Wines

Wine Style

All the wines which we made up to 2017 were under the Cortém brand. At present the new Cortém winery, a part of Lindeborg wines, www.lindeborgwines.com, is selling several of these wines which can be  bought at the winery here or in some local shops.

“Unique terroir, a special taste”
The Cortém wine style emerged at the beginning due to our terroir, vinification methods and grape varieties, and has not changed much over the years. The wines are very dry, and have high tannins at first, due to long fermentation on skins of up to 4 weeks which not only increases the tannins but adds many levels of complexity.

They are really only at their best after 5 years or more. The wines have distinctive aromas and tastes where one can recognise and savour the grapes used either in the single variety or blend wines.

We do not use oak in any form as we feel oak flavour can mask the true taste of the grape.
These wines can be delicious but are not over fruity, sweet, or fat. They age well. We would say our wines have more of a French or Italian style. This is backed up by comments from wine enthusiasts who have likened our Syrah wine to a Côte-rôtie (Rhone), or Medoc (Bordeaux). But of course they are portuguese and Cortém wines!

Wines

We made several single variety wines:-
Cabernet Sauvignon
Syrah
Petite Syrah
Pinot Noir
Tannat

But most are blends of which the following are regulars:-
Jaen Touriga Nacional
Jaen Aragonez
Touriga Nacional Touriga Franca
Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot
Cabernet Franc
Merlot Cabernet Franc
Sauvingon Blanc Viognier “Orange Wine”

Labels and awards

In 2006 our first wines started with a very classical label, too classical and rather boring some said!

At a session with Jinny Austin who designed our labels with us and did all the detailed work we came upon the idea “The Art of Wine”.

And so on the label this phrase and works of local artists with links to their work on the back label was born. It worked very well for many years up to the present. And helped identify the wines on wine shelves in shops. The wines were often described and recognised by the art on the bottle and not by the blend! Our labels are also a favourite with collectors in France and Switzerland.

Over the years we have teken part in most competitions and won at least one medal in each of them. Some of them you will see in the details of the newer wines below, others have adorned bottles which have long since been drunk, leaving only memories behind!

We are now regulars at the Deutsche Bioweinpreis, an interesting competition created by Martin Darting, winemaker, and expert in the sensory evaluation of wine. the wines are evaluated in great detail which we like alot.

Wine Details

Click here to get more details and download techsheets