Portugal
JANUARY 2025
Quinta do Vesúvio • Douro Valley, Portugal
Fitapreta • Alentejo, Portugal
Happy New Year! We are kicking off 2025 featuring 3 red wines from Portugal – one from up north in the Douro Valley, land of port wine, and two from Alentejo in southern Portugal. Perfect for this time of year. Hope you enjoy!
Portuguese Grapes
We don't tend to be as familiar with Portuguese grapes as varietals from other European countries, so here's a quick overview:
Touriga Nacional – Portugal's premier grape, used in port wine blends and in red table wines from the Douro & Dão Valleys. Known for its bold fruitiness (blueberries, blackberries, purple plums), soft minerality (slatey stones) and dry finish.
Touriga Franca – Lighter in body than Touriga Nacional and is more perfumy and elegant.
Tinto Roriz = Aragonez = Tempranillo – Red fruit, fuller-bodied, dry as a bone. Thrives in hot, dry areas.
Alicante Boucher – Big, full-bodied red with lots of brambly fruit flavor. It's a teinturier grape, which means it's in a small subset of red grapes where the flesh is red like the skins.
Photo above: Fitapreta (Alentejo) grapes & restored 14th Century building on the property now used as their tasting room
2-BOTTLE CLUB
Quinta do Vesúvio
Douro Valley, Portugal
Known locally as The Queen of the Douro, this 326 hectare property in the Upper Douro Valley (so inland, about 1.5 hours from the Spanish border) – purchased and planted by António Bernardo Ferreira in 1823 – contains an estate house, chapel and winery. The Quinta do Vesúvio train station opened in 1878 and serves the estate still today. Your club wine is named in honor of this train station.
The Ferreira family ran the estate for generations until 1989 when it sold to the Symington family. They have continued producing vintage port in the original winery using the traditional method of foot-treading. They began making Douro red wines in 2007.
Of the 326 hectares, the estate has 133 hectares of vineyards. The rest of the land is "preserved in its natural and wild state." The climate is harsh – extremely hot & dry summers with freezing, brutal winters. Average annual rainfall is approximately 400mm. The soil is "schist with low amounts of organic matter" which is typical for the region.
Quinta do Vesúvio 2020 Comboio do Vesuvio
Douro Valley, Portugal • Reg $29.99 | Mixed Case $23.99
Blend: Touriga Franca 35%, Touriga Nacional 35%, Tinta Roriz 30%. Looks deep and rich in color. Nose is full of blueberries, blackberries, earth & leather, but lush. Flavors of blackberries, black cherries, purple plums, licorice. Fuller-bodied. Vibrant finish with fine tannins. No oak was used in this exquisite wine. Fantastic! Enjoy with roasted and grilled meats. Winery says to drink fresh, now to 2 years.
Aplanta
Alentejo, Portugal
This wine comes from the Moura region of Alentejo, near the border to Spain in southeast Portugal. As are so many wines in Portugal, Aplanta is a co-op wine, but with a crazy story. In 2004, Portugal built the Barragem do Alqueva (Alqueva Dam). As a part of this project, the village of Aldeia da Luz had to be relocated a few kilometers away from its original location. The resettlement plan included "establishing a 200-hectare olive grove and an 83-hectare vineyard, currently owned, and cultivated by the 74 permanent residents of the village. Aplanta sources its fruit from this area".
Altentejo is primarily agricultural plains with some rolling hills. It's hot and dry with schist and sandy loam soils.
Aplanta 2020 Red Blend
Alentejano, Portugal • Reg $19.99 | Mixed Case $15.99
Blend: 80% Aragonez, 20% Alicante Boucher. Racked in French oak barrels for fermentation & aging. A bucket of fresh red & black raspberries on the nose. Plus a little earth. Flavors add in black cherries. Medium-bodied. Finish is elegant, well-balanced, long, smooth with a hint of caramel… but not sweet. Beautifully done. Drink now to 2 years. Enjoy with so many meals from burgers to salmon to casseroles to roasted chicken or beef. Pizza would also be delicious.
3-BOTTLE CLUB
Fitapreta
Alentejo, Portugal
Fitapreta is located in north-central Alentejo about 1.5 hours due east of Lisbon in the subregion of Evora (on the map). It has a dynamic young winemaker, António Maçanita (pictured left with his team in their winter vineyards). He has received several Portuguese Winemaker of the Year awards.
Fitapreta 2020 Carta da Fitapreta
Alentejano, Portugal • Reg $23.99 | Mixed Case $19.19
Blend: Aragonez 50%, Touriga Nacional 30%, Alicante Bouchet 20%. Floral nose: violets + black raspberries. A note of herbs. Then flavors of blackberries, black cherries & black raspberries mixed with scruffy herbs. Medium-body. Licorice, smoke on the finish. Great acidity. You are going to love this wine! We enjoyed with flatiron steak with mushrooms & red cabbage slaw with olives. Perfect. Drink now to 2 years.
Fitapreta • Alentejo, Portugal
A Note from Jens:
I am a huge fan of Portugese wines. Delicious and lots of wine for the money. Perfect for this time of year! Hope you enjoy your wines as much as I did selecting them.
We hope to see you at your wine club pickup tasting (always the 2nd Saturday of the month) to taste and learn about your club wines. At the tasting we will also have the Portalis EXPLORES club wines open featuring Cabernet Sauvignon — Old World vs. New World. Stop by!
Cheers,
Jens Strecker, Owner
Portalis Wine Shop
If you are here because you’re curious about our wine clubs: Here’s more general info & online signup> You can also peruse the last 12 months of both clubs to get a feel for the themes we pick and the wines we showcase: Portalis EXPLORES (our everyday wine club) & Portalis FLAGSHIP (our signature club).