By Dwight Casimere
In Portugal, wine is an essential part of everyday life. A meal is not complete without a glass of wine. With summer approaching, there’s no better time to get familiar with the versatile and infinitely affordable wines of Portugal.
Portugal is best known for its Traditional Port wine from the Douro wine region, or Douro DOC (Denominacao de Origem Controlada), as it is officially known. The stunning Douro River snakes through some of northern Portugal’s most picturesque mountains and valleys from the Spanish border to the Atlantic cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gala, a region that has been declared a World Heritage Site.
Port is a fortified wine, to which brandy or cognac has been added to the original fermented grape juice to create the Port wine we know today. It has been a staple of the Portuguese wine industry since the 17th century. Due to the monopolistic control of the fortified Port wine lodge association, the world knows very little of Portugal’s unfortified table wines, known as Douro wines, until Portugal’s entry into the European Union in 1986, and unfortified wines were allowed to flourish. Thankfully, the world is now aware of some of the finest wines Europe has to offer and often at spectacularly reasonable prices.
New to the USA is Casa Ferreirinha’s Callabriga Douro DOV 2019 ($24.99), blend of Touriga Nacional, the flagship wine of Portugal, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz. A versatile wine, Callabriga is vibrant, with a complex floral bouquet and dominant flavors of deep red plums, blackberries and hints of strawberries, ginger, and mint.
Back notes of pepper and spice make it the perfect companion to a backyard barbecue. Some ribs or an extravagant tenderloin slow roasted over smoldering coals while sipping a pre-prandial glass of Callabriga is the way to go. Don’t hold back on the marinating spices. Lush tannins and well-integrated oak give the wine enough body to stand up to your most robust rub.
Hand-pickled grapes at the peak of ripeness at Ferreirinha’s top estate properties at Quinta da Leda and its surroundings are gently crushed and fermented in stainless steel tanks under controlled temperatures.
Long post-fermentation maceration ensures extraction of the high-quality aromatic components that make this a spectacular wine.
Aged for 12 to 18 months in French and American oak, this is a wine that tastes great now.
If you like Napa Valley Reds, this is the wine for you, and costs at about a third of the price of the flagship California blends you already know and love. For more, visit evaton.com.
As always drink responsibly.
