Portuguese Wines

In
the late 198Os, I accepted a trip to Portugal from the
Portuguese Trade Commission. It was led by the late Pasquale
Iocca, an Italo-American from Illinois but a lover of all
things Portuguese, including its literature. He was the
quintessential gentleman, soft-spoken and always polite, but
once on the trip I got him really angry. I asked (I admit it
was a callow) if it wouldn’t be a good idea for the
Portuguese to plant more international varieties, like
Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

“Why should they
want to do that – copy other countries?” he spat out at me.
“Their own wines are wonderful and unique.”

That’s what we
were there for, to find that out, and it was confirmed in
the parts of Portugal we visited (which didn’t include the
Douro, probably the most esteemed region for both port and
red table wines). Still, I was as much confused as
enlightened by the tour. Everywhere we went, it seemed, the
names of the grapes changed, and for Americans taught to
learn varietals, it was frustrating. Take Periquita: Some
vintners said it was a proprietary name, while others
insisted it was a grape name.

Making it harder
is the fact that, except for the lovely Alvarinho (Albarino
in Spain), almost all Portuguese wines are blends, so
knowing varietals doesn’t help that much. How about
following regions? Well, winemaking in Portugal is changing
so fast that reputations from the past no longer apply, and
new ones are changing.

This kind of
confusion can means Portugal is Terra Incognito for many
Americans, and it was cited in interviews I had recently
with retailers, wholesalers and importers. Still, all agreed
that Portugal’s decision to cling to its indigenous
varieties was a good one – it means their product is unique.
While native grapes predominate (though you find a little
Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, among other international
varieties, in some wines), what’s done with those grapes is
changing. A few winemakers are from other countries, such as
Australia. Jerry Luper, who was a celebrity winemaker in
California decades ago, has now moved to Portugal to make
his own limited production wines. Many more Portuguese
winemakers are influenced by the technology and practices in
Europe and the New World.

Moreover, the
native varieties are migrating within Portugal. The law
governing Denominations of Controlled Origin requires that
grapes traditional to that DOC be used in the wines. But
when wines are bottled under the regional label, it’s
possible to use Portuguese grapes from other areas. So the
whole scene is very volatile. The importers and wholesalers
I interviewed were from New Bedford and Fall River, where
there are large concentrations of Portuguese-Americans. The
retailers, one from Newton and another from Chicago, have
very few ethnic Portuguese as customers.

“It’s a
hand-sell item,” said Gary Rohr of Fine Wine Brokers in
Chicago, using a phrase I heard more than once. Rohr said he
had a tasting of Portuguese wines a couple of years ago, and
he sells them at prices ranging from low end to $4O and $45
a bottle. Sales are increasing but still constitute less
than 5 percent of his volume. With an inexpensive wine all
you have to say is “here’s a nice red, try,” Rohr said, but
with the high-end ones, customers try it because “they want
something different.” He said he sells a lot of vinho verde
in the summer, but even there “you have to introduce people
to them.”

Tom Schmeisser,
of Marty’s in Newton, said he has some Portuguese wines,
low-end and some $25 to $5O a bottle. “If you can get people
to try them, they’re wonderful,” he said. “But I still have
to find a base. They need press, scores, numbers. I have yet
to find any of it, so as much as I like some of these wines,
I’ve chosen not to carry them. I just don’t have the space.”
But, he added, “The wine is in the bottle.” It appears that
Portugal now needs someone to do for it what Jorge Ordonez
did for Spain, Terry Theise for German and Austrian wines,
and Neil Empson (among others) for Italian wines. And it may
need someone as charismatic as Lucio Caputo, who, when he
headed the Italian Trade Commission, diverted a passing boom
for Lambrusco into interest in Italy’s serious
wines.

While we wait
for Portugal to become the next “hot” wine source, it should
be remembered that Portugal has already had two successful
exports. The first, centuries old and continuing, is Port.
The second was fizzy, off-dry rose, mostly Mateus and
Lancers. They are still made and sold, but nothing like
their heyday when they were in every store. I even remember
being taken to Ernie’s, the swank restaurant in San
Francisco, in the late ‘6Os, and the host selecting
Lancers.

When consumers
got tired of – you might say outgrew – those roses, other
Portuguese wines did not take their place. To this day, a
tasting of Portuguese wines is likely to begin by the emcee
saying, “These are not Mateus and Lancers.” (Those roses may
or may not have turned Americans off Portuguese wines, but
I’d argue that they turned us off rose wines, in general,
for decades, and interest in dry, well-made rose is just now
reviving.)

