Pinto toasts ‘sensational’ 25 year tasting

Portuguese wines could one day rival the likes of Burgundy and Bordeaux in terms of their ageing potential, suggests one producer following a landmark tasting of its wines dating back to 1990.

Christine Allen, brand manager at Duas Quintas, Ramos Pinto

This year Ramos Pinto will celebrate its 25th anniversary since João Nicolau de Almeida, dubbed the “Godfather of the Douro”, pioneered the first Portuguese table wine. Almeida selected five grapes to create his red blend: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Cao, now a classic hallmark of the region.

To mark the milestone, the estate held a private tasting of its Duas Quintas 1990 red, 1994 red and white, 1998 red and white and its current vintage of 2012 and 2013. Speaking to the drinks business at the New Douro Winemakers Tasting in London yesterday Christine Allen, brand manager for the estate’s Duas Quintas, said no one had any idea about the ageing potential of the wines but that they were “blown away” on tasting them.

“The 94s were sensational”, she said. “For being 20 years old they were nowhere near as developed as we expected them to be. They still had fruit behind them. It is the first time we have been able to do that. It was really interesting to see the progression of it – they can age. People don’t realise that. It was really interesting and completely opened my eyes.”

Allen suggested it could preempt a turning point for Portuguese wines, raising recognition of the region among “serious” wine drinkers.

“I think for serious wine drinkers, those people who look for character, traditional drinkers, the fact that these wines offer that ageing potential does offer a viable alternative and at a fraction of the cost compared to Bordeaux and Burgundy. With the craziness going on there with prices I think people are looking to other regions to lay down wines. They have that ageing potential, in very good vintages. A good vintage Port is made with the same grapes as the table wines. That’s the bottom line.”

While still a small category, Portuguese table wines have been steadily gaining recognition in recent years with Allen noting that there is a lot more interest than in recent years. This she partly credits with a surge in the popularity of Spanish wines.

“There is a lot more care and attention being given to [Portuguese table wines] now”, she said, adding that the biggest challenge was educating people about the region’s indigenous grape varieties, which remain relatively unfamiliar to wider consumers.

“One of the things that has really helped is the boom in Spanish wine”, she said. “It’s opened people up to the Iberian peninsula a little bit more. But one of the biggest challenges is the pronunciation of the varieties. Ports that do well are the British brands that are easy to identify. Even for us in the trade, sometimes I blush when I pronounce some of the names so think about the consumer. We need to keep bringing it to the masses and talking about it and pushing it and educating people about it.”