One of the chief joys of wine is the complexity of flavors that can be extracted from the unassuming grape. But with so many varieties, vintages and vintners, discovering what you like or what pairs well with your meal can be a challenging—and expensive—adventure. Fortunately, Andrew Harper Alliance partners consistently attract the industry’s top professionals to preside over their impressive cellars and select the perfect wines to match your tastes, meals and moments. Gather some exclusive recommendations and peek into the mindset of these gustatory wizards as the Andrew Harper Traveler chats with Arnaud Vallet, the award-winning sommelier at Vila Joya in Portugal.
How do you retain the wine knowledge you’ve gathered, and the memory of tastes?
Tasting, tasting and more tasting. I never forget a wine when it reminds me of something from my past or childhood, or when the bottle was opened and tasted with good friends or family. For all the other ones (and there are a lot), nothing is better than tasting notes.
What’s your go-to wine at home? What do you love about it?
An Alvarinho — light and fresh and not-too-intense notes of tropical fruits. [It is] the perfect pairing to seafood and grilled fish from the Algarvian coast.
What’s a wine people should be drinking that they aren’t?
Without joking, Madeira wines. One of the best wines in the world, and it’s a shame that, worldwide, people think it’s a wine to cook with.
When most Americans think of Portuguese wine, they think of Port. Tell us about some of your favorite styles of table wines.
Alvarinho from Minho [is] the next world-class white wine from Portugal — very fresh and either light or complex and full-bodied depending how it is produced.
[Also] Baga from Bairrada, for me [one of] the more unusual grapes of the country. An old-school style — you need to be patient to drink these wines, but when you open a bottle after 15 or 20 years, it’s a treasure. Elegant and rustic at the same time, with acidity and tannins side by side — one of greatest experiences of my professional life.
The Douro Valley is Portugal’s most famous wine region, but other areas certainly produce fine wine as well. What other wine regions in Portugal should travelers be aware of?
Madeira, Bairrada, Dao, I have to stop or I will list them all! I think it’s best to visit Portugal and taste the wines at the quintas (wine-producing estates) and in the Portuguese restaurants, because you may know a few wines that are exported, but more than 75 percent of the best cuvées are produced in such small quantities that they never leave the country.
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