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Portuguese wine is on the upswing. With dazzling new and exotic numbers like Herdade de Peso Colheita, this little nation once decimated by authoritarian politics, now offers consumers a considerable amount of value over some of the traditionally more prestigious European appellations. At the forefront of modernization, and certainly a region to be concerned with in the future, is at the heart of Portugal’s production of dazzlingly brash new reds: Dão.
The Dão wine region is nothing new. In fact, it’s realistically something considerably old. This was the first region to be demarcated in Portugal’s original classification strada, the DOC, originally organized to commemorate a region historically referred to as, “the Burgundy of Portugal.” While seemingly far from this moniker now, at one point this region was known for its light red field blends of oak aged and fairly reserved reds. Wine writer Jancis Robinson notes the Dão as one of the most beautiful wine region in the world, comparable in beauty only to vineyards of the Mosel. Today, fruit burns a lot hotter in the glass.
The protectionist demarcation of the region came at the behest of a certain João de Sacadura Botte Côrte-Real, winemaker and distinguished nobleman with land holdings spread far across the country, and in Spain as well. In the early stages of Portuguese wine development, wine was made on all-encompassing estates known as Quintas, were owned by noble families, and worked by either slave labor, or sharecropping of some sort. These estates were well renown for quality.
These large haciendas housed workers, winemaking facilities and vineyards, often enclosed within their gates, sometimes sprawled out amidst the forrest. Before the scourge of phylloxera, these estates were home to the country’s finest wines. Sacadura Botte Côrte-Real’s Quinta da Aguieira was the wine of choice for the vast majority of high ranking officails across the Iberian peninsula. The winery made richer reds barrel aged in a Bordeaux style of predominantly the national grape, Touriga Nacional - the grape used in Port wines from the Douro region in the north. In 1908, the first Região Demarcada was established in the Dão to protect the region from misuse by unassociated producers.
The Dão was, at one point, a European wine superpower in the years after the French had succumbed to phylloxera. By the time the Douro had been infested with the bug, just to the north, by 1875, the majority of Dão growers had already planted on resistant rootstock, thus saving the vineyards for grape production during France’s downfall. A large majority of the fruit of these plantings then went to France to make up the deficit in wine there, and that is where the region first developed its cachet.
In the aftermath of WWI, quality took a turn for the worst. There was an abundance of pestilence, and not enough men to care for the vineyards. There were further problems following the great depression as people fled from the country to the cities to earn a better living. A lot of the labor force had left the Dão - and those that remained were not focused on quality.
The Salazar dictatorship also proved rotten for fine wine. Salazar noticed the the region needed a pick-me-up of some sort, and instituted a policy mandating the use of cooperatives when bottling and selling wine for consumer purchase. This law was designed to keep quality standards high, and the how was that the various cooperatives would pass on poor fruit, instead uplifting quality growers, and, in term, the industry. This was not the case, and the wine market stagnated quickly.
There was snow longer any competition, so realistically there was no incentive to create a better product. Essentially, the industry began searching for various ways of indiscriminate cost cutting; keeping rancid barrels, oxidative styles of wine, and unsanitary fermenters. Things were really bad. The white wines were big fleshy and oxidized, often nearing tan in color when poured, the reds were a very old fashioned field blend of red and whites which created a sickly candied conception of near-rose like results.
It wasn’t until the eighties the this law was rescinded, allowing Quintas to once again bottle their own product - giving them responsibility for the results. This was right in the epicenter of the trend for richer, oakier, and darker-colored red wines of distinction. It was Sogrape, leading regional producer to this day, that pioneered this style just after they were allowed to begin to bottle their own vintages. Sogrape is now Portugal’s largest exporter of wine, and has a quality reputation abroad.
Dao sits up at higher elevation within the mountains surrounding the inland Iberian massif. Elevations at the various peaks within the region vary between one hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty meters. At the highest elevation peaks we can see major encompassing effects of diurnal shift, which slows the ripening of the grapes, allowing more time on the vine for these grapes to develop secondary complexities.
Touriga Nacional is still the Dão grape of choice, with Tinta Roriz, Tempranillo, coming in a close second. Over eighty percent of the regions total production is made up of red wines, specifically the very strong, rich and often raised-or baked character wines of force. This style of wine are all too popular in this area. There are some producers navigating the mercy waters of earlier picking for better balance with acidity, and often to avoid sunburn, which seemed at one point to be an ever increasing problem in the Dão.
