Blend All About Wine João Barbosa, autor em Blend All About Wine

Herdade das Servas 2013 wines with friends

December 3, 2015 2 comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Three beautiful Alentejo wines for a chat between an iconoclast and friends. Of true Alentejo character, aromas and flavours. Brave, for the strong food of this province. However, there’s another thing…

The term ‘iconoclast’ is a hyperbole. I am not a Taliban who breaks holy, unquestionable rules, nor do I make idols out of icons. Actually, I find savagery (poetic ugliness) more interesting than transparent sectarianism (because the former results from ignorance). A word is missing: “once-in-a-while-misaligned-just-because-and-also-to-maintain-a-good-level-of-sanity.”

Why this introduction? It means to prevent you from taking me for a fool or for being arrogant. The topic is how wine can be gastronomic. Should wine be “gastronomic”? Is it advantageous? Is wine only good when it must be taken with food?

This is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. I think either harmonising wine with food or not is equally valid. Going straight to the G-spot… does it give pleasure? Pleasure must be its sole purpose. The wine is important, the food is important, and… who ever is sitting with us or without us is just as important, if not more.

The Portuguese repeatedly boast about their wines for being “very gastronomic”. This praise usually follows an applause for its Mediterranean background, with a cult and liturgy of food.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-Herdade

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-Herdade-2

Of course I want the wine to be appropriate for the food. This doesn’t mean I despise the appropriateness of a wine, food, or utensils, but meals are most pleasurable to me when shared with friends – friendship is what we celebrate in social gatherings.

Half of me comes from Alentejo; this fact sometimes leads me to jokingly state that I am from Alentejo. Where from? From Campo Grande, Lisbon. “My” area of Alentejo has no wine. There are no vineyards in my family’s fields.

I do not drink borrowed Alentejo. But there is a specific Alentejo wine that belongs to me, and it tastes of, or reminds me of evenings by the fireplace… quiet men listening patiently as the ladies list family ties, estates and lives.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-harvest

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-wines

I have been introduced to three wines: Herdade das Servas Colheita Seleccionada Red 2013, Herdade das Servas Alicante Bouschet 2013 and Herdade das Servas Touriga Nacional 2013. They were served during a meal composed only of traditionally Alentejo dishes, in O Galito restaurant, in Lisbon. The perfect match as it always should be.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-Talhas

The wines that bring up this conversation are beautiful specimens from Alentejo. Harvest after harvest, Herdade das Servas has been proving to be a good bet. They all have good structure, firm tannins, and tastiness, and they all last on the mouth. I will not use descriptors, but they are obviously different… two are varietal and the other is a blend of Touriga Nacional (40%), Alicante Bouschet (30%), Aragonês (20%), and Trincadeira (10%).

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-Cellar

Now, to enter the outer layer of “taste”: the Alicante Bouschet left a stronger mark on me. I am not a big fan of Touriga Nacional from Alentejo; however, this variation of the grape variety in Herdade das Servas is capable of belonReserved”that Alentejo”, which I confess to long for… actually, those three wines do.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Herdade das Servas-2013 wines-Tasting Room

What should I eat with them?! The classic answer works every time. I am most interested in conversations with nice people, especially with varietals. I don’t care if I will or will not be able to stand up straight; I don’t plan on driving.

You can read more about Herdade das Servas here and here.

Contacts
Serrano Mira SA
Herdade das Servas, Apartado 286
7101-909 Estremoz -Portugal
Tel: (+351) 268 322 949
Fax: (+351) 268 339 420
E-mail: info@herdadedasservas.com
Website: www.herdadedasservas.com

Goya’s painting is a “terroir”

November 27, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

What does Goya’s painting have to do with wine? Possibly nothing, but it makes a good illustration for a distant reading.

Photograms used to be spared, because each roll of film only had 24 or 36. They weren’t cheap and you had to pay to develop and blow them up and then wait. A bore!

“Oh no, I look horrible in this picture…”

“That’s a shame, it came out blurred.”

Nowadays, we have phones that take photographs, and some do high quality. We take 50 shots “just because”. We photograph food, a faux kiss in a shopping centre. We reinvent self-portraits, now called “selfies”.

Talent for photography wasn’t distributed in a democratic way. Nor was vanity! In the least, our desire to “look good” makes us ask people to take our picture or otherwise we model for ourselves.

