A relatively new producer to look out for is the strangely named Manz Wine from the Lisbon region. I had never heard about the winery until recently when I read a story in Essential Algarve magazine by a journalist who had visited the estate, which is located near the village of Cheleiros to the north of Lisbon.
This is an area where wine has been produced for centuries and until the 1940s there were still dozens of small producers around the village. But winemaking dried up there over the years until a chunk of land was bought a few years ago by a Brazilian-Hungarian retired footballer and resurrected.
Their claim to fame is a range of white wines they make from a grape called Jampal that nobody has ever heard of. I have not yet seen these whites for sale in the Algarve, but I spotted this red at my local Intermarché supermarket costing around €7.
Made from a blend of Touriga Nacional, Aragonez and Syrah, this is a smooth and easy drinking red with good body and well-integrated oak. Excellent value for money.
