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 To understand the role of Alentejo (pronounced as Aa-lain-tay-you) one needs to look at the history or Portugal and the takeover by the communists and leftists in a Revolution on April 25, 1974 from the 5-decade dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar followed by Marcelo Caetano. The Revolution got rid of the dictatorship but the communist takeover affected the southern part of Portugal including Alentejo.
Prior to the Revolution which paved the way for democracy and eventually brought political stability, Portugal was ruled by a monarchy which was deposed in a in 1910 and following the near bankruptcy of the country, a military coup in 1926 installed a dictatorship that remained until another coup in 1974. The new government instituted sweeping demographic reforms.
Alentejo used to contain big estates of up to 1,000 acres, which were owned and controlled by absentee landlords before 1974. These lands were acquired y the government, the plant and equipment removed, the wine business discontinued and in its place new co-operatives were formed. They occupied the land and carried on with agriculture and wine making in a rather unprofessional manner with hardly any management experience. The region took a major backward step and the traditional winemaking suffered. Cultivation rights were delegated to small- and medium-sized farms.
The so-called Revolution fizzled out as the co-operatives could not manage the properties and the businesses. Starting in the mid 1980’s it became evident that the ruling communists could not carry on the agro-business, the backbone of the region. Eventually, the lands were returned to the owners through a decree, though not totally satisfactorily, thanks to the agrarian reforms announced by the new government.
Alentejo has gentle undulating plains with extremely hot summers-it reminded me of the Delhi summer during my visit last month, with temperatures flirting with 40°C. Cold winters are more typical of continental climate. No wonder wines tend to be ripe and more full-bodied, with high alcohol levels and a taste of the Sun. Other parts of Portugal have small holdings-someone in Madeira is known to own 2 vines! Alentejo has several estates which are extremely large and have economies of scale to produce higher quantities of high quality wines at lower prices. Red wines are more popular from the region because of the fruity character.
Appellations of Alentejo
After getting the land back, there has been an accelerated pace in developing vineyards in Alentejo since the early 1990s. At present there are about 20,700 hA of vineyards out of which 11,800 hA are in the PDO appellation while 6200 hA enjoy the PGI Status and are known as Alentejano VR (Vinho Regional) wines.
There are 8 sub-regions listed from north to south as:
Portelagre (formerly DOC)
Borba (formerly DOC)
Redondo (formerly DOC)
Évora (formerly IPR)
Reguengos (formerly DOC)
Granja-Amareleja (formerly IPR)
Vidigueira (formerly DOC)
Moura (formerly an IPR)
Visiting the Wineries
Cortes di Cima
Vidigueira
https://cortesdecima.com/
 After being dropped at my hotel in the Lisbon City Center by the organisers of Must Wine Summit last month from the nearby coastal town of Cascais, I was picked up and driven for two hours and a half to cover the distance of 225 kms, going past Évora, the Capital of Alentejo to bring me to Cortes di Cima, owned by the Danish-American couple Hans and Carrie Jorgensen since 1988.
I had met the couple in 2012 during one of my previous visits to Portugal. I had been very touched by their gesture of driving for 2.5 hours just to meet me incognito, taste a range of wines they carried in a chilly bin, have dinner with me and drive back the same night. I had found their wines very exciting and the story about the delicious Incognito Shiraz rather exciting.
 It turned out that I had met Carrie in India in 2008 at a Grand Tasting organised byViniPortugal, an association of Portuguese wine producers with 18 of them showcasing 130 labels in Delhi, Goa and Mumbai. I had helped them conduct tastings in Delhi at the Ambassador’s residence and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.
I loved the Tasting in Lisbon and found ‘Incognito’ Shiraz from Cortes di Cima delicious and a tad naughty because of the background and the way the couple introduced despite the appellation laws. During that dinner I had decided to add Visit to Alentejo to my bucket list.
Visiting Cortes di Cima Winery
 We reached the winery almost at the Lunch time and so was taken for a quick tour around the winery by Hans Jorgensen. The winery is a good example of how the couple started small and have been expanding gradually and making their name popular as a quality producer.
‘In choosing our varieties as well as our trellis system we opted to follow the more flexible ‘Vinho Regional’ regulations, rather than the restrictive DOC (PDO) rules,’ says Hans as we take a round. They have 230 hA of Vineyard which is not considered huge by Alentejo standards. Explaining the genesis of their cult wine Incognito Hans explained that it was illegal to use Shiraz in 1991 when he decided to cultivate the grape since he thought here was the right soil and climate for the grape. The first rule-breaking vintage of Syrah was released in 1998 as 'Incógnito'.
 They bought 40hA vineyards in 2008 near the Alentejan Atlantic Coast to grow white wine variety. Barely 3 kms from the ocean on the west coast, the vineyards have a maritime coastal climate. The summers are milder than the interior where they have the winery. The frequent fog and cooling ocean breezes makes it a slow ripening region with longer season.
‘People thought it was a crazy decision buying vineyards there but our white wines have turned out very well thanks to the freshness and acidity provided by the area and winning medals in competitions.’ The Sauvignon Blanc I tasted was nothing short of amazing- very crisp, fresh and full of fruits like gooseberry and shades of tropical fruits. Other white varieties grown are Alvarinho (Albariño), Vardelho (Verdejo) and Chardonnay. Small quantities of cool climate Pinot Noir and Aragonez (Tempranillo are also cultivated.
Wines from Cortes di Cima are of higher quality and slightly more expensive but very good value-for-money. They are interested and capable of supplying these wines to India –with a wide array of wines from local as well as international grapes. For details write directly to contact@cortesdecima.pt
Other wineries visited
These wineries visited will be covered in the future editions-editor
Subhash Arora
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