CityLife

Portuguese wines impress at dinner

Portugal is producing a variety of contrasting wines

I WAS lucky enough attend a Portuguese winemakers’ dinner at the Kitchen@the Circle Club restaurant in the Barton Arcade.

It wasn’t just the quality of chef Neil Lorenzo’s food that impressed (his dry cured pork belly cinammon and nutmeg, pumpkin and apple, in particular), the six wines from the Douro estate of Quinta do Portal were equally exceptional.

Like so many wineries in this traditionally port-producing region, they have diversified into producing table wines, particularly reds using some of the grapes that would once have gone into their fortified product.

The dinner was staged by Hanging Ditch, the cutting edge wine shop in the shadow of Manchester Cathedral. All the wines we tasted are or will shortly be on its shelves.
 

In truth, the Quinta do Portal 2003 Vintage Port (£45 a bottle) was a little young, dark and brooding as Heathcliff’s badass elder brother, but with such ripe fruit you forgave the unyielding tannins. It coped easily with the chocolate brandy pot pud.
 

We tried it alongside the Quinta do Portal 20-year-old Tawny, a smoothly figgy, spicy port that lingered on the palate beguilingly. The grapes for this are still crushed by foot before it is aged in 550-litre barrels for at least 20 years.

For this degree of attention to detail, £40 a bottle seems almost reasonable.

Most of firm’s vineyards lie at highish altitudes above the Douro river (they produce more than half their grapes themselves, the rest are bought in), so escaping the torrid summer heat and imbuing a rare elegance.

This was most evident with the Grande Reserva Red 1996 (£30), a blend of touriga nacional and tinta roriz with some well-integrated new oak and ample bottle age. It was wonderfully smoky and herby, mint in evidence, supple with a lick of food-friendly acidity. Gorgeous.

Quinta do Portal Touriga Nacional Douro red 2000 (£27.50) was another smooth devil, all cherries and spice with a slight alcoholic kick.

In contrast, the Quinta do Portal Reserva red 2007 (£15) offered violet scents and ripe fruit but obviously has years left to develop.

The sole white, Quinta do Portal 2007 (£11.50), was a fresh tropical fruit aperitif with much surprising finesse for the region, a tribute to winemaker Pedro Branco who was present at the dinner.

One Douro speciality we didn’t try on the night was White Port, a favourite tipple in Portugal hardly known over here.

Splash out £14.99 on Caldas Porto White from Alvas de Sousa (topselection.co.uk). It can apparently be served three ways – as an aperitif (one third port, two thirds tonic or sodawater, served in a hi-ball glass filled with ice and topped with any fresh fruit), with creamy cheese and with creamy, fruity or nutty dessertsm. On its own it is velvety and aromatic but quite neutral.

I tasted this and two other unusual whites to showcase the Independent Winegrower’s association of Portugal. Espumante Maria Gomes 2008, a soft sparkler from Luis Pato of Bairrada, offered flowery aromas and delicate citrus flavours. It costs £12. Go to raymondreynolds.co.uk.

From Casa de Cello comes Quinta de Sanjoanne Vinho Verde 2008, very weighty for this traditionally fragile white style but still crisp with typical aromas of herbs and white peaches with a rich, green apple creaminess in the mouth. (£7.99 from lescaves.co.uk).