Regional profile: Bairrada plus top wines worth seeking out

Luís Pato, Bairrada’s original enfant terrible, celebrated his 40th vintage in 2020, declaring it ‘fantastic’. 2020 caps a decade of unprecedented harvests. Fellow winemaker Luís Gomes, who produces the Giz label, observes: ‘We have been achieving full ripeness in Baga before autumn rains in every single vintage, save 2014.’

On central northern Portugal’s low-lying littoral, to the west of the Caramulo and Buçaco mountains, Bairrada has no shelter from humid, wet Atlantic influence, unlike its neighbour Dão, to the east. In the past, there might have been only two or three great vintages a decade, partly explaining why, when Pato started out, this temperate maritime region’s most-planted grape – Baga – was ‘so harsh, difficult and acidic, that a normal person could only drink it after 10, 15 maybe 20 years’. Hardly a sustainable model.

A shifting dynamic

Increasing temperatures due to climate change have played a role in this success story, but counter-cultural viticultural practices have been instrumental to unlocking Baga’s potential in a region historically dominated by négociants and co-operatives. Principally geared to producing bulk wines for the colonies and simple wines for the home market, who could blame their growers for focusing on quantity over quality?

Strong-willed, Pato pioneered green harvesting for young vineyards and planted two ungrafted (Pé Franco) vineyards – whose yield is one 10th of grafted vines – for his top cuvées. Such yield-scything viticulture, together with rigorous site selection (favouring well-drained, reflective chalky clay soils over sand), facilitated ripening, improving Baga’s concentration and tannin quality (tannins and acidity are more prominent on sand).

Pato’s trail-blazing de-stemming and maturation in French oak (versus tonéis – traditional large oak casks) additionally contributed to his successful quest to polish and smooth Baga’s notorious edges.

Meantime, courting new, more demanding export markets (following the decline of the colonies), big players were switching their attention to (and planting) better known, more user-friendly grapes, like Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and France’s Syrah and Bordeaux varieties, broadening the international appeal of their wines, whilst showcasing the region’s signature freshness.

Bairrada at a glance

DOC demarcated: 1986

Soil types: principally clay and limestone, with sandy areas

Climate: temperate maritime

Area under vine: 6,500ha, 65% red varieties, 35% white varieties *

Main red grapes: Baga, Touriga Nacional, Tinta-Roriz (Aragonez), Merlot

Main white grapes: Maria Gomes (Fernão Pires), Bical, Arinto, Cercial*

Other permitted red grapes: Alfrocheiro, Bastardo, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Camarate, Castelão, Jaen, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, Rufete, Syrah, Tinta–Barroca, Tinto Cão, Touriga Franca

Other permitted white grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Rabo de Ovelha, Sauvignon Blanc, Sercialinho, Verdelho, Viognier

Producers: 2,400 growers, 112 with own bottling, 560 wine labels**

Annual production: 220,000hl (including 40,000hl sparkling wine),

of which 130,500hl is red, 50,000hl white, 35,000hl rosé, (10 year average)***

Sources:

* Comissão Vitivinícola da Bairrada 2018

** Comissão Vitivinícola da Bairrada 2019

*** Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho 2018

Starting out in 2001, Pato’s daughter Filipa (of Filipa Pato & William Wouters) says she was the only new player focusing on local varieties. Controversially, in 2003, non-local varieties were permitted for Bairrada DOC wines and a new (barely used) Clássico designation with a minimum ageing period of 30 months was introduced, allowing Alfrocheiro, Camarate, Castelão, Jaen and Touriga Nacional to be blended with a minimum 50% Baga.

It could have been the death knell for varietal Baga but, where Pato led, others followed. Highlighting Baga’s plight and bringing fresh impetus to its cause, old vines’ champion Filipa founded Baga Friends with Mário Sérgio Nuno, the first of three generations of growers to produce estate-bottled wines at Quinta das Bágeiras.

For another Baga specialist, Luís Patrão (Vadio), there are limitations, given that Bairrada’s average vineyard holding (0.3ha) cannot support a family. So, for many, growing and selling grapes remains a part-time quantity-focused affair. However, he adds: ‘The new generation of estate-bottlers and vignerons have shifted the dynamic and viticulture has become the focus.’

