Nelas: at the heart of the Dão wines

Between the Estrela, Açor and Caramulo mountains, there’s a region with Nelas at its centre that produces elegant and harmonious wines. Dão wines are excellent with food and this marriage is enhanced by the wine tourism options in the region.   Protected from the harsh winds that come from the sea or from Spain by the surrounding mountains and bathed by the Dão, the Mondego and the Alva, the region where Dão wines are produced has a microclimate that enhances the quality of the grapes that are born in limestone soils. The mountains of Estrela, Açor, Caramulo, Buçaco and Lousã allow a markedly continental climate, with rain and cold in winter and very hot in summer, but always with cool nights.

It is in this geographical setting that Touriga Nacional and Encruzado are the queen grape varieties of red and white wines, respectively. Touriga Nacional, today spread all over the country, has its origins here. And the Encruzado, which allows whites that know how to age, can only be found here.

It is these two grape varieties, together with the predominantly granite terrain, the protection from the winds and the gently sloping terrain with uniform sun exposure that allow the creation of elegant and harmonious wines, considered by connoisseurs as gastronomic nectars that marry very well with food and have been made for a long time.

Casa de Santar (one of the icons of Dão wines) has been producing wine for over 450 years and the red wines produced in this region have long been appreciated. It is even thought that Prince Henry the Navigator took red wine with him on the caravels during the conquest of Ceuta and that he toasted victory with it. Of course, it is known that the Infante – who was also Duke of Viseu – organised a great feast in this city to prepare the spirits for the military expedition in which “piparots of malvasia and red wine from the region” were consumed, as Gomes Eanes de Azurara describes it in his “Crónica da Tomada de Ceuta por D. João I”. It is therefore not surprising that the Demarcated Region of Dão Wines was the second to be created in the country, in 1908, more than two centuries after the Marquis of Pombal had pushed ahead with the creation of the world’s first Demarcated Region: that of the Douro.

But unlike the Douro, where the vines indelibly mark the landscape and transform it into one of the most beautiful in the world in autumn, in the Dão the vines are almost invisible in the landscape, being “hidden” by hedges, trees and other plantations. Only the Casa de Santar has a large continuous vineyard of over 100 hectares, the largest in the entire demarcated region.

It is in these undulating fields of gentle hills that the vineyards are hidden, some with unique characteristics. Sónia Martins, oenologist and administrator of the LusoVini group, talks about Encruzado, the main variety for Dão whites which, she says, “has a great aging potential, producing wines which last 20, 30 and 40 years”.

Osvaldo Amado, oenologist and director of the Global Wines group, does not mince his words when he says that the Dão “is a centre of production of majestic wines”, without hesitating to affirm that this is “the great wine region of Portugal”.

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Wine tourism with Dão wines

It is not surprising, therefore, that producers are nowadays betting on wine tourism and, in most cases, marrying it with gastronomy. In the municipality of Nelas alone, we have two good examples of this. Right at the entrance of the Beira town, we find the LusoVini facilities.

The winery can be visited seven days a week, and the visit is free and those who enter are welcomed with a welcome drink. Sónia Martins stresses that this is a project which aims to “provide experiences for those who want to get to know it better”. This is why you can walk around the huge fermentation vats and ageing barrels and afterwards – or before – taste the wines accompanied by snacks or even a meal in the beautiful and excellent Taberna da Adega.

Also at Solar dos Cunhas we are surprised by the marriage of wine and food, but in one of the oldest manor houses in the region the cuisine is signature, designed by the executive chef of all the restaurants in the group. Henrique Ferreira approaches traditional cuisine with an elegance that surprises the eye and palate.