From entry-level to the more ambitious

Tim Robertson

The Wine Cellar, Woburn and Olney

The quality on display was very good and the wines were certainly excellent value. Styles and philosophies were varied enough that I never felt fed up with tasting “another Castelão”. The best examples delivered a lot of character and complexity. They’re certainly fruit-forward, but there was often spice, a herbal touch and a tangy finish.

While I think that the fortified Moscatel wines would be easier to find a place for on our shelves, some of the Palmela DOC wines had significant commercial potential for customers looking for a crunchy, bright red with similar characteristics to Barbera.

Emily Silva

The Oxford Wine Company

The dry wines showed impressive fruit concentration with an overriding theme of salty minerality and powerful acidity, making them a great match for local cuisine. The fortified Moscatels showed a surprising diversity of styles, from bright, floral and fruit-forward to nutty and complex.

I was very taken with the restrained styles of old-vine Castelão – high acidity and powerful tannins promise longevity and the ripe, soft fruit made them approachable and enjoyable while young.

Wines made from indigenous grape varieties such as Castelão, Arinto and Verdelho would really appeal to our customers who look for something unique and enjoy exploring new varieties and regions.

Alex Hirst

Theatre of Wine, London

There is almost uniformly high quality across red, whites and fortified as well as value for money, with an exciting amount of experimentation beginning to emerge.

I found the more ambitious wines to be seriously impressive, with evidence of ageworthy old-vine Castelão already with significant bottle age. Complex white varietal wines made with Arinto and Fernão Pires were also very good, with some brilliant winemakers showing their potential. I hope that more growers look to add premium white wines to their offering.

I think the UK independent trade will always be looking for solid, attractively priced entry-level reds and whites, so Castelão and Fernão Pires blends should do well. Plenty of fruit but not often overripe, and notably fresh acidity for a warm climate was a winning combination.

But increasingly I think more ambitious varietal wines, old-vine examples and more premium wines will be successful too. These seemed very fairly priced and often had lovely stories attached – always a boon for hand-selling.

Fortified wines are a tougher sell, but I think Setúbal stands to gain here as other examples become more expensive and the value becomes even clearer.

Pictured, from top left: Tim Robertson; Alex Hirst; Emma Dawkins, Tanners; Tom Green; Radu Vasile