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Wines
A-Z:
P is for Portugal
You've
heard the stories about winegrapes being "stomped"
into juice after being harvested? The practice
is still common in Portugal, the country that
ranks 14th in wine production even though it's
small enough to fit inside the state lines of
Kentucky.
The
Lowdown On Lagares
During
the late 1980s, many of Portugal's long-established
wine estates began modernizing their facilities.
Many...
but not all. At some wineries, the just-harvested
grapes are placed in large stone and wood vats
- think: small pool or large hot tub - known
as lagares.
The
lagares are large enough that several people
can step inside them, and these "purple-toed"
volunteers then crush the grapes by stepping
down on them.
Who
needs a stair-climber for cardio-vascular health
when you have lagares at your disposal?
The
exercise has continued mainly because of the
European respect for tradition, and where still
practiced, it's typically only for the winery's
best bottlings. The crushings by foot are a
gentler way to extract the juice without breaking
the pips (seeds), which contain harsh tannins.
The
2 Portugals
Portugal
is known for its sweet, lush, fortified Port
bottlings. But it also produces a wide array
of excellent dry table wines.
Traditionally,
Portuguese wineries - known as quintas - have
specialized in either Port or table wines .
. . seldom both.
Quintas
can also refer to a single vineyard. For example,
a Port "single-quinta" is a Port produced
typically in an undeclared vintage from a great
vineyard in a single year. They are noteworthy
wines.
And
while Port garners most of the acclaim, the
still wines should not be ignored.
There's
More To Portugal Than Port
The
rise of Portuguese table wines coincided with
the quinta modernization of the last 15 years.
Whereas
Portugal's still wines were once simple, today
they're among the finest in the world.
And
what makes them truly exciting is that they're
made from grapes seldom heard of outside of
Portugal: Alvarinho, Gouveio (or Verdelho),
Baga, Touriga Nacional, etc.
In
fact, the country is home to well over 200 grape
varieties. While there are some varietal bottlings,
most vintners prefer to blend their grapes in
order to maintain quality and flavor identity
from vintage to vintage.
Portugal's
winegrowing regions, from north to south, are
Minho, Douro, Dao, Bairrada, Alentejo and Setubal
- and many of the bottlings are identified simply
by the quinta name and the region.
Douro
is located due east of Oporto, Portugal's second-largest
city and a major shipping port. It's where most
of the country's Port is produced.
Madeira,
located some 500 miles northeast of "continental
Portugal," is a province of Portugal that
produces a fortified wine of the same name -
ranging from "cooking" quality to
lush and complex.
The
Cork Connection
Although
there have been some problems with "tainted"
corks in recent years, cork remains the preferred
bottle closure among vintners and wine drinkers
alike.
Most
of the corks used by U.S. wineries - and virtually
all of the corks used by Portuguese quintas
- come from cork trees growing in Portugal.
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