For such a small country, Portugal really does have a vast offering when it comes to wine, both in terms of indigenous grape varieties and producers. There are now over 1,500 producers, many of them too small to get their wines onto the shelves of supermarkets or enter the export market.
The best places to discover and taste unusual wines made by small producers are the many wine bars, which also serve food, to be found all over Portugal these days.
One such establishment where I live in Carvoeiro in the Algarve is Touriga Wine & Dine. There is no wine list here but rather a wine wall with prices marked by the glass or for a bottle. Almost all of the wines on display can be served by the glass (using a vacuum pump to avoid the wine oxidising once opened).
The food here is designed to be shared and consists mostly of authentic Portuguese dishes such as clams or razor clams “à Bulhão Pato” (with garlic and fresh coriander), prawns in a mildly spicy piri-piri sauce and “Bacalhau à Brás” (salt cod with egg and potato). But they also serve other dishes such a good tornedo steak and slowly braised pig cheeks in a red wine sauce.
On a recent visit, to accompany all of the aforementioned dishes, we sampled three wines, all totally new to me.
With our clams and prawns, we enjoyed the fresh and zesty Loureiro varietal made by the Vinho Verde region organic producer Aphros, a wine with great acidity and clean tropical fruit notes on the nose.
With our codfish, we opted for a white wine with more body, discovering the unusual Pirata da Viúva from the Lisbon region. This is a wine of real character, straw yellow in colour with citric and herbal notes on the nose, good body in the mouth, with a bone-dry finish.
Finally, for our steak and pig cheeks, we enjoyed an excellent medium-bodied red, Vira Cabeças, made from a field blend of local varieties near Portalegre in the Northern Alentejo.
These three wines all offered good value for money, being sold here by the bottle at slightly over €30 and with retail prices (all can be found online) between €15 and €20.
Touriga Wine & Dine – reservations are essential, call 282 075 834.