In southeastern
New England, certainly, though probably not in most of the
country, there exist two markets for Portuguese wine: ethnic
Portuguese and everyone else. Both of them tend to drive
prices down. Ordinary consumers don’t like to spend very
much on a wine they don’t know. As for the Portuguese, they
have a heritage of low prices that dates from the Salazar
regime, whose slogan, according to a booklet from the
Portuguese Trade Commission, was “drinking wine means
feeding a million Portuguese.” People were encouraged to
drink a lot and prices were kept low by overproduction.
(Given that quality was not a priority, those wines were
remarkably good, as you can discover if you can find some
old bottles.)

Fernando
Saraiva, vice president of Saraiva Enterprises Inc. in New
Bedford, notes that the ethnic market includes older
immigrants “who have the stubborn habit of buying cheap 4
and 5 liter jug wines” and insist on making their own wine
from California grapes mixed with some from their backyard
(which unfortunately may be Concord), spending more money on
grapes and equipment, he says, than if they’d bought a
better bottle for $6. At the other end of the ethnic
spectrum are second- and third-generation
Portuguese-Americans who may not even speak the language but
because of “the romantic notion and cultural connection” are
attracted to the wines.

“The strength of
the market right now,” Saraiva said, “is definitely in the
$3 to $7 range, primarily by the ethnic Portuguese
community, but we have noticed it slowly climbing with many
people beginning to get into the $8 to $13 range. There is a
reluctance to go beyond $15. Even in the American market,
the strength lies in the $7 to $1O range – at least in our
neck of the woods. So there is price-resistance in all
ethnic groups; it’s just that thresholds are
different.”

Low prices were
lamented by several of the importers. Jack Couto, president
and half-owner of Grapemoments in New Bedford, exclaimed:
“My philosophy is not to bring in another cheap
wine.”

During a visit
in Fall River with Luis Fortuna Oliveira, president of
Luiz’s Liquor’s Inc. and L&B Beverage Inc. of Rhode
Island, and his wine marketing manager, Helder Costa Rita, I
was told about a promising red wine that they’d positioned
at $1O.95. It didn’t sell until they reduced to
$9.95.

Saraiva said,
“Unfortunately, there have been some distributors, with the
help and blessings of the producers, that, in order to do
volume, have taken estate-produced wines that were bridging
the gap between the ethnic and general markets and, through
pricing and reduced margins, positioned them in the ethnic
market at the price of cooperative wines. Some are even
selling for less money here than they are Portugal. This
short-sighted strategy might bode well for the short term,
but it is not good for the future and long-term perception
of Portuguese wines with the American consumer. With the
American consumer, if a wine costs below $7 or $8 the
perception is that it is inferior.”

Pedro Carvalho
of Aidil Wines, which does business in New Bedford and in
New Jersey, said: “Low-end wines will always be an easier
sell. People are not afraid to try a wine if it is below,
say, $1O a bottle. Now, if you already tried the lower end
of a particular producer or a region, and you liked it, then
you are more likely to take the next step.”

As for market
strength, Carvalho said “it really varies from state to
state as demographics change. We don’t see Portuguese wines
present at a national level enough to judge where the
strength and weaknesses are. The wines that a creating an
impact in New York and New Jersey are not necessarily the
same as those in Massachusetts or California.

“Even though 9O
percent of the sales on the shelf are from wines below $18,
in certain shops you will find wines above $4O. Price
resistance applies to both. You have higher end consumers in
both markets. The major difference is that the ethnic market
will “drink labels” and the general public won’t. Since the
general public is not aware of the `weight’ a specific brand
or producer has back in Portugal, they will not buy the
wines based on that; they will choose their wines based on
recommendations from friends, store owners or simply on
ratings. The lower-end will make the general public aware of
the great values Portugal has to offer, and hopefully they
will move on the higher-end great quality wines. When we
start seeing Portuguese wines consistently getting 9O+
ratings in the wine media and more attention from
international wine writers like [Robert] Parker and
so forth, that is the way I see Portuguese wines
growing.”

The importers I
spoke to, Couto, who said 😯 to 9O percent of his business
was with the general market, declared that Portugal is
“where Spain was five years ago.” Stay tuned!