Portugal has undergone something of a wine revolution over the past two decades, modernizing its winemaking technologies, styles and attitudes. This archetypal Old World country has Long been famous for its fortified wines (Port and Madeira) and its light, tangy Vinho Verde. But it is now attracting much attention for its New wave of Rich, ripe table wines, especially the reds of the Douro Valley.
Portugal's place in the wine world is arguably more about its cork production than its wine, but that largely depends on which period of history you choose.
In the 18th century, when England's supply of French wine was threatened by deteriorating international relations, the Portuguese Vineyard proved more than capable of Filling the void. It was only in the 20th century, when international demand for Portuguese wines dwindled to almost nothing, that Portugal took the lead in world cork production. In the 21st century, the Portuguese cork industry is struggling (due to the increasing popularity of plastic stoppers and metal screw caps), but the country's wines are on the rise again, led by the Dry reds of the Douro and Dao.
Portugal's many grape varieties and their countless regional synonyms are the bane of ampelographers.
Some are endemic to Portugal (e. g. Touriga Nacional), while others are shared with neighboring Spain (e. g.
sparkling wines from the region of Portugal go well with generally quite well with dishes of pork, beef or mature and hard cheese such as recipes of special' tagliatelle carbonara, american fillet (belgian-style beef tartar) or 4 cheese fondue.
On the nose in the region of Portugal often reveals types of flavors of tree fruit, citrus fruit or earth and sometimes also flavors of microbio, citrus or green apple.
The Francs de Pied (Ungrafted Vines) group, which last met two weeks ago at Pasquet’s Liber Pater winery in the Graves, consists of a growing circle of vignerons who work with ungrafted vineyards planted to native varieties. The list includes Francs de Pied president Loïc Pasquet himself, vice-president Egon Müller (Mosel), and secretary Andrea Polidoro of Cupano (Montalcino) and Contrada Contro (Marche); as well as Gocha Chkhaidze of leading Georgian winery, Askaneli; Thibault Liger-Belair (Bur ...
The Champagne houses, part of the family-owned EPI Group, announced their B Corp certification after scoring 91.9 points in the assessment by B Lab, a non-profit network founded in 2006 with the aim of improving corporate performance in the spheres of social and environmental issues, plus accountability and transparency. The certification involves an assessment of the social and environmental impact of each brand through more than 200 questions concerning governance, employees, communities and t ...
More than 4,000 wine professionals and enthusiasts gathered in the French capital to watch the world’s best sommeliers vie for glory. Local favourite Pascaline Lepeltier, a Master Sommelier from Anjou, was eliminated at the semi-final stage, leaving just three experts to battle for the title. Tomsons was up against Nina Jensen of Denmark and China’s Reeze Choi, all of whom were put through their paces in a series of tasks designed to test their knowledge, tasting skills, service acumen and abili ...