Without turning this into a dissertation about the history of photography, the very first photograph was taken around the first quarter of the 19^th Century. Technology improved and this art then allowed portraits to become democratic and offered more moments of vanity to those who could pay for it – yes, it was a treat for bourgeois and aristocrats.

Before that, painted portraits took (and take) weeks or months. Posing for the sketch, a few touches here and there, the first layer of paint, waiting for the oil to dry, adjusting, the preferences of those depicted.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Goya-Terroir-CarlosIV

Goya – Carlos IV family

Vanity fed many people and I would like to stress how brave the family of Carlos IV of Spain were to maintain Francisco Goya as the royal portrait artist. These Bourbon people were hideous! See how they were painted by this Spanish genius, and the formalities of the almost obscure Alonso de Mendoza.

I was too late when I fell in love with Maria Carolina de Bourbon Duas-Sicílias, based on the painting by Thomas Lawrence. She was 27… she wasn’t a Lolita, although noblewomen seemed younger when compared to folk women of the same age with a harsher lifestyle.

It’s incredible how the Duchess of Berry aged so suddenly. When she was 29, she had the sweet, naïf and blushing look of a young lady from the elite. However, is this the same duchess with whom I fell in love? Beautiful, but going on 30. Mind you, the term “Balzacian” applied to women in their thirties! Bless those creams and quality of life; the Balzacians were over 55.

And what did she look like before 27? Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun painted her… Despite the candid look in her eyes, her peaceful face, and pink cheeks, 26 years old. Did the duchess of Berry only get her butterfly wings at 27?

Where is the truth? Excellent grapes will make good wine. What wine, you ask? One created by an excellent oenologist, who works with the wrinkles and the sad-looking yet real face. One created by an excellent oenologist who hides early double chins and red acne outbreaks.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Goya-Terroir-Vineyard

Vineyard © Blend All About Wine, Lda

I would rather see the personality in the wrinkles and to hear the accent of a wine than to have this round and purposefully sweet-toothed perfection. Cameron Diaz wakes up half-asleep, her hair in a mess, in a bad mood, and takes ages to get ready. That’s the wine I want to drink.

That’s what you are talking about when you say the word “terroir“.

Colares wines

November 24, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

The Agricultural Reform allowed the human species to prosper. Later, it started domesticating animals and invited the cat into the family. It encouraged writing and Mathematics given the need to create inventories.

As a predictable outcome, “smart farming” was created; that in which man intervenes beyond the fieldwork. First it was bread, and then perhaps beer – some may claim that wine came first, but I don’t believe so.

Man tasted and was happy when he tried the result of a mix of water and barley seeds forgotten or neglected in some container. Using that grain, Man may have experimented with other ingredients. One thing is certain (!), which is the effect of alcohol as it induces a change in our state of consciousness, the driving force behind producing these drinks.

So far, so good, summarised down to the bone. Dilemmas come with difficulty, when the answer isn’t so clear although some of the evidence may be correct. A big mystery for me is Colares red wine.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Colares Wines-Working

Carrying Grapes

Blend-All-About-Wine-Colares Wines-Adega-Colares

Adega de Colares

The region, within the Metropolitan area of Lisbon, was registered a long time ago, but it won when it was nominated in the 19th century. Not surprising, seeing as the plague of phylloxera decimated European vineyards. Aphid do not survive in the sand, and the soil is sandy in Colares.

Colares red wine is mostly produced from the Ramisco grape variety. When it’s young, it’s incredibly rich in tannins; they used to add white wine to it a few years ago, especially from the Colares Malvasia variety.

Adding red and white wine made it all so much easier. Modern times “created” the rush. Wines used to have their cycle and everyone accepted that. They drank it young and knew they needed to wait until it reached its zenith.

Eça de Queiroz, the writer, was well travelled and a cosmopolitan. He got terribly bored in the countryside. He was a diplomat and knew the lights of Europe’s developed cities. Portugal was hillbilly town. Queiroz’s work is loaded with wine quotes, and Colares are some of the most common mentions – perhaps the most highlighted.

Eça de Queiroz was part of a group of intellectuals, called Vencidos da Vida (Disappointed in Life), which brought light to Lisbon “village”, and Realism as a form of art and literature. The 70s Generation, another name for the “club”, filled their bellies in O Leão d’Ouro restaurant, right by Rossio station in Lisbon. The venue is still there. Inside, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro painted the most famous moment of those discussions.

Growing vines in Colares is painful because they’re low and you need to crouch down or sit on your knees to work… That did not discourage the 70s Generation’s bourgeois and aristocratic figures – the folk worked hard and there they were, motionless for generations.

