Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Portuguese way
The balance of all good wine starts within the vineyard and in Portugal the true secret may be in the grapes. Portugal is one of the oldest wine countries of the world.Traditions of winemaking is an equal important part of their history as being an outgoing exploring nation back in the days.
Today Portugal has come to have a new unique position in the world on having their own heritage of grapes that can't be found elsewhere in the world.
On winemaking it is only natural for them to refer to their past and history of the portuguese way.
The coming generation of portuguese wine makers have both renewed their technique in aspects of facilities, brushing the dust of old traditions to bring new lights on Portugal wine. They have also adapted their production to an new era and are creating wines that no longer can be regarded as being too robust for the International palate of taste.

The Douro was for years associated primarily with Port wine production, but now produces just as much table wine as fortified wine.The ongoing development and improvements in production has led to an explosion of high quality wines in search of making the best practice. People have become aware of the tremendous potential and beauty that the Douro has to offer. In 2001, the upper part of the valley (Alto Douro) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, in the category of cultural landscape. Just a reminder that winemaking started more than 4000 years ago.
The Douro valley is also officially the oldest legislated wine region in the world, drawn by local farmers in 1756 to protect borders and their unique geographical region for production of wine.

Portugal’s various regions increasingly delivers and show excellence on wines that are just perfectly made in body and range. It may be hard to grasp that a smaller nation like Portugal has more than 250.000 hectares of vineyard area, and is the 7th largest wine producer in the world, compared with the the US with 400.000 hectares.
The young winemakers of Portugal are starting to explore the world again and they bring some extraordinary wines with them. They are ambitious, personal and they set their goals high.
The elements of uniqueness and quality in their fresh wines proves that the attitude fits their attempts. Here is a promise of more to come with each harvest. It might be uphill for competition but who if not the portuguese would be able to beat Bordeaux to the punch on popularity? It has happened before, so it just might happen again. The magnificence of the Portuguese way is here to stay.

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