A very fine swan indeed

With greater viticultural prowess, vignerons have turned the region’s temperate maritime climate to their advantage, transforming ‘the ugly duckling no-one liked into the wine most loved by Portuguese connoisseurs’, according to Dirk Niepoort of Quinta de Baixo. Professing to love its terroir most, Bairrada is the natural home for the Douro-based producer’s pursuit of elegance – a quality Niepoort believes will come to define Bairrada’s wines.

It certainly appeals to Portugal’s young generation of sommeliers, strong supporters of Baga’s ascendence. Delighted to present his favourite Portuguese wine at a 40th anniversary tasting, top sommelier António Lopes, director of wines at Porto’s O’Paparico restaurant, compared Luís Pato’s Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco 1996 to a muscular, but fresh, elegant 1er Cru Nuits-St-Georges from the same year.

Perfumed, with freshness and line and, depending on age, vintage and extraction methods, silky and red-fruited or darker, firm and brooding, the comparisons with Burgundy and Barolo come thick and fast. But, when grown on chalky clay soil, there is no mistaking Baga’s unique, smoky minerality. With age, the spice and mineral characters amplify, and sweeter balsamic and membrillo notes emerge.

No one-trick pony

Sensitive handling in the vineyard and winery by a growing band of vignerons across a range of sites has unleashed Baga’s plasticity and seen a revival of whole bunch fermenting and larger format barrels and tonéis, adding to the diversity of expression. Ringing the changes from the austere reputation of old, Filipa’s husband William Wouters enthuses: ‘It’s a fun grape to work with – one of very few versatile mono-varietals, making sparkling, “glou glou” [gluggable], easygoing or serious oaked or unoaked wines and fortifieds.’

Additionally, observes Gomes: ‘Bairrada and Baga can give the freshness, liveliness and intensity of flavours that a great rosé needs.’ Fleshing out Baga with Touriga Nacional shows another, broader-shouldered side.

Baga is not the only local grape to benefit from improved viticulture and increased interest in the region’s gastronomic style. Bringing freshness, persistence and definition, the maritime climate, not to mention chalky clay soils, make Bairrada Portugal’s go-to destination for espumantes (sparkling wines) (made by the traditional method since 1890) and one of the best places to grow white grapes.

Bical (stone-fruited, good body) leads the charge, with Maria Gomes (aka Fernão Pires; vegetal aromatics and flavour); Arinto (citrus) and Cercial (mineral) accentuate freshness. Chardonnay (and Pinot Noir) are also permitted and used to good effect in sparkling wines – Colinas de São Lourenço makes very good single-varietal examples.

Simpler, unoaked or lightly oaked whites are fresh and fruity, with vegetal and nutty interest. Top whites from chalky clay soils age beautifully, showing great complexity, mouthfeel and the region’s hallmark freshness, salinity and chalk-driven ‘fumé’, whispy smokiness.

Bairrada DOC espumantes typically have riper acidity and more body than Champagne. Styles range from simple, fruity and fragrant (when aged for the minimum nine months on lees), to more autolytic, complex styles, which spend years ageing in négociants’ cavernous chalk cellars. Grower sparkling wines are on the up and, hand-riddled and disgorged, with zero dosage, Quinta das Bágeiras leads the way. With plans to establish a study center in Bairrada focused on Portuguese sparkling wine, watch this space.

Full circle

Meantime, Baga has become a focus for particularly fine, mineral rosé and Blanc de Noirs espumantes, which new laws require to spend at least 18 months on lees. The move reflects the growing status of Baga and a return to cellaring top reds for longer too. After all, producers have proved it can be broached younger, without diminishing ageability and introduced Bagas for early and mid-term drinking. Why not let flagship wines reveal more of themselves when, as Nuno points out: ‘In the Douro [a younger region for table wine], people don’t know how to age bottles, but in Bairrada we do.’