But this effort is important. I will add something: (at least) ten years must be added after the hard work on the vines before you can drink it… Only a wonderful result could explain this. However! …

Colares wines

Eça de Queiroz

Who could have thought of storing some Colares wine? Only a crazy fool! A compulsive poisoner! Someone mad for revenge! I shall explain this with a statement that is claimed to be by Eça de Queiroz: “Either this wine is ruined or it is a new Colares.”

Winemakers know the cycle of evolution that wine moves through until it can be revealed. However, only a madman would save a drop of new-born wine from Colares. An angel must have whispered in his ear to save it, for one day it would be drunk with great pleasure.

I am an unconditional fan of wine from Colares, and the sharpness in Eça de Queiroz is sublime… only when I tasted a new wine, a new-born, did I comprehend the dimension of the statement claimed to be by this writer.

Fortunately, I have drunk as far as the 1911 vintage… and…

See more about Colares here and here.

Pôpa Fiction – three wines given to crime and seduction,Quinta do Pôpa

November 18, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Good evening, welcome to my place. Have a seat; I will serve you some wine in a moment. Tonight, we dine in the living room. I’m feeling groovy.

– We all are!

– In the living room?! Preppy-boy’s gone mad!

– Shut up, Pedro. Let me finish. I feel this groove and…

– We all do!

– Well, seeing as you all answered back in a chorus this time… I shall sulk and dance my way to the kitchen to bring you some appetisers. I’m glad the good vibes are unanimous.

[Once back in the living room]

– Why has nobody turned music on yet?! Are you trying to upset me? We have three wines for tonight… and there’s some logic to them. They come in a sequence… Bibbidi! Bobbidi! Boo!

[Everybody is dancing to You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry… Pulp Fiction].

– Wow, the party has only just begun and the rug is already drizzled with red… hurrah!

– What are we drinking?

– Hot Lips 2012. Let me change the track… Why Don’t You Do Right by Katherine Turner… [Who Framed Roger Rabbit]

– Roger Rabbit! But tell us more about the wine…

– It’s red…

– Yup!

– That’s obvious.

– Come on, tell us!

– Douro.

– Oh, come on!

– Duh!… Didn’t you get it yet? We have to be careful… walls have ears. They could be listening in on us… the grape varieties are secret.

– L-O-L.

– Look, the bottle’s finished. What should I open now?

– That one… that one over there. It says In The Flesh 2012.

– Cool!

– Play Bryan Ferry’s Slave To Love…

– Whoa! From Nine 1/2 Weeks… Wow!

– Just the thought of Kim Basinger…

– And me instead of Mickey Rourke.

– I never got what women see in him…

– Tough luck! Girl stuff. Never mind. Tough!

– What’s up with the wine?

– What do you mean, what’s up?!

– It keeps ending…

– Open that one now… Is everybody ready? Let’s go!

– Wow! It tastes delicious! What is it?

– You don’t want to know…

– Psycho!

– Take that disc out and play this one, please.

– What is it? Good choice.

– What is it? …What?

– Push It To The Limit.

– Paul Engemann?!

– Yup!

– Scarface!…

– Yes!

– Nailed it! Tell me, what are we eating?

– You have to figure it out for yourself. This dinner’s a crime fiction.

Besides “formal” wines, Quinta do Pôpa have a conceptual side and, until now, it has amusingly been called Pôpa Art Projects. The first were Lolita and Milf. For this occasion, we had the second episode; this idea is a toast to the world of seduction, crime and the cinema.

The bottles in this trilogy (Pôpa Fiction) contain one litre, a little tease… or rather, a slight stifling of ideas. Each wine has its own name and label, which feature Mário Belém’s artwork.

Hot Lips 2012 is a greedy wine; relaxed, thus, dangerous. I recommend having it before a dinner date… That’s it – smooth and sexy.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta do Pôpa-Popa-Fiction-Hot Lips 2012

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta do Pôpa-Popa-Fiction-In the Flesh 2012

Now the second, In The Flesh 2012, is the most “substantial” on the mouth. It’s meetier. “A bad egg,” say the sibling vintners, Stéphane and Vanessa Ferreira. Exactly… it does slip down easily, but a few appetisers can only do you good. Say hot appetisers like puff-pastry nibbles, smoked sausages and some cheeses.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta do Pôpa-Popa-Fiction-Stephane-Vanessa

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta do Pôpa-Popa-Fiction-The Grape Escape 2012

The third wine in the gang is The Grape Escape 2012. It’s a sort of Al Capone. It demands respect and must be taken with strong and powerful food. It’s a little more rustic and food friendly.

