelho has pithier green tropical notes. New kids on the block Viognier and Alvarinho introduce stone fruits and florals.
On the terroir trail
Whether volume-driven or prestige, the balance and complexity of many of Alentejo’s best wines is also informed by the tempering influence and leaner soils of the Serra de São Mamede (1,025m) in Portalegre DOC, Serra de Ossa (649m) between Borba DOC and Redondo DOC, and Serra de Portel (421m) in Vidigueira DOC. Ramos is one of a cluster of high-profile producers drawn to Estremoz in the Borba sub-region where, at 350m-400m, grapes attain ‘a strong accent of ripeness without being jammy’, thanks to the cool nights, which preserve acidity.
On the terroir trail, Ramos teases out the influence of different soil types in a recently introduced single-vineyard range. Estremus’ pure limestone imparts elegance, with soft tannins, while schist soils ‘bring more power’ to Vinha do Jeremias.
Meanwhile Esteban prefers granitic soils over schist for ‘more freshness, cleaner wines’. They certainly accentuate Portalegre DOC’s point of difference – fresh, mineral wines, red and white – a new string to Alentejo’s bow. In 2020, she made an espumante (sparkling wine) from grapes with 10.5g/L total acidity (TA) and 11% alcohol, working with Emmanuel Lassaigne of Champagne Jacques Lassaigne.
With vineyards peaking at several hundred metres, big players are snapping up estates in Alentejo’s highest, coolest, wettest sub-region, including Esporão, Sogrape, Cartuxa and the Douro’s Symington family. Portalegre’s
Clockwise, above right: prominent winemakers José Roquette (Herdade do Esporão), Susana Esteban and João Portugal Ramos
most singular expressions – in every sense, a vinous breath of fresh air – hail from rare, old field blend parcels on granite, schist and quartz, some now vinified in an old-school way, using old barrels or large casks.
Similarly ‘old-school’, the purity of white and red talha wines (vinified on skins in large clay amphorae rather than oak) has seen a revival among artisanal and large producers alike. Quick off the mark to embrace modern methods, Alentejo has proved equally adept at protecting tradition, with the introduction in 2010 of DOC status for Alentejo Vinho de Talha.
Sustainable future
Talha wines may be intrinsically small-batch, but they have also influenced mainstream practice. Leading Talha exponent Pedro Ribeiro (Herdade do Rocim, Bojador) finds that vinifying in concrete helps attain purity at scale; Esporão’s new Colheita range is a case in point. Another talha wine spin-off is a reappraisal of traditional grapes, including Moreto which, according to Relvas, has revealed ‘exceptional hardiness’ in recent drought years.
Inevitably, sustainability is a preoccupation looking ahead. In 2015, Alentejo burnished its progressive credentials, introducing the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP). Designed to ensure that the region keeps producing quality grapes and wines sustainably, to date WASP has 430 member producers and growers, representing 9,248ha and about 76% of production.
Organic certification is well underway among WASP members. Some, like Rocim, are also planting new vineyards to traditional varieties. For Ribeiro, beyond producing everyday and prestige wines at the highest level, Alentejo is the consummate all-rounder. He says: ‘It can play both games: dimension and scale as well as niche projects, like recovering talha wines and forgotten grapes that are catching worldwide attention.’ D