Alorna

Dinner with Pedro Lufinha and Tiago Macena from Quinta da Alorna By ANTHONY STOCKBRIDGE. 

Marisa d’Vari, an American from New York, Peter Edwards,  Marta from Vini Portugal and I met with Pedro Lufinha and Tiago Macena of Quinta da Alorna at Restaurant Faz Figuria, which boasts a wonderful view over the Tagus (Tejo).  There, through dinner, we tasted two of their whites, two reds and an Abafado.
 Quinta da Alorna, an estate of 2,800 ha. near Santarem, was established in 1723 by the first Marques of Alorna.  For many years the thousand or so hectares of vines, planted on the fertile flood plains of the Tagus, produced great quantities of poor quality wines consumed in Lisbon and the surrounding area.

During the early years of the new millennium, a new strategy was adopted.  The high yielding vines of the plain were replaced with quality vines such as Touriga Nacional, Cabernet Sauvignon, Fernão Pires and Chardonnay and quantity was replaced by quality. 


The wines we tasted showed how good those of the Tejo can be.  Tiago presented a white Arinto/Fernão Pires blend as an aperitif.  It was dry with refreshing acidity, balanced with ripe pears and melon with a clean, lingering finish.  We had prawns with a single varietal Verdelho which was dry with typical minerality, counterbalanced by delicate floral light tropical fruits.  This is part of Quinta da Alorna’s  strategy of making wines that truly show the nature of the region’s grape varieties; no blending and no oak - simply the grape speaking for itself.  This was followed by a single varietal Touriga Nacional, a grape originating in Dão but now found all over Portugal.  It displayed Pinot Noir characteristics of cherries and red fruit, but lacked sufficient tannin to give it a lift,  but, when it was explained that the wine was from five-year-old vines, all was forgiven.  The pig’s cheek we had for the main course was served with a modern style of wine; 2007 Alorna Reserva, which is a 60/40 blend of Touriga Nacional and Cabernet Sauvignon that had been aged in French oak barriques for 12 months, was a stunner.  With the pudding, we were served Quinta da Alorna’s Abafado, a sweet white wine to which eau-de-vie from Bordeaux had been added to raise the strength to 17.5%.  Similar to Pineau de Charentes and lovely with it. 


Alorna by MARISA d’VARI. The American viewpoint.


“Is there any Portuguese wine on the menu?” I often ask when dining in New York City restaurants. From tastings at various trade shows, Portuguese wines often seemed to offer rich, concentrated flavor for a very reasonable price. So tonight starts my sojourn to Lisbon, Portugal, an exotic city that from the air looks like a crowd of hills, beautifully sculptured buildings, and blooming palm trees surrounded by water.


Tonight, along with Anthony and Peter, I am meeting with two key executives from Quinta da Alorna, a company that takes its name from the first Marques de Alorna, who gave his name to the property following the conquest of Fort Alorna in Italy. It is a 2,000 ha property in the Tejo region, planted on the kind of sandy soils best for wine. For the last hundred years it has been family owned, with the owners replanting and modernizing the winery in the last eight years to be in line with the commercial needs of the markets. We are at one of the most elegant restaurants in the city, Faz Figura, with a two storey glass window overlooking the river. It’s just eight-thirty, early by Lisbon time, and the restaurant is just getting started.


The first wine we taste is a white wine made from the naturally acidic Arinto grape, with the aromatic Fernão Pires. The wine has a high but sweet, pleasant acidity, and the finish is like that of sweet-tart candy though the wine is technically dry with 6 grams of sugar per litre. The other white is made from the Verdelho grape, typically used in the production of Madeira. The wine is deliciously full-bodied and goes well with our shrimp starter.  The next two wines are excellent examples of well-crafted red wines from Portugal. The first features the native grape, Touriga Nacional. It is smooth and somewhat floral, with black fruit and vanilla from four months of French oak aging with second year barrels. The next wine is a blend of Touriga Nacional and Cabernet Sauvignon (60/40). The grapes used from this wine were “green harvested” to intensify concentration of fruit, and after fermentation, received twelve months maturation in French oak. After dinner, discussion turned to the commercial market. The addition of Cabernet to the Touriga Nacional is both a good choice in terms of taste, and also for the international market to recognize the more international nature of the Cabernet grape so consumers can get a sense of its style. Perhaps on another trip I will see the property (the manor house is prominently displayed on the label) but from what I can see now, the wines are delicious.