To drink them all in one occasion is funny and logical, because there’s an evident evolution in the style of the wines, from the easiest one to drink to the one that shakes up the table.

All you have to do is fantasise a little and you’ll see a detective plot being “written” in front of you – orally – as every person at the table adds a bit. Then, and if there’s any strength left, play Cluedo – one of the most amusing games to play when you’re inebriated.

Contacts
Quinta do Pôpa, Lda.
E.N. 222 – Adorigo
5120-011 Tabuaço
Portugal
Email: geral@quintadopopa.com
Mobile: (+351) 915 678 498
Site: www.quintadopopa.com

Lagoalva Barrel Selection Red 2013

November 11, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

During the Estado Novo [“New State”] dictatorship (1926 – 1974), several archetypes were created for identifying provinces, the organisational body that no longer exists. There was a reductive nationalist iconography, but also a regional one. People valued folklore highly, and by folklore, I mean fandango [a duel-dance between two men, different from the Spanish fandango].

Ribatejo

On the Ribatejo archetype they drew wild bulls – the noble animals of the presently polemic bullfights –, campinos [equestrian cattle shepherds] and obviously bunches of grapes. Wine had crucial weight on Economy and the food industry, since this was the only province to mass-produce.

The desire for big production made it so that vines (generalising) were on rich grounds. However, the vineyard is masochistic. Their reputation wasn’t the best until a few years ago. However, the certifying commission and several producers – in a growing number – started changing their image. The corollary move was changing the designation from Ribatejo to Tejo.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta da Lagoalva-Home

One of the first agricultural organisations to wake up to this new reality was Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima, right by Alpiarça. This company produces a lot more than wine, with olive oil being a high-quality identifying product. A huge amount of produce is farmed there. A lot of produce and forestry can fit into 6200 acres.

There are four degrees of wines at different prices. They share a common trait and then separate into two branches: quality and “honesty”. This truth translates into regularity and consistency in production and sales – however, you must take into account the specific climatic situation of every year.

I refuse to cave into the obsessive urge to sentence (almost decree) the quality/price ratio. To each their own concept and taste, financial availability, and opinion on where prices stop being reasonable. I avoid mentioning prices because I have no data to back any amount. I will only say that these wines are at the reach of a middle-class pocket; they won’t cost you a month’s wage or even a week’s work.

One of the first references I had was the white Lagoalva Talhão 1. I didn’t like it! However, it came closer (I got closer) and it’s a wine (abstract reference) that I enjoy in the Summer as an aperitif or for a relaxed social do. There is a relaxed manner to the Lagoalva range, but it’s still competent enough for the table.

They have many wines, and I only wrote a summary of what there is to say about them, which I feel translated the good work going on in this company. Here’s the reason why: Lagoalva Barrel Selection Red 2013. The ranges consist of Monte da Lagoalva, Espírito Lagoalva, Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima and Quinta da Lagoalva.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Quinta da Lagoalva-Barrel Selection

Just like with the previous and with the forgotten wines, this one is easy to like – in the best sense of the word. Yet, it’s a different “thing”. The very designation already tells you that you’re witnessing something special: a choice of many casks that generated 4000 bottles.

It’s a pairing of Syrah and Touriga Nacional in equal percentages. It aged for a year in new French oak casks. The wood is there, but it doesn’t feel crushing. It shouldn’t be drunk in big gulps, but rather slowly.

Just as Autumn and Winter feasts, which take their time given the rich and substantial table with the food acting as a more complex and demanding partner. I agree with the producer when he suggests oven dishes. I’m thinking about Christmas.

Contacts
Sociedade Agrícola da Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima, S.A.
Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima
2090-222 Alpiarça
Tel: (+351) 243 559 070
Email: geral@lagoalva.pt
Website: www.lagoalva.pt

Bottled wine was for parties

November 4, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Fifty years ago, copyright “did not dilute into the sea of currently existing brands and it wasn’t as vulnerable to ‘market preferences’ and to opinion makers’ classifications. This made customer loyalty possible, which strengthened brands, companies, business and the style of the wine” – explains Virgílio Loureiro.

