Portugal: 'wines of the moment' (and restaurant tips in Funchal).

Or Portuguese 'holiday wines of the moment' since these recommendable bottles were sampled and enjoyed recently on the wonderful island of Madeira (a separate piece on two Madeira cellars is here), enhanced by a few eating-out tips where some of them were discovered. These are all convincing examples of just how happening Portugal now is on several different levels: well-made flavoursome wines, across the red white and rosé spectrum, fantastic diversity including many excellent (although sometimes difficult to get your tongue around pronunciation-wise) indigenous grape varieties and, to crown off the clichés, often good value too! 

Portugal: Bairrada, Dão, Douro - new winery profiles and updates on Aliança, Portal and Romeu

Fully updated profiles on Quinta do Portal and Aliança Vinhos de Portugal with their latest ranges reviewed (including a Portal Vintage Port retrospective featuring vintages from 1995 to 2000...), can be found in my new special Portugal report (click there for more info and to buy for just £2.50 or free if you subscribe for £10 a year). Includes RMJ's complete run-down on these wineries and several new wines. There's also a summary on my Portugal archive page HERE (scroll down).

From quintadoromeu.com

Quinta do Romeu – Douro Valley

A taster:

"The Menéres family estate was established in 1874, and the company is now run by João Pedro Menéres, José Clemente Menéres and Manuel Menéres Sampaio... "... We do not use any chemicals in our farming,” their site goes on in that glib manner. Ahh! That's the one thing that annoys me most about organic producers..." The complete rant, profile, reviews of the tasty wines below and where to get them can be found in my new special Portugal report (click there for more info and to buy or subscribe).

2013 Rosé (Tinta Cão, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional – tank sample at the time) – yeast-lees notes, nice gummy zippy mouth-feel with fresh and gentle red fruit finish. Expensive though (in the UK anyway): £10.99. €6.25 cellar door.

2011 Moinho do Gato red (Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz) – attractive soft fruity style with peppery touches, has a bit of grip vs juicy fruit on the finish. £8.99, $15. €4.50 cellar door.

2010 Quinta do Romeu red (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Sousão) – aromatic floral red/blue berry fruits, nice soft fruity palate with light tannins and fresh acidity too; very attractive red drinking now. £10.85, $19. €6.25 cellar door.

2010 Reserva red (“field blend picked and fermented together with some oak ageing,” mostly Touriga Nacional with Touriga Franca and Sousão) – touch of coco oak and more structured vs still plenty of that nice juicy fruit, firmer finish yet well rounded too. £14.99, $27. €10.50 cellar door.

Portugal: Quinta da Falorca, Dão

This pretty 13 hectare estate lurks in the increasingly hot Dão region about 10 miles from the historic town of Viseu, lining the somewhat inclined banks of the Dão river itself. There are four Quintas or vineyards actually – Vale das Escadinhas (perhaps the best-known one), Barreiro, Esmoitada and Falorca – where vines are kept company by olive, nut and pine trees. I'm told Quinta Vale das Escadinhas goes back a long long way and was founded by the Costa Barros de Figueiredo family. More info @ qve.pt or on London wine merchant Armit's site, who had these flavoursome little Portuguese numbers at their recent tasting. Mind you, they're on the dear side though...

2010 rosé (Touriga Nacional, 13.5% alc.) - big fruity rosé style with boiled sweet notes, dried red fruits vs tangier redcurrant and Morello cherry edges; good but expensive. £12

2010 white (Encruzado and Malvasia, 13% alc.) - juicy with light yeast-lees notes, banana vs green fruit combo, bit of oomph too vs crisp, full tasty and long finish. £14

2004 Reserva red (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro Preto, Tinta Pinheira, Jaen; 14.5% alc.) - rich smoky black cherry, chocolate, liquorice and pepper aromas / flavours; chunky and grippy vs attractive dried fruits and complex smoky maturing finish. £20

2006 E-Falorca red (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro Preto, Tinta Pinheira, Jaen; 14.5%) - smoky nose with sweet dark berries vs herby peppery tones, punchy and firm vs developing nice sweet fruit edges vs still very lively. £11

Lots more Portugal here.

Portugal: Caves Aliança

Profile and tasting notes are here (Portugal archive page, scroll down)...