By Tomas Clancy
As with all Portugues wines, our knowledge of the wines of the Douro region related to the practicality of getting the wines to our shores.

In days past, the store of port was perhaps bette known than the drink itself that of the Onedin shipping line, which risked weather and war to travel from the port houses in Oporto, Bristol, Cork and London.

Today, the difficulty we continue to have in sourcing many Portuguese wines adds to their mystique and allure. The Portuguese wine business is seen by many importers as a niche market. These are strange-sounding wines from strange sounding grapes. Although their wines require a little extra effort to find, they boast an obvious authenticity and have huge rarity appeal and keen prices.

There are a lot more Portuguese wines around than you think. Indeed, one of the most widely-known wines in Ireland is Portuguese - Mateus. Mateus Roséwine has been a fixture on Irish shelves for decades now, and is a clear example of how, when people look beyond the grape name, price and taste will do the rest.

At €9,Mateus remains a fresh, lively roséthat still draws huge sales. However, the sister white Mateus at just under €9 is probably the better wine. Wine guru Robert Parker has said that wineries wishing to avoid going headto-head with the high-volume, low-cost New World producers should simply ignore the voices of doom about local grapes.

He could have been speaking directly to Portugal's winemakers. Globalisation is not a familiar term in their vineyards .The Douro, in particular, with its near-vertical riverside terrace vineyards, will never be able to compete with the vast level vineyards of Australia, Central Valley in California or Argentina.

The majority of its vineyards are hand-harvested affairs, and destined to remain so, at least until they invent a mechanical donkey.

Here, then, is a selection of the most interesting young Douro available. They may be a little harder to find, but are certainly worth the effort.

Niepoort, Redoma Blanco 2002, €18, Wicklow Wine Company, Galway Wine Company, Salthill, Probus Wines Oughterard and On the Grapevine

Dirk Niepoort, the sun around whom the Douro Boys phenomenon rotates, has produced a superb range of seductive wines that should convince even the most determined sceptics. This has a gorgeous, limelike nose, leading to a luscious, lightly oily and nutty wash.The lifted crisp finish is a perfect counterpoint to the broadness of the wash.

Quinta Do Vallado 2001, €18, Brechin and Watchorn, Rathgar, The Sky and the Ground, Wexford and Karwig Wines, Carrigaline, Cork
The product of two cousins, Francisco Olazabal and Francisco Ferreira, this vineyard was the one that first alerted the world to the fine wine potential of the Duoro. When Sogrape, owners of Mateus, bought Ferreira Port, the Ferreira family held onto their tenderloin vineyard and began making dry red wine. It is a superb, muscular wine, with polished tannins. Bright fruits, from strawberry to light plum, fill the wash. The fine, complex finish completes the picture. The Reserva is well worth the extra if you can spot it.

Quinta Do Vale Donna Maria, €28, Wicklow Wine Company, Wicklow town, Andersons Food Hall, Glasnevin and Brechin and Watchorn, Rathgar
Made by Sandra Tavares da Silva, a female member of theDouro Boys group who is now married to Dirk Neipoort's former winemaker. A blockbuster wine, the nose of which is bursting with fruit. The wine is almostblack in the glass, and polished and creamy in the wash with blackcurrant, dark chocolate andjust a hintof spiced plum. Epic,world-beating wine.


Chryseia 2001, €60, Berry Brothers & Rudd and online at www.BBR.com
Bruno Pratts, ex-owner of Cos d'Estournel and member of the Symington family of Symington ports, coat-tailed on the Douro boys' lead with this Bordelais take on the new Douro. Flashy, expensive oak is evident in this sweet, rich wine.

It is purple toblackand polished in the glass. Bramble, crushed black fruits and a touch of chocolate leads to a superb finish. Quinta do Crasto and Lynch Bages have teamed up to make another Bordeaux Douro wine for release next year.


Niepoort, Redoma 2000 at €32, Wicklow Wine Company, Wicklow, Cabot House of Wine, Westport, Micheal's Wines, Mount Merrion, On the Grapevine, Dalkey


This is a star wine of the Douro constellation - until Neipoort's €150 Batuta 2000 gets an Irish importer.This is a no-compromises wine: almost every element of the winemaking process is handcrafted, the yields are lowand the love lavished shine out. Creamy and polished in the glass, it radiates inky purple and black. It gives a rush of freshly crushed blackberries,plumand aburstofmelting chocolate. The finish is lengthy and complex.