When Nuno’s son Frederico joins him next year, aged 23, he will be the same age as his father when he founded Quinta das Bágeiras, in 1989. A chip off the old block, he shares Nuno’s conviction about the uniqueness of Baga and Bairrada’s strong identity. At tastings, says Frederico: ‘It is not so important that people like the wine. The most important thing is that they recognise it is from Bairrada.’ It seems Bairrada’s future is in safe hands.

Bairrada: 10 names to know

Aliança

As its extensive underground cellars attest, the Bairrada outpost of one of Portugal’s biggest producers, Bacalhôa Vinhos, was itself a leviathan during the heyday of bulk exports to Africa and Brazil. Worth visiting for the underground museum. Fruity, but fresh, with character, the entry-level Reservas (white and red) are a snip.

Campolargo

Two sizeable estates, Quinta de Vale de Azar (predominantly sandy clay) and Quinta de São Mateus (chalky clay) produce a huge range, featuring Portuguese and international varieties. Quirky strengths include funky single varietal whites (Arinto, Bical), a lissom Alvarelhão vin de soif and unique red blend, Rol de Coisas Antigas.

Caves São João

Makers of Frei João: Bairrada’s original, ageworthy, iconic brand, launched in 1959. Moving with the times, the négociant acquired Quinta do Poço do Lobo in 1971, planting French grapes for blending with local grapes. Well-made contemporary red, white and sparkling wines; anniversary and Frei João museum releases can be stunning.

Filipa Pato & William Wouters

The vigneron and her acclaimed sommelier husband’s ‘wines without make up’ involve rigorous sourcing from predominantly old vines, cultivated biodynamically. Sensitively made, Nossa Calcario White and Red are the epitome of elegance; flagship Missão, from centenarian ungrafted vines, has a wilder streak. Fresh, quirky amphorae wines and fortified Baga.

Giz

After completing a Masters degree in viticulture and oenology in 2014, ex-biochemist Luís Gomes founded Giz (meaning chalk) in 2015. Cantanhede’s chalky soils, centenarian vineyards and gentle fruit-handling produces lithe wines of fruit sweetness, purity and intensity, with minerality, freshness and precision. Refined Bagas include a delicate rosé and espumante.

Luís Pato

The self-described ‘classicist and rebel’ – Bairrada’s boutique pioneer – modernised the face of Baga (and whites, with Vinha Formal), championing French oak and lower yields. Exceptionally refined flagship Pé Franco (ungrafted) and single-vineyard Bagas contrast with knowingly rustic Vinhas Velhas label. No-added-sulphur Baga and Vinha Pan sparkling push boundaries.

Quinta das Bágeiras

Stellar, fuller-bodied white, red and zero dosage sparkling range; the whole-bunch fermented Bagas are brooding and dark-fruited. Sturdy, mineral Garrafeira aged in old tonéis. More contemporary, polished recent additions Pai Abel (with Touriga Nacional; rich, muscular) and Avô Fausto (lifted, layered) see French oak. Rare new Cercial embodies the charismatic house style.

Quinta de Baixo

Acquired by Niepoort in 2012, the Cantanhede-based estate is cultivated biodynamically. Lighter in colour and frame, especially the Drink Me Nat Cool vin de soif. Charming Burgundian Bagas benefit from judicious whole bunch ‘infusion over extraction’ ferments and ageing in foudres (in which Garrafeira spends 48 months). Austere whites benefit from bottle age.

Quinta do Encontro

The striking architecture of Pedro Mateus’ landmark winery, cellar door and restaurant, set new standards for this traditional region, additionally oenotourism – a strength of owners, Global Wines. Like the cuisine, whilst informed by the Atlantic, the wines (white, red and sparkling) are contemporary, with emphatic fruit and sophisticated oak.

Vadio

Established in 2005, experienced winemaker Bairrada-born Luis Patrão and his Brazilian wife Eduarda Dias bucked trends, replanting their expanding portfolio of organically cultivated, high-trellised vineyards at high density. From a vineyard replanted in 2009, flagship Rexarte Baga impresses. Complex solera-aged sparkling. Good value entry-level white and approachable but ageworthy Baga.

Bairrada: wines to try