Back in November, Montreal's wine bar Les Cavistes organized a virtual wine tasting featuring four wines from Portugal. Given my Portuguese roots, I was quite excited by this event but my expectations were also high. Once again, Les Cavistes did not disappoint with their choice of wines.
One of the wines was the Pousio Selection from the Herdade Monte da Ribeira in the beautiful wine region of Alentejo. This is a great blend with four varietals: Alicante, Bouschet, Syrah and Trincadeira. This wine won the gold medal at the 2020 international competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
We then moved to the Quinta da Vacariça in the Bairrada wine region, known for its full-bodied wines. Their Garrafeira wine is produced with the Baga grape, a dark-skinned grape variety used to make red wines in the central coast of Portugal. It is particularly prevalent in the Bairrada region. François Chasans is not only a French wine merchant but also a winemaker and owner of Quinta da Vacariça inspired after tasting a wine from Bairrada in 1998.
I was very intrigued by our final red wine, the Uivo Renegado produced by Folias De Baco in the Douro wine region. With an unusual raspberry colour in the glass, this wine is from old vines - 50% Indigenous Red Blend and 50% Indigenous White Blend. Tiago Sampaio is the innovative young winemaker of Folias de Baco. He completed his PhD studies in Oregon in Viticulture and Enology where he picked up on modern philosophies and aesthetics of winemaking, while never forgetting his roots in the Douro and returning to create his estate that has garnered much attention since.
The fourth wine of this virtual wine tasting was a white from Lisbon, Ramilo Arinto. I’ve just recently discovered the Arinto varietal, a white Portuguese wine grape planted primarily in the Bucelas, Tejo and Vinho Verde regions. I love the freshness and minerality it gives wines. Ramilo Wines is a family business of four generations, run today by brothers Pedro and Nuno Ramilo. According to their website “The brothers are now on the verge of becoming the largest private producer of the world famous Ramisco from Colares.”
This wine tasting just got me more excited to discover more wines from Portugal and its young innovative winemakers. Do you have a favourite wine or varietal from Portugal?
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