The first Wines of Portugal Internantional Conference took place on December 09 to 11, 2010 in Oporto and featured Touriga Nacional as the grape to discover. Not only did I have the opportunity to taste some fantastic examples of the fruit forward & floral reds with fantastic spice (and very elegant at times) but also amazing whites which are still “off the radar”… such as the Loureiro grape which I absolutely fell in love with! My favourite: Quinta do Ameal, which will be available in the WOTR shop next year.

Anyone who’s been keeping an eye out for Portuguese wines the past years has surely heard of the mythical and iconic Luis Pato. Proof that Portuguese wines have ageing ability and high quality potential… he’s surely a Master at producing ‘Baga’ based wines, another Portuguese grape variety worth discovering. Luis and I had the opportunity to discuss the current market situation and what’s to come in the near future in regards to Portuguese wines.

Enjoy & keep on keepin’ ON!

Finkus

The event in numbers:

400 Participants from countries like the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, China, Canada, Angola, Sweden, USA, Poland, Holand, Brazil and Portugal.
More than 100 Jornalists and Wine Bloggers, Sommeliers, Wine Producers,Companies from the Wine Sector and international Experts.

Prior to the start of the event, a tasting which resulted in a “Top 10″ (which was then 12) Tourig Nacional took place with the following panel:

From UK: Jancis Robinson MW & Neal Martin
From USA: Doug Frost MS MW & Mary Ewing Mulligan MW
From Germany: Kristine Baeder & Stephan Reinhardt
From Asia: Tomoko Ebisawa, Ned Goodwin MW, Tommy Lam & Simon Tam
From Brazil: Guilherme Rodrigues
From Scandinavia: Tom Marthinsen
From Portugal: José Salvador & Luis Lopes

The top 12 Touriga Nacional wines (listed alphabetically):

// Alfaraz Touriga Nacional 2008 – Alentejo
// Churchill’sEstates Touriga Nacional 2008 – Douro
// Encontro Touriga Nacional 2008 – Bairrada
// Herdade São Miguel Touriga Nacional 2008 – Alentejo
// Inquieto Touriga Nacional 2008 – Douro
// Marques dos Vales Grace 2008 – Algarve
// Munda 2008 – Dão
// Pedra Cancela Touriga Nacional 2008 – Dão
// Quinta da Pedra Alta Touriga Nacional 2007- Douro
// Quinta das Marias 2008 – Dão
// Quinta do Cardo Touriga Nacional 2008 – Beira Interior
// Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional 2008 – Douro