Andre Ribeirinho | Wine, Food and More.

In an event that is known as the Oscars of Wine in Portugal, Revista dos Vinhos (one of Portugal’s most read wine magazines) has announced their 2012 List of Best Portuguese Wines.

This is a solid list of great Portuguese wines including some out-of-this-world bottles (like the Barca Velha 2004). The 30 wines on the list got an Award of Excellence for having achieved the very best ratings in all of the wine tastings organized by the wine magazine during 2012.

As you’ll see from the indicative retail prices this is a list that includes some of the most expensive Portuguese wines on the market. In general there’s plenty of good wines at lower price points in the market (as you can see by most of my Wines of the Week or the Top 10 Portuguese Wines by Essência do Vinho) but this is mostly a list of high-end wines, even if some – for the quality – can still be considered good values at their price.

As always I’ve marked my favorite wines (and this time also the good values) on the list. I haven’t yet tasted all of them so I’ll do an update on the list as soon as I taste them.

Award of Excellence

Reds

• Barca Velha 2004 (Red, Douro, 300 €) - favorite
• Quinta do Vale Meão 2010 (Red, Douro, 50 €) - favorite
• Poeira 2010 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite - good value
• Quinta da Touriga-Chã 2009 (Red, Douro, 35 €) - favorite
• Ultreia 2008 (Red, Douro, 60 €)
• Quinta do Noval 2009 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite
• Quinta da Leda 2009 (Red, Douro, 30 €) - favorite - good value
• Legado 2008 (Red, Douro)
• Quinta da Manoella Vinhas Velhas 2010 (Red, Douro, 60 €)
• Quinta do Vallado Reserva 2010 (Red, Douro, 20 €)
• Quinta da Pellada Dão 2008 (Red, Dão, 15 €) - favorite - good value
• Quinta dos Carvalhais Único 2009 (Red, Dão, 60 €) - favorite
• Principal Grande Reserva 2008 (Red, Barraida, 35 €)
• Kompassus Private Collection 2009 (Red, Barraida, 30 €)
• Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco 2009 (Red, Barraida, 150 €)
• CH by Chocapalha 2009 (Tinto, Lisboa, 25 €)
• Cinquenta A.S. 2009 (Red, Setúbal, 35 €)
• Esporão Private Selection Garrafeira 2009 (Red, Alentejo, 35 €) - favorite
• Torre do Esporão Garrafeira 2007 (Red, Alentejo, 100 €)
• Pêra-Manca 2008 (Red, Alentejo, 190 €)
• Grande Rocim 2009 (Red, Alentejo, 40 €)

Whites

• Anselmo Mendes Curtimenta Alvarinho 2011 (White, Vinho Verde, 20 €)
• Quinta das Bágeiras Pai Abel 2009 (White, Barraida, 17 €)

Port Wines

• Warre’s Vintage 2009 (Fortified, Douro, 50 €) - favorite
  
• Taylor’s Vintage 2009 (Fortified, Douro, 64 €) - favorite
  
• Graham’s 30 anos (Fortified, Douro, 70 €) - favorite - good value
• Graham’s Colheita 1969 (Fortified, Douro, 235 €) - favorite

Madeira & Others

• José Maria da Fonseca Moscatel Roxo 20 Anos (Fortified, Setúbal, 75 €)
• Blandy’s Madeira 20 anos Terrantez (Fortified, Madeira, 45 €)
• Bastardinho de Azeitão Vinho Licoroso 30 anos (Fortified, Azeitão, 60 €)

The magazine also selected the top wines by region including a list of Port Wines. You can see the full list of selected wines (in Portuguese) on the magazine’s website.