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 When Casa Santos Lima LAB Red 2014 from Portugal won a Silver medal at the first India Wine Awards 2017 held at Sofitel Hotel, Mumbai in April, 2017, I was surprised - not because it was Portuguese wine but because not many Indian importers, besides Aspri Spirits (Sogrape) are known to import Portuguese wines of any significance. When I tasted Casa Santos Lima LAB at the Tasting Table of the importer Prestige Wines-a blend of Castelão (35%), Tinta Roriz (25%), Syrah (25%) and Touriga Nacional (15%), I was pleasantly surprised; it was a very quaffable wine and I did not mind a second glass.
When I realised later that it had also won a Silver Medal at Mundusvini 2016 and Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition 2015 both of which are well established and respected Competitions and where I have been judging for several years continuously, I knew there might be a real winner at hand for the Indian market, especially as the retail price of the wine was under Rs. 1400 in Delhi.
I was planning to attend the first MUST Wine Summit 2017 in Cascais, near Lisbon on June 7-9. I offered Sumit Sehgal, the Director and National Head of Prestige Wines which recently started importing these wines, to visit the winery in Lisbon as I planned to be there for a couple of days after the Conference. By the time he finalised the programme with the producer, I already had an action packed plan but I felt I could take out a couple of hours. It was in the final moments that I realised that the winery was about 45 minutes away from Lisbon. It was too late to back out even if it meant cancelling my visit to the beautiful, world- renowned Sintra. But I am glad I did!
The hosts were kind enough to adjust their schedule to accommodate me. Sebastião (pronounced Sebasti-aoN as Gur-gaon) Garcia, their export manager for Europe and several countries like India, picked me up in the morning and drove me to the winery in Alenquer, 45km north of Lisbon, where the owner, José Luís Santos Lima Oliveira da Silva was waiting for me to drive me through the undulating and sprawling vineyards. I was touched to see an Indian flag fluttering high beside the Portuguese flag at the entrance. As José explained to me while driving, it was their way of welcoming special international guests.
The history of the winery goes back to late 1800s when his great grandfather Joaquim Santos Lima was making wine in bulk and also exporting in a big way. It was in 1996 that José decided to bottle the wines. He had replanted most of the vines in 1990 using contemporary agricultural techniques and modern production processes. He started bottling his own brands Quinta da Espiga, Quinta das Setencostas, Palha–Canas and some varietal wines.
Successful start with UK Market
José admits he became successful first in exports, starting in UK even before Portugal. ‘I was lucky to get good Press in UK. OZ Clarke was doing a programme on BBC in 1995-96 and came here to taste our wines. I had not even met him then. He really liked our wines,’ he says as we drive through the beautiful vineyards. At an altitude of 110m-250m on mildly rolling hills and well manicured, they can be seen far as your eyes can see. Driving down one bumpy patch, he boasts, ’many people are scared riding on this patch and fear the vehicle overturning but I am good at it and it’s really safe.’ I have traversed much steeper vineyards in Priorat so I am not afraid!
 ‘There was no looking back after exporting successfully to UK. We developed a Multi-Brand Strategy, focusing on products with an excellent price/quality ratio, something we maintain till today for all our products,’ he said. ‘The company owns 475 hA of vineyards of the total area of vineyards in the 5 regions and will soon be going up to 600 ha,’ says Garcia, adding ‘We also have contracts with neighbouring vineyards that our viticulture team supervise throughout the year and from where we buy grapes. We also have some rented vineyards , and we develop partnerships with neighbouring local wine producers with whom we do tailor-made wines according to our specific needs, under the control of our winemaking team.’
No wonder they have reached a level of the equivalent of 16 million bottles from all the properties which now extend to Algarve, Alentejo, Vinhos Verdes and Douro. This makes them quite a formidable family-owned producer in Portugal. ‘Our philosophy, attitude and vision are to over-deliver to the customers-to give them more than they expect or anticipate-keeping the price level low and the quality high.’ A simple yet wise policy that! He laughs when I wonder aloud if he is the ‘Torres’ of Portugal. With the excellent price-quality ratio he manages to export 90% of his production to 5 continents and 50 countries including India through Prestige Wines-only 10% is sold in the domestic market. He has won several recognitions overseas for his “Best Buy” wines.
