Portugal Conquers Hearts

Australian winemaker David Baverstock talking about wines of Esporão with Arora

The winemaking is being handled by David Baverstock, an Australian married to a Portuguese and now living in Portugal for the past 20 years. The evening had gained significance as David who is very well known winemaker in Portugal, was present at the dinner explaining about his wines.

But the protagonist of the evening was the Ambassador Mendes himself. Very unassuming, soft spoken with dignified appearance, he went around from table to table, asking the members if they were comfortable and enjoying the wines and the dinner- thus conquering everyone's heart.

Talking about the concept of this evening and thanking Delhi Wine Club for its support through the members' presence, His Excellency informed President Subhash Arora, 'Portugal, as you know, has a long tradition of making wines and makes some excellent stuff. It is our job to support fine producers. When Esporão decided to visit India and showcase their wines we spontaneously decided to help them. They are one of the best well-known producers in the South and I hope they will be able to sell well in India.'

Esporão makes wine from indigenous varieties of super-ripe grapes that hint at the New World style-perhaps reflecting David's philosophy. Generally powerful and fuller bodied Esporão impressed. Monte Velho which I found very young and with the typicity of the local varietals, is a very popular wine and finds its name on practically every restaurant wine list, I was told

Each label of Esporão is designed by a well-known painter. This is an idea that originated from Mouton Rothschild, the first growth of Bordeaux, and makes its labels look attractive and unique.

A word about the Portuguese appellation system is in order, as wines are not yet well-known in this part of the world. Since Portugal joined the EU in 1986, the wine laws have evolved and have become similar to those existing in other EU nations. For instance Denominação da Origem Controlada (DOC) is the highest category, equivalent to AOC in France.

Wines having the potential to get this status are designated as IPR wines, Indicação de Proveniencia Regulamentada. Vinho Regional are regional wines, equivalent of the French Vin de Pays, much more flexible, making many producers including Finagra to choose wines in the category. Vinho de Mesa, like anywhere else are the lowest and most flexible category of table wines.

The growth of Portuguese wines will be as slow as its promotion in the Indian market, where many countries have become very aggressive. But for a wine connoisseur, the big attraction is their terroir and the continued use of autochthonous grape varietals that include Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cão, Trincadeira, Castelão, Baga and the Spanish Tempranillo know in Portugal as Tinto Roriz and Aragonez, many of which make the wine symphonies of Finagra.

The white varietals are Loureiro, Arinto and Antão Vaz some of which the Delhi Wine Club members had the occasion to taste, without getting into the complexity of the grape varietals.

With many progressive wine destination hotels like the Hyatt, Taj, Sheraton, and Imperial looking to widen their spectrum, and many restaurants like Olive Beach focussing on the Mediterranean cuisine, coupled with the still decent and affordable prices, we should soon be able to see these wines conquer our palates through the wine lists of these entities.