Portuguese Wines: Great Quality at Bargain Prices?

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I use this wine key: Laguiole en Aubrac Wine Key Ebony
I have used this glass in this Video: Gabriel Glas StandArt
I have tasted the following wines in this Video:
2019 Vadio Espumante Bruto Rose, Bairrada, Portugal:

2022 Anselmo Mendes Contacto Alvarinho, Vinho Verde, Portugal:

2021 Mira do O 'Druida' Encruzado Reserva, Dao, Portugal:

2019 Niepoort Vertente Tinto, Douro, Portugal:

2019 Fitapreta Palpite Tinto Reserva, Vinho Regional Alentejano, Portugal:

96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.
90 - 95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80 - 89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70 - 79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60 - 69: A below-average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50 - 59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.

Portuguese wines have many things going for them as the country has a long history, a lot of indigenous grape varieties, and diverse Terroirs, and on top of that, the wines are generally cheap.
It is the 10th largest wine producer in the world. While the country looks out over the Atlantic and was instrumental in discovering the rest of the world, it was also isolated for a long time and therefore stuck to old traditions, methods, and varieties.
With Port and Madeira Portugal continues to produce some of the most famous fortified wines, but there are also great table wines coming out of Portugal – especially today.

[vasileiosevangelopoulos]

Portugal is the most underrated wine country on the planet. Variety, complexity, different methods and Incredible value

[mmmbass]

Totally underrated wines. On our honeymoon in Portugal we randomly contacted Quinta da Pellada in Dão to ask if we could drop in. They were not only welcoming, the winemakers drove us around the vineyards in the old Land Cruiser, did a tasting with us in one of the Estates houses, then the main man Alvaro Castro himself joined us for the occasion! Genuinely lovely people, great conversation and beautiful wine. A truly memorable experience.

[Onekick]

Portugal is a country I've fallen in love with. They have such a friendly and welcoming culture paired with excellent food and wine. And as a Brit I've always grown up around green luscious scenery, but most hot areas in the likes of France and Spain often have a more arid feel, whereas Portugal has all the culinary benefits of their neighbours whilst also retaining the beautifully lush flora and scenery

[andyr]

I have a little story here. I live in Madrid and at one time I lived near a wine shop that boasted a wonderful range of wines from around the world. Ha! I found a few from the USA, A few from France and one or two from Italy. Then I found a red Dao and I commented to the owner (or maybe manager) that Portugal as a country had perhaps the greatest range of vine varieties in the World and wasn't that amazing! From a pleasant demeanor he suddenly turned on me and said Portugese wine was all plonk, they didn't know how to make wine and what I had just said was a complete lie and what did I know anyway I was English and had no idea about wine at all. Needless to say I never returned!

[telekhal]

I live in Portugal for over 20 years.
During these two decades, Portuguese wine made a big step forward in terms of quality. A new generation of winemakers are involved in this process.
The result are wonderful wines at pretty affordable prices, compared to French wines for example.
When I’m abroad, I’m almost always disappointed by the wines I get served, and when I see the price tags I get depressed.
On one hand I wish that Portuguese wines get more recognised abroad, on the other hand I’m afraid that prices might rise when they’re not a Geheimtipp any more…

[Highlaw]

As a Portuguese when I heard "Affordable" I instantly thought "Ah yes, these 2, 50€ to 4€ bottles are divine!"

[joaoribeira]

Finally Portugal!! Very nice video, Konstantin. Good wine choices. I really like your honest opinions. The Encruzado is, actually, one of my favourite grape varieties as it combines fantastic freshness with more complex flavours and aromas. The idea of combinig it with fried chicken made me laugh (in a positive way!).
Being Portuguese, of course I love portuguese wines but I do agree that we still have much to evolve and, also, that the portuguese winemakers are still a bit afraid of some price points, wich leads to, sometimes, our wines being undervalued.
Thank you very much!

[simonevans]

As a portuguese Sommellier i coudnt be happy enough to hear your opinion about our wines. I'd say that the selection was VERY WELL chosen! Most of my clients are not portuguese and I get a lot of people discovering Portuguese wine and ive been very happy with their feedback.
A few notes from me. The encruzado is my favourite grape and a lot of times, I do present to my clientes as Chablis Chardonnay "lookalike" 😃 not because of the aromas or taste, but how similar they are in there purpose, therefore im very happy that you would also describe this grape, the same way. Encruzado is War veteran, as you could have it with Sushi, Salad, Grilled Fish, Fish in the Oven, AND even with Turkey, Chicken, Duck you name it! Its an ALL-ROUNDER!

Douro Reds are incredible, my favourite Reds, is a shame that this selection wasn´t the right one, I wouldnt specifically recomend this as "an example" of a good Douro.

