Well before the launch of Mateus Rosé in 1942, Portugal had form making pink and pale red wines called ‘palhetes’ and ‘claretes.’ Now making a comeback, read on to discover more about Portugal’s ‘new old’ light reds and uncommonly intense rosés, some of which feature a cheeky splash of white grapes. Highly characterful, these artisanal wines are a world apart from cookie-cutter rosés and make great year-round drinking.
Of field blends and lagaretas
An old lagareta carved into a granite boulder in Trás-os-Montes. Photo credit Sarah Ahmed
Portugal’s tradition of light reds and intense rosés make perfect sense when you consider that traditional Portuguese vineyards feature a mix of red and white grapes. Ancient winemaking methods also account for Portugal’s rich heritage of clarete and palhete wines. Although they have long fallen into disuse, here and there you can still find ‘lagaretas’ carved into northern Portugal’s granite boulders, like this one in Trás-os-Montes.
According to Professor Virgilio Loureiro, an expert on Portugal’s ancestral wines, grapes would have been crushed in lagaretas located in situ amidst the vineyards. Following gentle foot-treading on the gently sloping floor of the shallow cavity at the top of the lagaretas, grape juice would drain into the ‘sink’ below and be taken elsewhere to ferment ‘bica aberta’ i.e. without skins, like a conventional white wine.
With barely any skin contact, even wines made like this from red grapes would have been light in colour, body, alcohol and tannin. In other words, made in a style which is back in fashion in today. Small wonder palhetes and claretes are enjoying a resurgence.
Laws
In step with this revival, laws introduced in 2017 require that wines labelled thus must conform to the following rules:
- ‘Clarete’ means a very light coloured red wine made exclusively from red grapes with an alcohol content not more than 2.5 % over the legal minimum alcohol by volume for the region in question
- ‘Palhete’ means a red wine obtained from the partial maceration of red grapes or the maceration of red and white grapes, although white grapes cannot be more than 15 % of the total.
Renegades
Tiago Saimpo at the Renegado field blend vineyard. Photo credit Sarah Ahmed
Popular with artisanal, minimal intervention winemakers who are not known for their love of regulation, you could say that some wines honour the style in the breach. Hence Tiago Saimpo’s aptly named Uivo Renegado Vinhas Velhas. ‘Renegado’ is self-explanatory. As for ‘Univo,’ it means howl because, explains Tiago, this wine is “a howl back to natural field blends,” specifically his old field blend vineyard in the Douro Valley, which is broadly an equal mix of inter-mingled red and white grapes.
Uber-fresh with Moscatel’s tell-tale floral lift, for me this dusky pink wine is a palhete in look and, most importantly, taste but, with well over 15% of white grapes, it isn’t in the eyes of the law! Tiago told me, “[F]rom my perspective, I don't call it either Rosé or Red. Even my label does not state the type of wine, just mentions Wine.”
The acid test
Teasing out the common threads that, for me, distinguish Portugal’s benchmark clarete and palhete wines, freshness, lightness and fluidity – a fleetness of foot – is a must. This stems from a holy trinity of high acidity, low alcohol and low tannin.
Red grapes destined for clarete wines are usually harvested earlier than for classic red wines, accounting for their lower alcohol and higher acidity. To avoid extracting bitter or green notes from these early picked grapes, low extraction is key. In consequence tannins are barely perceptible, allowing the fruit to shine. Soft and willowy, fresh, floral and fruity, Hugo Mendes Pitau Clarete 2023 is a case in point.
António Picotês foot-treading the grapes for Picotês Palhete 2023. Photo credit Picotês
As for palhetes, whilst the labelling laws do not set a maximum alcohol level, in my experience, palhetes are similarly picked early for freshness. Although the labelling laws permit palhetes to be made exclusively from red grapes (Monte da Casteleja Palhete 2022 is an example), they typically feature white grapes too. When made from red and white grapes, being neither a red nor a rosé, palhetes occupy a liminal space in between. And when made from old field blend vineyards, they have so much more intensity and character than a classic modern rosé, but are lighter, less structured, than a classic red.
Take Picotês Palhete 2023, which is sourced from António Picotês’ old field blend vineyards in Trás-os-Montes. Before the grape juice is fermented off skins (like a classic modern rosé), the grapes are foot-trodden and the juice and skins macerate for 24 hours, accounting for the colour (translucent ruby) and a beguiling lick of tannin.
Wines for all seasons
Alternatively, enjoy them on their own. Whether made from well-known or obscure native Portuguese grape varieties, they will refresh the parts other light reds and rosés cannot reach.
SARAH AHMED
11 SEPTEMBER 2024