Quinta de Foz Arouce is a blend of Touriga Nacional, and Baga here from the pink granite soils which are marred by the acidity of the evergreen forest which surround it. The complexities are astute with notes of turned Earth, and a touch of crushed rock, peat moss, and dead leaves - all Burgundian in essence. The fruit is blackcurrant which is enveloped in a palette of black licorice, and huckleberry. There are notes of mint and thyme as well which offset the lighter black cherry finish. This is an awesome wine to share with a crowd. There is something for every one to enjoy here.
White wines are procuced generally of the regional specialty grape Encruzado, with often small percentages of Bical, Cercial, and Malvasia Fina. Though in the past they presented in more of an oxidized manner, today winemakers are pressing for more floral, aromatic, light and acetic styles, which had become all of the fashion under Sauvignon Blanc’s popularity in other regions. These styles are becoming more refined, and eiwnmakers are experimenting with lees aging and malolactic fermentation, though more often than not, the striking acidity proves to be a welcomed character.
Soils in the region vary significantly. There are realistically seven different communes which form the makeup of this area: Alva, Besteiros, Castendo, Serra da Estrela, Silgueiros, Terras de Azurara, and Terras de Senhorim. Though the makeup of these regions varies a lot obviously in regards to aspect, altitude, and grapes grown, realistically, there’s enough consistency in the distinctions between the various wines produced in each of them.
The region spans the reaches of the Dão river, which flows from the median crests of Sierra de Bejár via various tributaries, and eventually empties out into the Coimbra district. These ebbs and flows through the valley carved by glacial deposits helps to regulate temperatures for the grapes, keeping the general growing season relatively long and consistent, and protects from over ripening. Vineyards are dispersed thought the canyons and crevices in the river dispersement.
Unlike in various alluvial regions, the soil here tends to be fully granitic and lacking in significant nutrients, given its higher Ph. Vines are forced deep under the crushed rock which has been broken down by the river over centuries, to find any type of homogenous minerality for fruit production. The upside is a finer quality of fruit; unfortunately, combined with the heat, sometimes this lack of soil fertility can result in total grape production shutdown, stagnating flavor concentration.
Though the river offers some climate mitigation and regulation, the greatest mitigating factor for the heat is the pine forest which is nestled all around the river. Pine trees, like vines, can grow in just about anything, and take to these granitic soils well, absorbing a lot of the sun’s energy these high altitudes surrounding the vineyards. Quintas, as they are still called, are today grape-growing Châteaux that are often amidst clearings in the expansive pine forests. These operations are generally located around four hundred meters above sea level, and produce the regions choice fruit for the Dão’s increasing number of fine wines.
Red wines bottled at these estates fall into a few different quality-defined categories. Dão Nobre must contain at least fifteen percent Touriga Nacional. Garrafeira wines, the highest level of quality, must be aged two years in oak, consist of twenty percent Touriga Nacional, and obtain at least thirteen percent alcohol. These wines are field blends of the various grape varietals traditionally used for fine wine production in the area. Field blends are essentially a mix of cross pollination in the same field by multiple different varietals. The vast majority of grapes used are Tourga Nacional, though international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon are allowed to make top forty percent of the blends - though still uncommon.
The trend in the region is to begin to move towards lighter styles of wine, which a lot of people believe is a general consumer trend, though this region tends to opt for more floral wines of indelible character. Violet, sage, and black cherry are common descriptors here, and some sense ostentation granite remarks from these wines as well.
Quinta dos Roques makes a Garrageira which is striking yet heralds well-defined fruit and earthiness. Upon tasting, this wine shows burnt rosemary and blackcurrant flavor. There are touches of dry red cherry and some pleasant VA. this is a bigger wine having been aged six years. Nuances of dead leaves, and light touches of vanilla as well as some spice of anise and hazelnut offer up a nice palatability with favorable complexity. This wine is really striking for its price. Its soft, yet mineralic while tasting, though not bitter. It finishes long and smooth with touches of vanilla bean, and black olive which compliment the blackcurrant nicely.
That's all,
~K