Bairrada

Unusually for Portugal, Bairrada is a region dominated by just one grape, the often-maligned Baga. 80% of wines from this region are red, and almost all of these are made from Baga. It is thick-skinned, high in acidity and pretty tannic. Combine this with the common practice of leaving the stems in the fermentation vat, and it has the potential to make tough, challenging wines. But while many of the wines made from Baga are overly astringent, the fact that some winemakers do great things with it suggests that the blame lays at the door of the less competent producers rather than the grape.

This is the region of the smallholder. There are a staggering 4700 registered growers, and the average plot size is a tiny 0.2 ha. Most sell their grapes to the cooperatives that dominate the region’s production. But some estimate of the potential of this region for quality wines can be gained from the observation that more than two-thirds of the vineyards here are over 50 years old.

Notable quality producers include Casa de Saima, Luis Pato, Quinta das Bágeiras and Quinta do Baixo. In terms of size, the biggest producer in Bairrada is Caves Aliança, based at Sangalhos, although most of their wines are made from grapes grown outside the region.