Text Sarah Ahmed

As a writer, what’s more a wine writer, how can it be that I had no idea that there are two definitions for the word “wine” in English !?! According to Oxford Dictionaries wine is not only “an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice” (the noun) but also a verb – “a dance with rhythmic gyratory movements of the pelvic region”. How very Elvis I thought until I noticed that the etymology is West Indian!

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Life is full of surprises. Take Simplesmente Vinho wine fair, a gathering of 22 maverick Portuguese wine producers where wine – noun and verb – collided in a heady, holistic, synergistic exchange between winemakers, artists and musicians.

I attended their second fair which took place earlier this year at (in fact beneath) the downtown Porto office of Skrei – a young practice of architects and craftsmen dedicated to urban regeneration. And regenerate the cellars they did, lining the walls with bottles of Portuguese soils, the rooting media of vines and, with sunlight, the generator of grapes and wines.

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As for the musicians, Caixa de Pandora, Bitrigode Trio and Thee Magnets, Simplesmente Vinho founder João Roseira (Quinta do Infantado) says “I’m crazy about music so, to be at a wine show where there’s good music is great, but it’s also about putting wine into people’s reality and bringing wine down to earth”.

Co-founder and fellow Douro winemaker Mateus Nicolau de Almeida (Muxagat) couldn’t agree more – “Simplesmente Vinho is not pretentious. We want to demystify wine and wine growers because special wines can be simple and can be drunk simply which is why we, the producers, are not behind tables – consumers feel that we are with them”. Roseira adds, where 90% of wine in Portugal is sold by supermarkets, it’s important to meet with consumers at fairs or the cellar door, also to support the cavistes who hand sell wines “because then people are learning about wine”.

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This inclusive, consumer-driven approach also explains the modest entry fee of €4. Something of a bargain to taste wines from 22 artisanal estates (including many personal favourites) alongside food from Oporto leading chefs Rui Paula of DOP/DOC, Luís Américo of O Mercado, also Joana Vieira and André Antunes of Delicatum in Braga who lists no less than 20 organic wines.

Although many of the Simplesmente Vinho producers work organically, sometimes biodynamically, Nicolau de Almeida says their philosophies and ideas about agriculture and winemaking are not necessarily the same. However, the common thread at this wine fair “created by producers for producers” is that everyone is “looking to what the vineyard, region and grapes give and not what the market wants” when they create their wines. Invariably, they also themselves work the vineyards as well as making and selling the wines. This way, he observes, “the people coming know what kind of producers we are and what kind of wine we are making”, which makes it more productive than attending one of the big, mainstream wine fairs “where small producers can get lost – everyone [producers and consumers] gets more facetime at Simplesmente Vinho”.

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In fact drawing its inspiration from France’s Haut Les Vins, Simplesmente Vinho is similarly an “off salon” timed to take place alongside Essência do Vinho, a much larger wine fair at which some 350 producers showed their wares this year. Which is not to say that Simplesmente Vinho is divisive. Far from it. As Roseira keenly points out, while it is “very difficult to get people together in Portugal since we are not very collaborative people, Essência do Vinho has provided the opportunity for more wine events to be held which helps to raise Oporto’s profile as Portugal’s capital of wine”. Rousing words about the city that Roseira says “breathes wine” and which I suggest you make a diary note now to visit next February or March when Simplesmente Vinho and Essência do Vinho once more take place.

 

This year, the following Portuguese producers attended Simplesmente Vinho:

Minho: Fernando Paiva – Quinta da Palmirinha | Tony Smith – Quinta de Covela | Vasco Croft – Aphros.

Douro: João Roseira – Quinta do Infantado | Joaquim Almeida – Quinta Vale de Pios | Mateus Nicolau de Almeida – Muxagat | Rita Marques – Conceito | Tiago Sampaio – Olho no Pé.

Dão: Álvaro e Maria Castro – Quinta da Pellada | António Madeira – António Madeira | João Tavares de Pina – Terras de Tavares | José Manuel e Carlos Ruivo – Lagar de Darei.

Bairrada: Dirk Niepoort – Quinta de Baixo (Niepoort Projectos) | Filipa Pato – Filipa Pato | Luís Pato – Luís Pato | Mário Sérgio Nuno – Quinta das Bágeiras.

Tejo e Lisboa: Paulo Saturnino Cunha – Pinhal da Torre | António Marques da Cruz – Quinta da Serradinha | Marta Soares – Casal Figueira.

Alentejo: Miguel Louro – Quinta do Mouro | Vitor Claro – Dominó.

Contacts

Simplesmente Vinho
vinhosimplesmente.2013@gmail.com
simplesmenteVinho