Casa Santos Lima

Visit to Casa Santos Lima at Merceana by ANTHONY STOCKBRIDGE

Casa Santos Lima IS the largest producer of DOC wine in the Alenquer district producing 25% of the total from 180 ha. of vines.  Sebasiâo Garcia, the Director, outlined the company’s history.  It was established by Joaquim Santos Lima two hundred years ago and remains in the ownership of the same family today.  José Luis Santos Lima Oliviera da Silva, a banker, took over the reins in 1990.  He resigned his position as General Manager of Portugal‘s biggest financial groups to concentrate on building Portugal’s largest wine company.

His goal was to produce quality grapes from which to make and bottle his own modern quality wine so re-launched the company in 1995.  Today he has 15 estates and 20 brand names making 5 million bottles a year of which 95% are exported.

Many lesser indigenous vines were replaced with Touriga Nacional and 50 other varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier, some of which are experimental and used to make small, single varietal runs of up to 2,000 bottles.

Casa Santos Lime also buys in grapes grown under their own supervision in order to make the volume of wine required to fill their order book and supply UK importers including The Wine Society and Laithwaites.

This was a wonderful example of the great strides made in recent years by many Portuguese wine-makers both in terms of quality and in marketing expertise.

Amongst the twenty-four good wines we tasted, several are worth looking out for:

2009 Arinto (single varietal) had an inviting nose with fresh acidity supporting juicy melons and lemons.

2009 Sauvignon Blanc from 7 year-old vines.  We found several really good Sauvignon Blancs on the trip of which this was a good example. They would never pass as wine from the Central Vineyards or New Zealand but Portugal is developing a style of its own without losing anything of the refreshing acidity and juicy fruit we expect from this grape.

2008 Espiga.  Total de-stemming of Castelão, Touriga Nacional, Syrah and Tinta Roriz then maceration in contact with (submerged) cap for 28 days followed by 3 to 4 months ageing in oak barrels produced a bright ruby wine with strawberries and raspberries on the nose then cherries and blackcurrant on the palate with soft tannins and clean fruit on the finish.