I don’t remember visiting a winery with such a vast range of brands-I tasted around 35 labels and found all of them very quaffable- some very good quality. One Sauvignon Blanc was not to my satisfaction perhaps as it was too warm. He made sure a bottle was chilled and opened before I could leave even though I was getting very late for my next engagement.
While visiting a patch of the vineyards where he grows Chardonnay, he shows me the fossils like they have in Chablis. He makes a mental note of it when I tell him it reminds me of the Kimmeridgian soil of Chablis.  When we taste wines later in the special Tasting Room, he makes sure that Chardonnay is also poured-very refreshing, clean wine with mineral notes. And yes, the Indian and Portuguese flags are smiling at the tasting table too-just as they are at Mundusvini and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
Awards
The Silver Medal won by the LAB at the India Wine Awards 2017 in Mumbai is one of the many Awards won by Casa Santos Lima wines. At Concours Mondial Bruxelles 2017 held at Valladolid where I was also one of the over 300 international judges, it won a total of 26 medals, including 16 Gold medals and 3 Grand Gold which is the highest possible Award. It was the most awarded Portuguese producer at the prestigious international competition.
Casa Santos Lima was awarded four Grand Gold medals, in the 2017 edition of Concurso de Vinhos do Portugal. Two of these were Régionale Lisboa (appellation) from Lisboa (Lisbon) and two from Régionale Alentejano Alentejo. Last December Casa Santos Lima Reserva, Tinto 2013 won a Gold medal at the prestigious International Wine Challenge 2017.
Wine Tourism
All the time we were in the vineyards and even more so when I came back to the winery, I was asking myself and José the same question - why not promote it as a wine tourism destination in a big way? Verdant landscape, rolling hills, beautiful walking/driving paths, several grape varieties, this would be a paradise not only for wine drinkers but nature loving people of any age.
So close to Lisbon, it could be an ideal spot for the day tourists who like to go back to Lisbon the same day. With tourism in Portugal skyrocketing there could be no other place as suited as this ‘Tuscany of Portugal’. The new winery and the modern offices on the higher floors make it a perfect spot for any visitor. In fact, they have a conference room cum Tasting room with a wide expanse of vineyards in front, making it perfect venue for private groups. All this would increase the sale of wines too and make wine tourism as a profit center, perhaps unique in Portugal, South of Douro.
José ought to make a quick trip to Napa or even Nashik where Sula has been writing a success story with 230,000 visitors and, surely to cross the 250,000 mark this year; earlier this week, 4,000 people visited the vineyards and winery on a single day! And Sula has been following an indigenised Napa model.
Casa Santos Lima has even more prestigious testimonials with their historic estate being absolutely majestic-looking with stunning views of the vineyards. Talking of history-they even display a bone purported to be that of a dinosaur! They already have buggies (or at least one) that can be hired by the hour to drive one through the vineyards with several tasting options. But the focus currently seems to be on the new warehouse that is under construction- to match the grandeur of the new, office building with a contemporary design.
There is an old windmill on the top of one hillside which could even be restored. A restaurant and a few other activities and possibly a small hotel/guest house with a few beds for the night should help catapult Casa Santos Lima to the top position at least in the Lisbon area. José is a man of vision and surely has something up his sleeve and hopefully in a few years it will be a hot and happening wine-tourist spot of southwest Europe!
With decent quaffable wines at affordable price, made from 5 regions and a wide range of grape varieties- White (Alvarinho, Antão Vaz, Arinto, Códega do Larinho, Encruzado, Fernão Pires, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Malvasia Fina, Moscatel, Rabigato, Rabo de Ovelha, Seara Nova, Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho, Viognier, Vital and Viosinho) and Red (Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Camarate, Castelão, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Preto Martinho, Sousão, Syrah, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Miúda, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Petit Verdot, Preto Martinho, Alfrocheiro and Merlot), Casa Santos Lima is like a sweetmeat shop in India- with so many sweets and so many choices!
Prestige Wines could add several labels in its current range which is on trial in the Indian market and hopefully will be a great success. When I told José he ought to send a few bottles each of several labels to the embassy in India and organise a mini festival for a tasting of several of his brands, he got quite excited and said, ‘Sure. Even I would love to come with Sebastião for such a tasting!’
And as the saying goes, the ball is now in Prestige’s court!
Subhash Arora |