Please join us tonight from 6-8 PM for a special happy hour, welcoming Luis Moya and David Duman of Vinos Unico. Luis is doing a tremendous job of bringing the vibrant, dry table wines of Portugal to our shores. Tonight, we will highlight one of the most important Portuguese growers that Luis imports: Luis Pato.
Mr. Pato farms and makes wine in Bairrada, which is in the northern part of the country, south of the town of Oporto. It is an area that historically made wines that were similar to Port, but this style of wine was outlawed in the region by the Portuguese state in the 18th century and the vineyards were forcibly uprooted. Further messing up the picture were the twin evils of oidium and phylloxera, so devastating to the vineyards of the region that Bairrada, which has grown grapes for centuries, only gained official DOC status in 1979.
Mr. Pato is unique in his dedication to the traditional grapes of Bairrada, most notably the red Baga grape. Baga, which means “berry” in Portuguese, is small, thick-skinned grape with a lot of anthocyanins. In Bairrada, the autumnal rains come early and growers compensate by picking even earlier, ahead of the rain. These underripe grapes, tannic and taut, combined with a rustic vinification style in which the grapes are fermented with the stalks, typically yields a green and tannic wine. Most growers in the region have forsaken Baga-the-problem-child in favor of more acceptable international grape varieties, but Mr. Pato opted to continue working with Baga, and the results show that problem children can, in the right hands, yield wonderful results.
Our flight tonight not only showcases Mr. Pato’s pioneering work with Baga, but also the traditional white grape, Maria Gomes.
Luis Pato Happy Hour: $12/flight
Vinho Espumante “Maria Gomes” NV $8
Sparkling, dry méthode Champenoise, made from the Maria Gomes grape. Grown on sand, this wine is somewhat dusty in texture, light-medium bodied, a bit floral, with notes of membrillo and stone fruit.
Branco 09 $8
Taste Maria Gomes naked, from young vines grown on sand. All stainless, which captures the aromatic purity of the variety. I believe that there is also some arinto in the mix, too, not that it matters much.
Baga “Vinhas Velhas” 05 $10
40 plus year old vines grown on clay, vinified in stainless, with more than a year in large (650 liter) old oak barrels. With four years of bottle age, this wine is drinking beautifully.
Quinta do Riberinho 2003 $12
Half Baga grown on chalky-clay, half Touriga Nacional grown on sand. Stainless steel fermented. Mr. Pato writes that, “During the first five years it presents the Touriga grapes’ flavours, passing the next years being dominated by Baga grapes’ flavours.”