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Indigenous Iberia: The sheer volume of grapes grown and wines produced in the Iberian Peninsula helps to greatly lower the price of the region's wine. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune) |
My answer to a question that I always get asked — "Where is the best wine for the money being made these days?" — shifts with time. Thirty years ago, I'd answer "Australia"; then it was "Chile and Argentina"; a few years ago, "southern France or southern Italy."
Even while all those places continue to pour out well-made wine for the money, nowadays the answer to the question is surely "Spain and Portugal." (It saddens me that I have never been able to name anywhere in my own country.)
Even though some of the dearest wines of the world come from locales in both Spain and Portugal (vintage port, for example, or rarities like the Spanish Vega Sicilia), so many satellite regions in the Iberian Peninsula make so much wine, from so many grape varieties, that sheer volume lowers the price. Spain itself, after all, is the third largest wine producer on the globe.
Portugal in particular produces value-priced wines. Of all Portuguese wine sold in Portugal, "more than 70 percent sells below three euros a bottle," said Rui Abecassis, an importer of Portuguese wines to Canada and the U.S. When you are at a restaurant in Lisbon, you need to pinch your knee to remind yourself that the wine prices aren't missing a digit.
Let me list a few Spanish and Portuguese wines that I've come across lately that are killer wines for the money. I introduce them alphabetically by the indigenous Spanish or Portuguese grape variety. We Americans get to know wines via their grape varieties, even if they may take their name from their place of origin.
Albarino
Spelled "alvarinho" in Portugal, it has aromas of citrus (lemon especially) and apple, with creamy texture followed by trap-door acidity. That is the definition of a food wine, which this wine is.
2011 As Laxas Albarino Rias Baixas Spain: Notable for its wide-open aromas. $18
2011 Don Olegario Albarino Rias Baixas Spain: Great finish of skin-on almond. $18
2011 Vera Alvarinho Minho Portugal: Superjuicy; texture of whole milk; superdry, supercrisp finish. $17
Baga
Get gaga for baga, Portugal's stout red fella, all dark red fruit, chalky tannin and — rare for a red — zesty acidity. Often blended with touriga nacional (see below).
2008 Luis Pato Beiras Portugal: Forty percent touriga; cherries and chocolate, "Iberian malbec"; it wants meat; super deal. $13
Encruzado
Citrusy and "green," like sauvignon blanc, but far less aggressive and a stalwart of the Dao region of northern Portugal.
2010 Cabriz Encruzado Dao Portugal: Lots of lemon and lime; creamy from wood aging; super buy. $10
Garnacha
Known as grenache in France, where it also shines, but born in Spain, where it can be even greater. Heady, full-on flavors of both red and black fruits, tannins from plush to aggressive, pleasurable early but often ageable.
2009 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Calatayud Spain: Liquid bison jerky with a few blackberries tossed into the chew. $11
Even while all those places continue to pour out well-made wine for the money, nowadays the answer to the question is surely "Spain and Portugal." (It saddens me that I have never been able to name anywhere in my own country.)
Even though some of the dearest wines of the world come from locales in both Spain and Portugal (vintage port, for example, or rarities like the Spanish Vega Sicilia), so many satellite regions in the Iberian Peninsula make so much wine, from so many grape varieties, that sheer volume lowers the price. Spain itself, after all, is the third largest wine producer on the globe.
Portugal in particular produces value-priced wines. Of all Portuguese wine sold in Portugal, "more than 70 percent sells below three euros a bottle," said Rui Abecassis, an importer of Portuguese wines to Canada and the U.S. When you are at a restaurant in Lisbon, you need to pinch your knee to remind yourself that the wine prices aren't missing a digit.
Let me list a few Spanish and Portuguese wines that I've come across lately that are killer wines for the money. I introduce them alphabetically by the indigenous Spanish or Portuguese grape variety. We Americans get to know wines via their grape varieties, even if they may take their name from their place of origin.
Albarino
Spelled "alvarinho" in Portugal, it has aromas of citrus (lemon especially) and apple, with creamy texture followed by trap-door acidity. That is the definition of a food wine, which this wine is.
2011 As Laxas Albarino Rias Baixas Spain: Notable for its wide-open aromas. $18
2011 Don Olegario Albarino Rias Baixas Spain: Great finish of skin-on almond. $18
2011 Vera Alvarinho Minho Portugal: Superjuicy; texture of whole milk; superdry, supercrisp finish. $17
Baga
Get gaga for baga, Portugal's stout red fella, all dark red fruit, chalky tannin and — rare for a red — zesty acidity. Often blended with touriga nacional (see below).
2008 Luis Pato Beiras Portugal: Forty percent touriga; cherries and chocolate, "Iberian malbec"; it wants meat; super deal. $13
Encruzado
Citrusy and "green," like sauvignon blanc, but far less aggressive and a stalwart of the Dao region of northern Portugal.
2010 Cabriz Encruzado Dao Portugal: Lots of lemon and lime; creamy from wood aging; super buy. $10
Garnacha
Known as grenache in France, where it also shines, but born in Spain, where it can be even greater. Heady, full-on flavors of both red and black fruits, tannins from plush to aggressive, pleasurable early but often ageable.
2009 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Calatayud Spain: Liquid bison jerky with a few blackberries tossed into the chew. $11
