A bottle of wine, a loaf of bread and cheese

Food and wine habits accompanied by humour and an obsessive love of football define Portuguese trait, writes Annie Datta.

I stumbled upon the topic of wine while doing an assignment on thoughts around a bottle of wine. This was meant to test one's language skill. My first thoughts rushed to Edward Fitzgerald's Omar Khyaam and the famous lines: A Book of Verses underneath the Bough/A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou/Beside me singing in the Wilderness/Oh, Wilderness were Paradise now!. The intoxication of these words made me jot down some ideas for my home work and while the literary mood was right, I opened a bottle of Portuguese wine to parallel my experience of loneliness in a foreign land. A bottle of wine, some homemade bread and cheese! Well, there was little scope for more so long as one wanted to remain grounded in reality.

Poets have generally used wine as a symbol for something else. The English romantic poet John Keats in an "Ode to a Nightingale" for instance. He invoked a paradisiacal world of forests dark and deep and went as far as to lose touch with the real. Keatsean yearning is strongly valid to a generally parched palate of an average aspirant to this world of magic casements and singing nightingales. In a wine-poor culture, barring a couple of brands the shelves are still empty of this hidden joy. Those lacking the sensibility opt for binge drinking and pharmaceutical compounds to transport them away from the anxiety of the ordinary. But the red wine's claim to goodness is now also backed up by clinical studies that a glass of red wine is positively good for the health of both men and women.

Wine is an integral feature of the Portuguese dinner table. Any traditional dish on table is enjoyed with the presence of an equally typical wine. I am personally biased in favour of the old world charm around wine and still very Euro-centred in rating its excellence. While admitting to one's limited knowledge of this sprawling world of grapes and their particular taste including sweetness or dryness, I reserve a great deal of fondness for the Italian or the French wines. Portugal with its vast range of wines from different regions was an eye opener after one visited the various hypermarkets or studied the country's geography.

Wine culture is one of the most important activities of Portugal. It occupies vast tracts of land on the continent as well as in the Azores and Madeira. The wine production represented 43% of the value of exports of agricultural products in the year 1994. The figures reflect the importance of wine culture in Portugal. We have the Minho region in the north, known for its green wines (vinho verde) made from grapes with high acid content. Here one must look out for an Alvarinho.

Port wines are Portugal's gift to the world. Cultivated around the river Douro, Port wine matures in barrels in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia where English-sounding brand names like Sandeman, Taylor, Croft and Graham remind you of the Portuguese trade treaty with the English in 1703 which regulated the port wine commerce and gave the English special trade privileges.

Going down south, the Dão region around the Mondego River is famous for its red wines and the Bairrada for its sparkling wines. Another demarcated wine region refers to the area around Lisbon city and the surrounding Sintra hills. Some known regions are Colares, Bucelas, Carcavelos and Setubal. Moscatel of Setubal made of Moscatel grapes is a preferred choice second only to a Port or a Madeira wine. These three are categorised as the generous wines.

Alentejo wines produced in the region between Lisbon and Algarve in the south have their own charm and brands originating from Borba, Portalegre, Reguengos often find a prominent corner in the hypermarkets. Alentejo is also known for its Nisa cheese, which should ideally be accompanied, by a good cast wine, some olives and a loaf of bread. The list of continental wines does not end here for we have wines from Algarve as well. More recently new wine cultivation regions have emerged excelling in wines of local fame. Cartaxo, Évora and Palmela towns are examples of the above.

The adaptation of grape to all types of soil and the different climatic conditions accounts for its presence in the whole of Portugal. In the European Union, Portugal ranks as a wine producer after Italy, France, Spain and Germany. There is a clear divide between the wines coming from north of Europe and those made in southern Europe (Portugal, France, Spain and Italy). The difference being purely technical relating to the winemaking processes followed. Alongside production, Portugal also ranks among the first few European countries as far as level of consumption is considered. (56 litres per capita).

Portugal lives by its traditions. Food and wine habits accompanied by humour and an obsessive love of football define the Portuguese personality. This is what balances the otherwise staunch outlook of a society.

Closer to home, wine culture is still showcased in exhibitions at Pragati Maidan where the price of a Cypriot wine in Indian rupees is ten times the retail price here in the hypermarket.

"What's all this fuss about" sings a famous ghazal maestro "it's a little draught I have imbibed …no crime this!"