A Comparative Tasting of Carcavelos: a first?
Carcavelos is a historic DOC for fortified wines on the northern bank of the Tagus estuary just west of Lisbon. The wines gained fame in the eighteenth century when the Marquês de Pombal (responsible for demarcating the Port wine region) had his palace there. The vineyards suffered the double whammy of phylloxera followed by creeping urbanisation and by the 1980s the Carcavelos wine region was just about finished. Thanks to support from the two local councils of Oeiras and Cascais, the region is undergoing a modest but seemingly sustained revival. The DOC has been redrawn and slightly enlarged but ecompasses the traditional mix of white and red grapes: Ratinho, Arinto and Galego Dourado (all white) and Castelão and Preto Martinho (red). The main vineyard today is at the Estação Agronómica Nacional in Oeiras with a new generation of wines being sold as Villa Oeiras.
Held in Lisbon at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, this must be the first comparative tasting of Carcavelos for many a year. My thanks go to Jorg Lewerenz for inviting me and to Rodolfo Tristão for leading this rather remarkable tasting. A longer writer up will follow in the World of Fine Wine Magazine.
1. Quinta da Corrieira, Colheita 2012 ****
The launch of this wine from a small property at Barcarena, 150 metres above sea level at behind Caxias on the Tejo estuary. Made from a roughly equal blend of Galego Dourado, Arinto and Ratinho, the specifics of the vinification and ageing process for this have been lost already due to the indisposition of the owner, making this something of mystery wine: pale amber with a green glint; delicate floral perfume, honeysuckle, vaguely nutty too with a hint of dried apricot; sweeter on the palate than the nose suggests (about 90g/l residual sugar), dried apricot sweetness balanced by acidity leading to a lithe, elegant finish, delicate and honeyed. 17
2. Villa Oeiras Superior ***/****
A 15-year-old blend from the three principal white grape varieties, fortified with aguardente from Lourinhã, aged in Portuguese and French oak as well as chestnut: lovely golden amber colour with a green glint; heady maritime nose, salty citrus and a hint of toffee; similarly fresh crystalised lemon and dried apricot fruit, good balance (100 g/l residual sugar), fresh if a little short on the finish. 16.5
3. Quinta dos Pesos 1995 ****
This property at the back of Estoril kept Carcavelos alive during the 1980s and ‘90s but the vineyards have now been uprooted. A blend of white and red grapes, the later accounting for about 35% of the blend and including Castelão and Espadeiro, bottled in 2023 for Howard’s Folly: deep orange-amber, olive green rim; rich and heady on the nose with a touch of butterscotch and molasses, lifted and almost madeira-like in style; similarly rich and textured on the palate, tawny marmalade character with a saline streak, quince and boiled sweets on the finish. Very good indeed. 18
4. Quinta da Ribeira de Caparide 1989 *
A blend of red and white grapes from a property near Estoril: pale-to-mid rather cloudy amber; smells of rather poor quality aguardente with a backdrop of rather dusty dog biscuits; better on the palate, savoury, in a drier style, saline but quite neutral with a touch of toffee and caramel towards a rather extractive finish. Flat and unappealing overall. 12
5. Conde de Oeiras **
A blend of wines from 97 – 2004, bottled in 2009. This was the first wine to be bottled by the Villa Oeiras project, backed by the local camâra: mid amber- orange with a green glint; strangely roasted and rather oxidisded on the nose, singed and rustic; rich on the palate, semi-sweet in style with 110 g/l residual sugar, rather dusty dried apricots (sweet and savoury), with some texture and a sultana-like finish. Disjointed: the flavours don’t quite gell. 14
6. Quinta de Cima ****
An experimental wine from the end of the 1980s/early 1990s, made at Torres Vedras from grapes grown in Oeiras, the vines having been planted in 1983: pale mahogany with a green tinged rim; honey and orange blossom on the nose, grapey too, ‘like an old Moscatel’ in the words of one taster; very rich and sweet in style (probably around 150 g/l residual sugar), quite elegant with peachy fruit and medicinal sweetness on the finish. This seems to hae aged well in bottle. 16
7. Quinta d’Algoa 1906 ****
These vineyards have long disappeared under a housing development: there is a public garden named Algoa close to the modern-day centre of Carcavelos. Deep, bright amber with an olive green rim; delicately maderised on the nose with a touch of rancio, lifted and high toned with a touch of wood smoke; similarly delicate off-dry, savoury-smoky character on the palate, notable acidity but more in the style of amontillado than madeira with a similarly, dry, austere finish. 17
8. Quinta do Barão, No 1. *** /****
This is a wine from the 1920s when this property bottled wines numbered 1, 2 & 3 reflecting increasing sweetness. Barão continued to produce wine until 1988 (bottled as Ultima Reserva) and the estate was divided in two by a feeder road and there have been various projects for redevelopment. Mid-deep mahogany with an olive green rim; wild, funky rather woody nose; delicate (fragile even) saline character with crystalised fruit (Elvas plum) and a rather abrupt, austere finish. Fascinating wine, very difficult to put a mark to. 15.5
9. Quinta da Bela Vista ***
A wine around 80 years old, made principally from Gallego Dourado. The estate ceased production in 1969 and the wine remained in vat until it was removed and bottled in 1991 by Carlos Pereira da Fonseca of Quinta de Sanguinhal, Bombarral: pale to mid amber in colour; delicate, clean if a bit non-descript on the nose, vaguely nutty; soft, dry and quite elegant (only about 10g/l residual sugar) with a soft, slightly grapey finish. There was some significant variation between bottles though. 15