“Bottled wine was for special occasions, and the most sought-after was Dão. This popularity had been granted mostly because those had been the first wines to be bottled, and not for their quality. The brand was “collective”, associated to the region of origin, and was almost always superimposed over the company brand. There were also some individual brands, some of which were legendary as a result of the quality of the wine and mainly of the genius method with which it was advertised,” tells Virgílio Loureiro.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Grao Vasco-label

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Grao Vasco-label 2

An iconic example is Grão-Vasco, which emerged in 1958 after Fernando Guedes (Sogrape) visited Dão. The brand was named the after a painter, Vasco Fernandes (Grão-Vasco – 15^th and 16^th centuries), who was from Viseu.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Buçaco branco

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Buçaco tinto

Between the Dão and Bairrada regions, there is the classic Buçaco (white and red) from Bussaco Palace Hotel. For bureaucratic reasons, it has no harvest date, but the year of the blend tells us in what year it was harvested. Alexandre Almeida, the founder’s nephew, tells us that everything started because it was the “house wine” and the first bottle dates from 1917.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Bussaco 1

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Bussaco 2

Wines are traditionally made through the combination of Bairrada and Dão grapes – traditional farmer wines, not oenologist wines. “From the start, the goal was to allow the traveller to discover local gastronomy and wines while they experienced a genuine cultural statement”. At the table, traditional dishes were served “at the same level as the Escoffier cuisine, which was modern at the time”.

In the year 1964, Adega Cooperativa de Borba Reserva appeared. It was simply known as “cork label”, because they used cork instead of paper.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Adega de Borba cork Label

Some wines have been renamed: Tinto Velho (1878) is now José de Sousa. Conde d’Ervideira Reserva (circa 1880) still exists, but above that is yet the Conde d’Ervideira Private Selection. This wine was brought back from the dead; its production was abandoned in 1954 and restarted in 1991.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Jose de Sousa 1

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Jose de Sousa 2

Gaeiras Branco, made with the Vital grape variety, experienced great prestige in the 60s and 70s – however, it only started receiving awards in 1876.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Gaeiras Reserva

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Gaeiras tinto

It died down for a few years, having re-emerged with the 2013 harvest – its heir is Casa das Gaeiras Vinhas Velhas.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Gaeiras

One of the most reputed Alentejo wines was named after Peramanca, the place. It was registered in the 19^th century by José António Soares and gained value, but then finished. In 1987, the Pêra Manca brand was donated to the foundation [Fundação] Eugénio de Almeida, under the condition that it was to only appear in exceptional years. The first white is from 1990 and the red is from 1991. The original label features a watercolour by Alfredo Roque Gameiro (1864 – 1935), but in 2003, it was redesigned and simplified.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Pera Manca tinto

Blend-All-About-Wine-Bottled-Wine-Was for parties-Pera Manca branco

John Reynolds, Thomas Reynolds’s grandson who bought Herdade do Mouchão, decided to plant a vineyard of the Alicante Bouschet grape variety – for the first time in Portugal. Mouchão was also reborn, in 1985. The cellar was raised in 1901 and production was carried out until the occupation of the (Marxist) Agrarian Reform.

Contrary to how I had originally predicted, I found more brands than expected. It’s impossible to remember them all. I will list a few more: Caves do Solar de São Domingos, Colares Chitas, Viúva Gomes, Lagoa Reserva, Messias Santola, Messias Vinho Verde, Messias Rosé, Frei João, Porta de Cavaleiros, Montes Claros, Pasmados…

Wine from everywhere – starting with Douro

October 30, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

During the Portuguese Colonial War, the army was supplied with bottled wine. “Back then, selling wine by the glass was forbidden, because the state suspected that this was an opportunity to taint the wine.” In 1965, a scandal exploded when people started selling vinho a martelo [wine “by the hammer” or counterfeit wine]. This beverage is “made by fermenting sugar and adding water and food colouring”, according to Vasco d’Avillez.

White or red? Full! “Most people had no idea what a good wine was, and they drank what they were used to, whether it was a washed-out red or an oxidised and heavy white”, explains Vasco d’Avillez.

Oenologist Virgílio Loureiro says that “before the 60s, wine in Portugal wasn’t much better than it had been in the previous 250 years. Cult spots for consuming and buying it were taverns, where it was almost invariably sold in bulk. Customers’ demands weren’t high, because the glass was served up to the top – preventing people from appreciating the aroma – and it was generally drunk at once.”