Great alentejo also! Antonio Maçanita ( its MASSANITA ) not Makanita 😄

GOOD JOB 🙏

[PedroJohnston]

Alentejo really is special. Having gone to a dozen wineries there is always this sense of pride in tradition, well kept but humbly built sturdy old villas with very thick walls that feel like they belong. Like they've grown in thickness as their reputation spread over centuries. It has that Tuscany vibe. I've grown here, drank over 100 alentejos, and I still feel like I've only scratched the surface. Especially with the new generations and foreign knowledge coming in, really fine tuning the winemaking to the climate, the variety is fantastic.

[charliep]

I went to Lisbon last year, and absolutely loved Portugese wine. Of all wines of the world, I believe it has the greatest bang for your buck, often punching above its weight in price. My most favourite discovery was Vinho Verde - I had not heard or tried of it in my 20 years of exploring wine. It was a revelation at how easy it drinks and goes so well with just about any meal. The acidity and freshness, along with super fine bubbles dancing on your palette, really compliment just about every meal in Portugal. I goes well with any spicy, rich, or even delicate poultry or seafood dishes. What it may lack in complexity, it makes up in brightness and freshness. Konstantin, are there more complex Vinho Verde's you'd recommend? I'd love to try them. Also, I only learned last year that Vinho Verde was a style of wine, but didn't know there was also a designated region on Portugal - thanks for sharing that knowledge. Another bargain and great value region for wine is South Africa - I've also had great value wines from there too - maybe for another video? Cheers!

[kristianfjeldgaard]

Glad to see you are tasting Portuguese wines. So much value for money and interesting grapes. Contacto is just one of many good wines from Anselmo Mendes. I would recommend you to also try his Parcela Unica and Curtimenta.

[solomonmengeu]

Of all the West European countries Portugal probably offers the best QPR and amazingly affordable wines. As you mentioned there is a lot of variety of taste and flavor profiles in the different regions. The Douro, Dao and Vinho Verde are my favorites, though Bairrada seems to be an exciting emerging region. In the past I found Alentejano wines to be a bit heavy, overly fruity and not so well balanced. But that last wine from there sounded pretty awesome, sounds like things are changing there.

[sebastianpeter]

Portugal is my favourite winecountry since I did a two week biking tour along the Douro 20 years ago. My favourite wineries are Quinta do Lemos from Dao(amazing 100% Touriga Nacional 2013) and Wine&Soul from Pinhao/Douro(Pintas and Pintas Character 2017). So good. You should try them.

[carlcadregari]

Love Portuguese wines. We did a pairing dinner a little while back, 6 courses and 6 wines. It was a blast! And eye opening as to how good the wine’s coming out of Portugal are. Thank you for a wonderful video.

[BjornGeiger-sodk]

Hey Konstantin, danke für das tolle Video.
Trinke seit letztem Jahr vermehrt Portugisische Weine da ich mir vorgenommen habe Europa von West nach Ost zu trinken. 😉 durch dein Video habe ich jetzt nochmal richtig Inspiration bekommen. DANKE !!!

[Hopfenstopfen]

Encruzado is such an amazing white varietal... its bright accidity and high alcohol pontetial gives the wine cellar ageability. Probably my favorite autoctochthonus from Portugal

[pedrocorreia]

Hello, Konstantin. Portuguese fan here! Thank you for the video, been expecting it for a long time. Two observations: it's arguable that bairrada os the most important region for sparkling. Távora-Varosa, between Douro and Dão produces it almost exclusively, and has a lot of tradition. I'm not saying you're wrong, but you'll certainly get some resistance from Távora fans. About niepoort, the lack of concentration is not and accident. Dirk has very strong ideas about what he wants from his wines, and intentionally goes against the grain in Douro (but I secretly agree with you). Thank you for all your work.

[manuelcarvalho]

Greetings! Finally some table wines from Portugal. I am surprised with your choice, from North to South. Pity you left out Setubal's region among others...Bairrada has also very nice whites and reds. It was nice to see you enjoy. I still watch you from time to time trying that very old Port. You should see your face when you sip it for the first time !Keep up the good work...

[gilejoksimovic]

Konstantin I'd like to thank you for a nice video. I've recently explored Setubal and Alentejo and my conclusion is that Portugal offers a great variety of solid value wines that are not meant for wine snobs.

[nunomiguelsequeirarodrigue]

Portugal, finally! 🙌 You are very welcome in the country, and if you plan to visit Portugal, just come to the Douro valley and I'll give you a off road tour around the vineyards and the wineries! Thank you for your honest opinion on Portuguese wines!