The game of “Castas”
Watercolour by Roque Gameiro. Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho edition
Quite often we open a bottle of wine to go with our evening meal. It is like a prize after a hard day’s work. Then one day, more than five years ago, the ritual started: we ask the Kids to read the “castas’ on the back label. And we, the adults, tried to guess. “Hum, if it is from the Douro or Dão, it probably has Touriga Nacional. If it is a white from the Alentejo it is likely you will find Antão Vaz. And so on.
If you are starting on this game, one easy mistake to make is saying something like: “Beautiful red made with Arinto”. That is like saying “Great red Bordeaux made with Chardonnay”. Oops…
Nowadays, when the Kids are no longer Kids, but, as my sister likes to call them, “Delightful Young Adults”, the game gets more interesting because they are becoming familiar with the names, the Quintas, the regions, and so on. Even without drinking much wine yet; they will see the light one day…
If you are wondering what casta is, wonder no more: it is the grape variety. And Portugal has a rich, unique, and complicated collection of castas. The complicated part is that some varieties have different names in different regions. But do not fear, my dear Gastronautas, because we will be talking and writing a lot about them in the future. And there are almost 300 varieties!
I am not an expert, but certainly a keen enthusiast of Portuguese wine since 1986, when I had my best mark yet at school: 19 em Enologia. The teacher was a really cool man with a bow tie. Enough about me, let’s start the journey on Portuguese castas:
There are 5 big categories: grapes to make red wine, to make white wine, to make vinho verde, to make espumante and to make vinho generoso.
In this article I will make a small introduction to the grapes that produce red wine (Tinta or Tinto) in the main table wine-producing regions:
Douro – Touriga Nacional; Touriga Franca; Tinta Roriz also known as Aragonez and Tempranillo (see what I mean about being complicated?…); Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão;
Dão – Alfrocheiro, Jaen, Touriga Nacional;
Bairrada – Baga;
Beira Interior – Rufete;
Península de Setúbal – Castelão or Periquita, which gives the name to a famous wine brand;
Alentejo – Aragonez and Alicante Bouschet.
Algarve – Negra Mole e Trincadeira.
Other regions like Tejo, and Lisboa do not have, as far as I know, very specific local varieties with any expression.
Some French grape varieties are very popular in Portugal and do really well in our terroirs. I would highlight Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Further information about Roque Gameiro at Casa Roque Gameiro (Amadora) and Museu de Aguarela Roque Gameiro (Minde).