Although taverns in Lisbon and in Porto had favourite areas of origin (but not designated origins), they sold wines from different locations. Wine mostly came from the tavern governor’s hometown.

The Douro region was first outlined in 1756. The company that established this is still around, and is known as Real Companhia Velha. For centuries, Port Wine was the real deal; unfortified wines had no special status.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-Grandjó

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-Grandjó-2

This company owns iconic Douro brands. In 1912, Grandjó was created especially for late-harvest wines. Only in the 60s did the first wines without Botrytis Cinerea appear in response to the demand for lighter wines.

Evel was “born” in 1913 – evel is light [“leve”] written backwards. “The idea was to create an elegant, soft and light wine”, explains Pedro Silva Reis, the head of Real Companhia Velha. “The first wines corresponded to those characteristics, much like nowadays: elegant, soft and, in a way, light. Only a few brands were around in those times and only a small part of the wine was bottled and labelled. The brand became more well-known in the 30s and 40s, which is how one can explain why it took a few years before it was considered truly successful.” In the following two decades, Evel made its way to the table of the head of state; from then onwards, labels included a note that said “Supplier to the Presidency of the Republic”.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-RCV-Cellar

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-Pedro Silva Reis

Real Companhia Velha also owns the opposite of the Evel brand. Porca de Murça, created in 1928, was a tribute to a pre-historic monument found in a square of Murça, a small village. “Strong, full-bodied red wines. They only started producing whites a few years later. The brand achieved high levels of fame between the 40s and 60s. It has recently enjoyed moments of glory again, as it became the best-selling Douro brand in the world”, states Pedro Silva Reis.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-Barca Velha 1952

Blend-All-About-Wine-Wine-from-everywhere-starting-with-Douro-Casa-Ferreirinha-Reserva-Especial 1960

When on the Douro subject, two wines have to be mentioned, which many consider to be two of the best in Portugal: Barca Velha (1952) and Ferreirinha Reserva Especial (1960). Sogrape has established that wines of a stronger storing potential must be called Barca Velha [“old boat”], and those whose longevity is expected to be lower must be called Ferreirinha Reserva Especial [special reserve].

The spirit and style never change. So far, 17 Barca Velha and 16 Ferreirinha Reserva Especial have been released (between 1989 and 1987, the law forbade using the adjective especial).

Three great brands: Casal Garcia, Lancers and Mateus

October 28, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

For someone who studied history, to write a long chronicle about wines, and in chapters, it feels like a cat that got the cream. The Egyptian civilisation lasted almost 3200 years and fits in a book… more or less. I marked down the 50 year-old brands and chose the survivors – a lot of wine was sold in bulk, and in litre bottles, known for the six embossed stars.

Vasco d’Avillez, now the president of the Lisbon Wine Growing and Producing Committee (Commissão Vitivinícola de Lisboa), remembers that wine exports back then “rose at a high rate, and that producers started collecting very high-quality materials.”

After the Second World War, two North-American citizens had huge influence on business in Portugal. They predicted that when troops returned, they would bring European souvenirs with them, and wine would be one of the top choices. However, nothing would have happened if it weren’t for the vision of two Portuguese men: António Porto Soares Franco (José Maria da Fonseca) and Fernando Guedes (Sogrape).

The Count of Vila Real, whose house is in Mateus, was once visited by an American, who, upon tasting a wine of the Alvarelhão variety, said that it would make a good rosé. Sogrape, founded in 1942, took the hint and followed the advice given to the titled man.

The wine was named after the small baroque palace, and Sogrape made a contract with the Count of Vila Real to use a picture of the building. However, there is no other connection between the Mateus mansion and the wine.

Down south, in Azeitão, José Maria da Fonseca was already cooking up a rosé. Faísca was a commercial success hosting promotional dos, events, sponsors… In 1944, Henry Behar, who had a distributor in the United States, wanted to take it, but there was a big problem! Faísca sounds a little like fiasco. He thought of “The Surrender of Breda”, the painting by Diego Velázquez, also known as “Las Lanzas”, or “Lancers.”

