TN: Carcavelos - unknown Portuguese dessert wines

[Otto Nieminen]

Tonight we had a really interesting tasting of six Carcavelos with a bit of age on them. Carcavelos (or Carcavellos) is Portugal's smallest DOC and has had wine production from 1370. It lies just 15km west of Lissabon.

In the 18th Century it was one of the most respected wines of Portugal; in the 19th Century it gained enormous popularity in England when Wellington's officers introduced it to England; after that it has had a tough time. In the late 19th Century, oidium and pyholloxera wreacked havoc. In the early 20th C, Carcavel(l)os was decreed alongside Port, Madeira and Setúbal as having permission to use the name "Vinho Generoso" (important detail for the last wine of our tasting).

From the 1970s onward production has diminished because of the expansion of real estate into the area. At its best 12 000 pipa (barrels) were produced; today it is only about 50 pipa.

The wines are aged for at least 2 years in oak of chestnut barrels and then a further minimum of 6 months in bottle for the red; 6 months in wood and 3 months in bottle for the white. It is always fortified to a minimum of 17,5%, usually between 18-20%. Traditionally it was either red or white and of two degrees of sweetness: No 1 = drier & No 2 = sweeter. Today only the sweeter is produced.

There is only one producer, Quinta dos Pesos, still making Carcavelos, but the old producer Quinta de Barão might be making a come back as plans to save the Quinta have already been made.

The grapes that are used for the wines are a bit of a mystery: all source mention different ones: Red Carcavelos is: minimum 75% from Castelão (Periquita) & Preto Martinho; the rest from Espadeiro, Trincadeira and Negra Mole.

White Carcavelos is: min 75% Galego Dourado, Ratinho and Arinto (Pedernã), and the rest from Boal.

It is worth noting that it was impossible to tell whether the wines we tasted were red or white Carcavelos: the colour of the wines were all ranging from tawny to red/orange. Only the 4th wine was of a lighter colour, but even that was dark enough to be from red grapes! The labels didn't give any hints either.

We started with the youngster: Quinta dos Pesos Carcavelos 1989. This was a little bit cloudy colour: amber. The nose was of baked apples, quite fresh and light compared to the others, with toffeed, nutty, milk-coffee and floral nuances. The palate is very sweet, toffeed, but fresh and more acidic than port yet without the volatility of Madeira. It's a bit hard to characterise, but it's like a fino sherry with sweetness! This youngster isn't very complex, and aftertaste isn't very long, but it is quite a delight to drink it anyway. Nice!

Quinta do Barão Carcavelos +30 Year Old Fortified Wine (the white capsule on the picture) was a darker colour, with a quite a bit of mustiness/bottle stink that didn't really blow off during the evening. There was a great depth of fruit (which is why I don't think it is corked) also and some nice rancio tones. The palate is very sweet, very intense, with lovely high amounts of acidity. Horrible nose; absolutely lovely palate.

Quinta do Barão Carcavelos No 1 (dark capsule) looks like a red wine. The nose is deep and coffeed, chocolatey and has some citrussy notes like an old Tawny Port. The palate is quite sweet, a bit volatile and with nice amounts of rancio and reminds me a bit of Madeira. The palate is much lighter than the scent would lead one to expect. Very nice.

Quinta da Belavista Carcavelos Blend of c.40YO Colheitas was the driest of the bunch. Even though the previous wine was designated a No 1, this was much drier. The nose was appley and had much toffee and was like an old Tawny port in its citrussy aromas, but it was much more savoury and herbal that Tawnies are. The palate was quite dry, with only a teasing touch of sweetness to it. The acidity was divinely high, it was fresh, it was elegant, it was complex, it was lovely. My favourite of the night. Utterly fantastic wine.

Quinta do Barão Carcavelos 15 YO was corked. Bummer.

Luis Simões Marques Vinho Generoso 1917 was a strange wine in its categorisation, but a frigging fantastic one in the glass. We aren't sure if it is Carcavelos, because three other wines are allowed to be called Generoso, and we hadn't managed to find info on the producer.

But it was a fantastic wine. There was a deep, toffeed scent like in a great 20 or 30 YO Tawny port, but with a unique savouriness to it. It was complex and fresh despite the obvious sweetness. The palate was sweet and deep and had better acidity than Port ever seems to have, with some lovely rancio notes. Brilliant stuff. 90 years age seems to pretty appropriate for this wine!

-O-

[Al B.]

Otto,

Thanks for posting these notes. Very interesting to read and great for you to also include a little on the history of Carcavellos wines. This is my new piece of learning for today!

Alex

[Otto Nieminen]

Otto,

Thanks for posting these notes. Very interesting to read and great for you to also include a little on the history of Carcavellos wines. This is my new piece of learning for today!

Alex

Thanks Alex. Glad you found it interesting!

Just a bit of info, João Rico from another board managed to find info that the 1917 probably wasn't a Carcavelos at all, nor apparently any of the other Vinho Generosos - but is labeled Generoso only because it is fortified - i.e. what is now called Licoroso.

-O-