Overcoming the Challenges Facing Portuguese Wine in America

Portuguese wines have yet to reach the popularity and availability of many other Old World wines in the US. What’s holding them back? A recent industry conversation dug into the topic and approached it from various angles. It was moderated by Eugénio Jardim, Wines of Portugal US Ambassador, and featured his guests Peter Granoff, Master Sommelier, Co-Owner of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, Mission Bay Wine and Cheese, and Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant and Chef Telmo Faria, Owner and Wine Director of Uma Casa. Here are the highlights.

Eugénio Jardim and Peter Granoff photo credit Amy Thompson Photograpy

What’s So Great About Portuguese Wines?

Peter Granoff (PG) We are constantly looking for wines that are discoveries that overdeliver at the price and that can be part of the journey of discovery for our customers. Portugal is a natural shoe-in in that respect.

PG: There has been a transition away from the use of excessive oak—although I think there is still too much use of oak, also a shift to emphasize native Portuguese varieties which is one of the key strengths and a key point of differentiation. The only international grape variety I'm happy to see personally in Portugal is syrah, and that's simply because some of the best red wines in Portugal were blends with a component of syrah (maybe 20%), but it seems to play well and not take over. We've seen a shift away from the international varieties and emphasis on the natural varieties, which is a huge plus.

Eugenio Jardim (EJ) The wines have brilliant acidity great structure, natural intensity of fruit—

 if you've tasted the wines, you know freshness is a key element.

Telmo Faria photo credit Amy Thompson Photography

In What Ways Do You Promote Portuguese Wines?

Telmo Faria (TF) I've never promoted any wines other than Portuguese wines; my commitment is as a Portuguese restaurant. Being here in San Francisco and the only Portuguese restaurant, I wanted to showcase Portuguese products and support Portuguese producers and the economy and all things Portuguese. I wanted variety—some approachable by the glass wines but also some high-end wines as well and to get rid of the stigma that Portuguese wines have to be cheap.

PG: We have several mechanisms at work. At all three locations we have wine bars with the retail component (shop), so we can put wines on the bar that people haven't tasted before. A big step is just getting wine into someone’s mouth. We also have a very well subscribed wine clubs. Our clubs are used to introduce people to wines it's an exploration and every single bottle goes out with tasting notes recipes. Third we do events at the store, flight nights and we have customers come in and we will pour a flight of wine.

TF: My goal is to deliver wines that I think are made with the same passion love and quality we put into our food. I want it to be approachable, but I want to deliver an experience so for what I'm looking for is something to match the experience of the food, the atmosphere, the service and the wines are of paramount importance.

TF: The approach we've taken is we pair everything with food, so we talk about styles for example, light crisp mineral wines or wines with oak or fruit forward reds or something earthy and spicy, that's how we approach Portuguese wine with guests.

Wine tasting photo credit Amy Thompson Photography

What’s Holding Back Portuguese Wines, Is it the Language?

TF: I don't think it's so much the Portuguese language, it can be a little bit daunting and overwhelming, not just the pronunciation, but what are the varieties, where do they exist? Sometimes they're (the grape varieties) just in a minuscule area of Portugal in just 50 vineyards. Portuguese wine can be confusing from the perspective of so many regions, so many grapes, and that has to be broken down into a way that's understandable.

PG: One of the bigger problems with Portuguese wines is dislodging long held consumer perceptions about a country’s wines. These things take hold and dislodging them is tough, for example the belief that all Portuguese wine is Vinho Verde or Lancers or Mateus, it takes work to overcome.

TF: I have a couple of wines on my list that are cabernet and they are for customers who are stubborn. At the end of the day, we have 70 other customers in the restaurant, I don't need to be arguing with someone if they won’t let me guide them.

EJ: In my experience as a sommelier, I found some customers are open to something new and others want what they want and knowing when and when not to push is important. I think it's really important to pick your battles.

PG: There is certainly a 3 tiered system that has created substantial inertia and resistance to change. You can't pin it on any one tier, restaurants and retailers don't want to invest a lot of energy, skill or money into training. They want wines that sell themselves so they're not going to venture into new territory. if I put a Portuguese wine on the list something else has to go there's a limit to how much shelf space you have and inventory you can hold so if you're going to make a commitment to another category, something else has to give.

TF: Portuguese wines are fantastic, and we already know they are a great value—we need to focus on quality, diversity, and the opportunity to get the wines in front of people. We need to create special wine menus paired with food. Outside of that availability in the retail setting, it’s important to establish relationships with the people with the more venues there are for the wines, the more people will be excited about them.

PG: Most effective is taking key players to Portugal and introducing them in country, on the trade side. The most lasting stickiness is the slowest, it takes time. You can get a quick hit for a particular wine from a high score, but the reality is the person motivated by the score is not tied to the region or the producer. The long-term slow build is the one with lasting value.

TF: Every neighborhood has an Italian restaurant every other neighborhood has a Spanish tapas restaurant, there's not as many French restaurants but high-end restaurants gravitate towards French wines—so what's the venue for Portuguese wines? The only reason people now know super Tuscans is because Mario Batali in the 90s opened restaurants in New York and created wine lists that matched his vision for Italian food. We haven't had that breakthrough for Portuguese cuisine. In 2017 there were only 3 venues in Northern California featuring Portuguese wine lists.

EJ: Portugal is plagued by being perceived as the land of port and Madeira and inexpensive Vinho Verde, but the other misconception is that the wines are only compatible with the specific cuisine, even Iberian cuisine.

What Does the Future Hold for Portuguese Wine?

Even Better Quality Wines

EJ: Portugal would love to see a national system of sustainable agriculture, that’s coming.  

PG: The quality of the wine, the freshness, the balance in the reds, the integration of tannins and also some regions are on fire in terms of their apparent transformation. It’s as if the Portuguese looked over the border from Vinho Verde to Spain and said “we can do that” and there is a significant transition in that area to more concentration, mono varietal blends and the wines have gotten dramatically more interesting, also more expensive, but a lot more work is going into them so it's justified.

Wines from the tasting photo credit Amy Thompson Photography

TF: There’s lower production per acre and sometimes biodynamics or dry farming so there's more work and less volume coming out of each acre, so they have to charge more. The up-and-coming wine regions— Bairrada, and Lisbon have interesting stuff going on also Trás-os-Montes.

A Positive Effect from Tourism in Portugal

PG: Tourism is driving interest in Portugal and Portuguese wines. In peak tourist season when cruise ships are running, 30,000 passengers a day are disgorged into Lisbon a day...and that's just one element. I think it's impossible to overstate the impact of tourism on customers here.

TF: The growing popularity of Portugal as a tourist destination, especially the last five years has been great for us. But let me digress, a lot of Portuguese immigrants have had a nostalgic attachment to the wines as an attachment to the Portuguese community. And to generalize, those folks were not seeking out wines over $15 or natural wines for example. But in San Francisco I can be weird because our consumers gravitate towards that! And now with people going to Portugal their expectations are different when they return after trying wines there.