Blend-All-About-Wine-Casal Garcia-Lancers-Mateus-Lancers

Vasco d’Avillez stresses that millions of litres were produced in the beginning. In 1975, the Mateus achieved 36 million bottles, and Lancers made 18 million. Another sales champion is Casal Garcia, the oldest brand of Vinho Verde.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Casal Garcia-Lancers-Mateus-Mateus

Blend-All-About-Wine-Casal Garcia-Lancers-Mateus-Casal Garcia

In 1938, French oenologist Eugène Hélisse “landed” by chance in Quinta da Aveleda – the episode runs long. Although reluctant, Roberto Guedes accepted his spontaneous application. Incipient consumer tests were done among family and friends, establishing the wine’s profile. Where to put it? A blue bottle seemed seductive, and the label is a reproduction of the lady’s scarf. Aveleda quickly started making heavy investments on promotion. Of the many types of aphorism used as incentives for shopping, a slogan stayed with us… and until today: “Haja alegria. Haja Casal Garcia»[literally: May there be joy [alegria]. May there be Casal Garcia.]

Both brands went global and invested heavily on promotion to such a point that counterfeits emerged. Because of their popularity, political activists in many countries rallied to boycott the purchase of these two wines, given the Portuguese political regime at the time, and the wars in Africa.

Two magnates

October 21, 2015 1 comment in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

Abel Pereira da Fonseca was a prosperous wine dealer. In 1906, he opened a trading post in Poço do Bispo – away from touristic routes. However, the building makes an interesting sight for those with enough time to spare. The avenue wasn’t there before and boats used to dock to offload the wine from the southern border of Tejo.

At the time, taverns were linked to the coal business. This businessman created the Val do Rio network, with venues where one could enjoy a nice glass of wine in a neat environment. In 1928, there were about 50 venues, and in 1937, there were close to one-hundred. The middle class from Lisbon could thus have their wine without having to mix with dirty poor people.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two Magnates-Abel-Pereira-da-Fonseca

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two Magnates-Abel-Pereira-da-Fonseca-2

Fernando Pessoa, a worldwide genius of poetry, was an odd character, known to not have many friends. In the middle of the afternoon, he would leave his office chair, where he often got bored with reality, and would say: “I shall meet with my friend Abel.”

His friend Abel was the glass in Val do Rio tavern, filled with some product made by Abel Pereira da Fonseca. Once photographed, Pessoa signed the picture saying “Caught Red-handed.”

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two-Magnates-Fernando-Pessoa

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two-Magnates-Fernando-Pessoa-signature

That year, 1937, Abel Pereira da Fonseca left the business – the brand was handed to others, unimportant business for the present story – and focused on Quinta das Cerejeiras in Bombarral municipality. There, he created a resistant iconic brand.

Quinta das Cerejeiras became a reference for quality, displayed on menus of the best restaurants. The taste and consumption pattern changed. The ten years of bottle-ageing were shortned. Yet, Quinta das Cerejeiras Reserva wines are a reference in the Lisbon region, and compulsory for those interested in national nectars.

Another renowned magnate was João Camillo Alves, a barber in the suburban village of Bucelas, who became a middleman between producers in the village and the Lisbon bourgeois who made Bucelas their summer spot. From selling there to selling in the capital, it was only a short step.

Caves Camillo Alves cellars are now part of the Enoport group, which encloses other big companies from olden days, such as Caves Velhas or Caves Dom Teodósio – Teodósio Barbosa, another wine magnate one-hundred years ago.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two Magnates-ROmeira

This company obviously owns brands that last for generations. The most iconic is perhaps Romeira. It’s a red wine born in a region where only white grapes are allowed in wine with a protected designation of origin.

The foundation of Quinta da Romeira, in Bucelas, goes back to the 17^th century, and has since known different owners; it was resold again a year ago. The Romeira brand, belonging to Caves Velhas, was created in 1912. In the 70s, in the 20^th century, oenologist Manuel Vieira made a lot of grapes from the Península de Setúbal. It was later produced entirely in Palmela, and now it’s made in Alentejo.

When you talk about a wine from Bucelas, you must mention Bucellas, created by Caves Velhas in 1939. Is the customer always right, as the aphorism says? No! And unfortunately, business is business and companies aren’t made for losses. Bucelas wines lived for many long years – excellent. The Bucellas Garrafeira were the Bucelas. The last to be made was the 1998, and I drank it this year. Colossal!

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two Magnates-Abel-Pereira-da-Fonseca-Serradyres-2

Blend-All-About-Wine-Two Magnates-Abel-Pereira-da-Fonseca-Serradyres

A very old wine is Serradayres (Enoport), first sold in 1896 by Conde de Castro Guimarães in Ribatejo – nowadays a region of the Tejo. By the way, the count’s residence is in Cascais. It’s a great museum to visit.

