Algarve wine boom continues

Paul Rees 30 August 2018

vines The summer heatwave that caused a sharp decline in grape production in several regions of the country has not affected the Algarve in the same way, with local producers optimistic that this year’s harvest will be a bumper one.

Last year’s harvest was up 50% on 2016 but this record should be smashed, with the president of the Algarve Wine Commission saying there is no reason why the Algarve should not be producing more than 2 million litres a year.

The 2018 harvest will be nearer 1.7 million of litres, still a new record but not that much higher than 2016 when the total was 1.6 million litres.

These figures may not mean much to the wine buyer, but remember, in 2010 the region’s producers managed to bottle only 500,000 liters.

Obsessed with volume, the Wine Commission’s Carlos Gracias said that, "the producers' choice has been to produce quality wine rather than quantity, in a clear decision to produce so-called ‘quinta’ wines."

Whatever the struggle between the commission’s desire for volume and the producers’ thrust for quality, its nearly harvest time and oenophiles will be looking forward to producers’ opinions of their harvests and the chances of some vintage production.

Comments

0 #8 Charly 2018-09-02 22:54

A last tip: worldwide there are 5 different groupes of grapes:
1. there is the group of about 50 worldwide utilised "standard grapes" that we are supposed to know (gamay, tourigo mational, syrah, chardonnay, …). All "new world wines" are made with one or more of these kinds.
2. There is a group of very "specific grapes" that guarantees "specific wines in specific areas of the world" (think of Sylvaner, Riesling in Germany and Luxemburg) Pinot Grigio in Italy, Malbec in South-America, Rioja or tempranilla (in Spain) and Aragonez (in portugal), Cabernet Sauvignon for the Blancs de Blancs champagne, etc
3. There is a group of only 7 grapes worldwide which fruit flesh is red (in stead of white). As such these grapes have a very specific function: they are called "tintorettos" = red painting grapes. They give a deep red colour to some red wines. Very special: Herdade dos Grous makes an extraordinary red one from single Alicante Bouschet grapes called "Moon Harvest"
4. is he very specific group of "vinhas velhas" that are vines that survived the phylloxera crisis and as such are probably older than 50 to 80 years. Personally I do NOT believe that the wine makers does NOT KNOW THE NAMES of that uvas reason why they prefer to call them "vinhas velhas" in order to maintain "their mysterious and enigmatic status" . That's of course pure "marketing bullshit !!!
and then there is the 5th category: that is "the remaining bunch of either very old or "unfit" grapes that are still used today in certain (poor) countries for making "poor table wines".

0 #7 Charly 2018-09-02 10:35

Although the European wine classification is very simple : table wine / regional or provincial wine / DOC wine , the Portugese made it quite complicate as they splitted up in normal BA, RESERVA and COLEITE and besides that they like to add about 50 other "adjectifs" that are not only totally irrelevant but in some ways also illegal….
The latest "trick" is the indication "VINHAS VELHAS" particullary in the Douro region. In a way of speaking only ONE single vine in the vinyard is enough to putt the label "vinhas velhas".... and of course there is the inevitable trafficing: at a sudden wine makers take off all practical informations from the back labels and in the same time they substantially increase the prices of "vinhas velhas". In the last years this new vague became an extremely profitable business that is not bound on rules at all ! Who said Portugese wines are an easy and simple matter for consumers (and I have particullary in mind the ignoring tourists and the residents….)

-1 #6 DAVID PIMBLETT 2018-09-02 08:52

Consumers will decide and let us hope that the Portuguese wine industry continues to stride ahead - the days of the sour Daõ wines wrapped in canvas have long gone. I hope that the local wine industry never follows the French route and its obsession with terroir and grand and premier cru when the ranking of the wines depend on where it is grown even if it is crap sometimes. The Portuguese wine industry , and we have toured extensively doing our research, is refreshingly open to new ideas. The last thing that we want is for everything to be Chardonnay or Shiraz - let the varieties be celebrated.

-1 #5 Charly 2018-08-31 13:44

Dear Peter Booker, 3 years at Bx wine university gave me some relatively good "inside info" about wines : grapes, tastes and wine making techics. One of the basic things I learned is that each bowl of the grape has to have a suffisant volume so that it can contain a suffisant quantity of SUGAR which is the base for making a "good wine". In the Portugese 341 grapes's list we find about 250-280 "old grapes" that produce only "very small and thin bowls" that consequentely produce only little sugar. As such their PH is too high meaning they are sour and bitter. One can find these days this type of "very local wines"
at unbelievable low prices. When a tourist (or a resident) is drinking such a wine he might not have a thrilling enthusiasm about "quality" of Portugese wines…. And that's what I ment, Peter.

0 #4 Charly 2018-08-31 11:26

Thinking that all Portugese wines "are all the same" is an extremely poor judgement as it happens that every wine label has its own taste, characteristics, flavors and particularities. the pleasure in wine tasting is to discover all these differences and after that making your own (favorite) choice. In Portugal with his thousands of labels (and every month 20 new ones MORE) this is a never ending experience operation….

+4 #3 Peter Booker 2018-08-31 08:50

My knowledge of wine is limited, but I am surprised at Charly´s view. All over Europe, and is so many ways, our lives are being homogenised. We meet the same type of traffic; we see the same brands of merchandise; wines tend to be made from the same varieties of grape. Our national characteristics are being eroded as we all become European, or worse, an outlying state of the US.

Different grape varieties give different tasting wines. What´s not to like about that?

+2 #2 Darcy 2018-08-31 01:28

Have to say, I have not had a disagreeable bottle of Portugeses wine so far,all highly delightful.

-2 #1 Charly 2018-08-30 22:06

Luckily these days a handfull Algarvian wineries produce good to excellent wines (specially in the field of pink wines like Quinta do Francès, Quinta do Barradas and Barrango Longo ). But unfortunately most of the wineries still use "old and inadequat kinds of grapes" that produce far too acid grapes and consequentely unpleasant wines. In fact it's quite simple to produce "good wines" on condition one starts with growing "good grapes" like the wellknown tourigo national, tourigo franco, aragonez, syrah, chardonnay, Cabernet sauvignon and some other uvas.
Portugal still has 341 different kinds of uvas in its "official list" 3àà of them are "antique" and should better be replaced by "modern grapes" that guarantee "a decent teneur of sugar" producing "drinkable and pleasant wines".

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