Unlike neighbouring Macau, Portuguese wines aren’t well covered in Hong Kong, a city still stuck in the world of French burgundys and bordeauxs than any other region. But perhaps that will change as the native home of Cristiano Ronaldo is experiencing a boom in winemaking as it is in football. Douro, historical for its port producers, is also churning out fine table wines of late, many that are making critics take notice. Perhaps a tour to the region to better grasp the unique terrior of Douro Valley will help understand this brewing trend.
A couple of hours’ drive inland from Porto, northern Portugal, the wine region is one of the most spectacular vineyard areas on earth. An area given UNESCO World Heritage status, you’ll never forget the first time you see the Douro Valley.
Best reached by train from Porto’s San Benito station, visitors are seated in basic carriages, the vehicle snaking through untidy suburbs at first. But after a stop at Régua, the entry point to the Douro Valley, the train tracks run alongside the River Douro; this is when the picturesque journey truly begins.
Steep slopes on either side of the river loom large, with their incredible terraced vineyards decorating the hillsides like contour lines. As you progress, the scenery gets more spectacular, the slopes steeper. White-walled quintas, or wineries, dot the hillsides. Every now and then a tributary appears, with the terraced vineyards continuing down these smaller rivers. Eventually you reach Pinhão; now you are in the very heart of this special wine region.
Unlike Porto, which has a damp, cool, Atlantic-influenced climate, the Douro is sheltered by mountains from the influence of the sea and has hot, dry summers and cold winters. This is the sort of weather grapevines enjoy. It also has a particular soil type: most of northern Portugal is granite, but the Douro is schist, a friable, slate-like soil that fractures easily. While it’s low in nutrients (something that’s also good for wine quality), its structure allows vine roots to penetrate deep to eke out a slow but steady water supply and survive the baking hot summer temperatures.
The Douro has been a fine-wine region for a few hundred years, known for its port wines. These wines, fortified with the addition of brandy after just a few days of fermentation in shallow stone troughs called lagares, are still a specialty of the region. But the attention of fine-wine lovers is now very much on the table wines being made from these spectacular vineyards.
Until 20 years ago there was just one really serious table wine being made here: Barca Velha, a Portuguese classic. The rest were rather basic wines made with leftover grapes that the port producers weren’t interested in. But in recent years there has been a table-wine revolution. The likes of Quinta do Côtto, Niepoort, Quinta do Crasto and Ramos Pinto began in the 1990s to produce wines that made critics sit up and take notice. They were soon joined by others who realised that not only were these vineyards capable of making great ports, but that they could also produce dry red wines that were complex, age-worthy and delicious: fine wines by anyone’s definition.
The tipping point came with the 2001 vintage. By this stage the early adopters already had a few harvests under their belt, and had learned which vineyards were best for table wines – not necessarily those that were best for port. Plenty of high-profile newcomers had also started to release wines. There was real excitement and a spirit of collegiality and cooperation among most of the winemakers. And, unlike in the new world, where emerging regions are hamstrung by having to work with young vines, the winemakers here were beginning with some fabulous old-vine vineyards, some of which were 60 to 80 years old. The established port houses were initially a little nervous about the table-wine revolution, but after a while they decided to join in, with the exception of the Taylor Fladgate group (which owns Croft, Fonseca and Taylor’s).
Now there’s a bewildering array of red wines coming from the Douro. The best Douro reds combine ripe fruit with a hard-to-describe mineral character. It’s tempting to say that this is from the schist soils, but the science of vine root uptake makes this hard to explain. These wines have a freshness as well as fine-grained tannic structure that allows the wine to develop well in the bottle. They are rich but balanced, combining power with elegance.
Do visit the Douro if you get the chance. The quintas look nearby one another but driving from one to another can take ages along bendy, perilous roads. Nothing is easy in the Douro but, much like its wines, it's well worth the effort.
Restaurants in Hong Kong with decent Portuguese wine include Casa Lisboa in Central listing several bottles from Douro wineries. Try the sparkling Neiport Redoma Douro 2008 available at HK$260. For more information, call +852 2905-1168.