Still within the same company, the Lagosta (Enoport) is an old reference dating from 1902. A light and carefree wine, free from the weight of the history of other brands.

And there I was, thinking I could get the story out in just a few lines… stay tuned, I’ll be serving another round soon.

The time when there were (almost) zero brands of wine in Portugal

October 14, 2015 no comments in Uncategorized by João Barbosa

Text João Barbosa | Translation Jani Dunne

I’m old! It’s true! No matter how much I call a guy “dude”, the truth is I’m the same as my dad, who died when he was 90 years old, and referred to his friends as “young men my age”.

This statement of mine about being old isn’t even related to age, but to a country that is no longer. Not because it was a teenager, but because it was something else. In Portugal, people rarely wore branded clothes until 1986… Adidas trainers? We used to say: “They must be… Adidas from the chemists.” The anti-mainstream records came from Great Britain, either in the post or if a friend were visiting there. Pop stars were on the cover of Bravo, a magazine in German that hardly anybody could read. Who was Nena?! Two or three years later we learned who she was when her hit, Ninety Nine Red Balloons, finally made it here.

We would go to Spain to buy trainers, toffee, and Alicante nougat. Spain smelled like the horrible Ducados cigarettes, and the coffee was undrinkable. The Spanish used to visit Portugal for Easter to eat codfish, seafood in Alentejo – even if it had travelled over 90 miles from the Atlantic – and to buy towels and bedspreads.

In that 70s black-and-white Portugal, or in the following decade’s faint-coloured version, wine had no brand. In Lisbon, they had taverns with casks full of lees… wine from the “small town”, and “purinho do produtor” [pure and straight from the producer]… Brands? One or two; except for Vinho do Porto and Vinho da Madeira.

In 2014, there were 2067 wine growers and 4212 wine growers and producers. In Portugal, as in other EU countries, there was a lot of urbanisation, and the primary sector lost weight in the country’s Economy. Thirty years ago, there were many more wine producers, but much fewer growers and producers. Cooperatives had an important role in the industry.

I decided to write this text about two or three brands. However, I noticed that those “two or three” were, in fact, much more than that. And still… The number is, after all, irrelevant. The business and the consumption of wine have changed a lot in the last 30, or 25, and even in the last 20 years. I am happy with the resistant ones and with the “reborn” ones. I thought they wouldn’t outnumber my fingers… I realised I needed three other people’s fingers to count them all, or perhaps even more.

Alentejo was known for the wheat fields and for the forests of cork oak and holm oak. In Douro, they made Port – period. Douro and Bairrada were very important. However, Portugal has old brands, which in some cases may even compare to the most famous French wines.

The most obvious case is Periquita, produced in the Península de Setúbal region. The recipe has been changing, but it was basically made of Castelão grapes – such a big success that it spread all around, turning the brand into a synonym of the grape variety. It’s now a trademark after the legal battle won by the José Maria da Fonseca company.

Blend-All-About-Wine-Periquita-150anos pub-3

Blend-All-About-Wine-Periquita-150anos pub-2

When I say Periquita, I’m talking about 1880, although it is known that a bottle from the previous decade has been traded, and rumour has it, an 1850 bottle too. In 1886, it earned an international award.

Lilliput! Thousands, millions of Portuguese people making their own wine. Just a few brands. Two companies stood out: João Camillo Alves and Abel Pereira da Fonseca, colossal at the time. The difference was such that an anecdote of questionable taste emerged: “In his deathbed, Mr. Fonseca might have said to his descendants that even from grapes you could make wine”.

It’s a (silly) joke, because Abel Pereira da Fonseca was an honourable man, and was once part of big business, for instance the José Maria da Fonseca company – which was extremely serious – only the founder had that surname. In any case, the anecdote reflects the truth.

I will leave that truth for another chronicle.

Contacts
Quinta da Bassaqueira – Estrada Nacional 10,
2925-542 Vila Nogueira de Azeitão, Setúbal, Portugal
Tel: (+351) 212 197 500
E-mail: info@jmf.pt
Website: www.jmf.pt

Posts By : João Barbosa

Herdade das Servas 2013 wines with friends

Goya’s painting is a “terroir”

Colares wines

Pôpa Fiction – three wines given to crime and seduction,Quinta do Pôpa

Lagoalva Barrel Selection Red 2013

Bottled wine was for parties

Wine from everywhere – starting with Douro

Three great brands: Casal Garcia, Lancers and Mateus

Two magnates

The time when there were (almost) zero brands of wine in Portugal