What's wrong with Portuguese wines, and how estates have put it right

With Portuguese cuisine being touted as the next big thing by food luminaries such as Andrew Zimmern, can the country's wine be far behind?

Both food and wine have had 174 years to establish a toehold here, but haven't done so yet. The rich, often heavy food is never likely to be a winner in Hong Kong's humid climate. Baby squid stuffed with braised oxtail on a fennel purée with cep mushrooms might be good fuel for an afternoon in a dusty olive grove, but it's probably a bit much for an office in Central.

There are other explanations for the wine's failure to grip the public imagination.

Joao Pires, Portugal's only master sommelier, says the country's winemakers have only themselves to blame for the failure of previous strategies. Pires, now in charge of the wine cellars at the City of Dreams in Macau, says winemakers have finally learned the lesson that good wine "starts in the vineyard with good fruit" and not through meddling in the cellar.

While many might think of the overselling of Mateus rosé and its associated tacky image in the 1970s, Pires gives Dao as an example. One of Portugal's best known regions, Dao winemakers made some "terrible wines" but have clawed back their reputation by producing "very elegant wines", says Pires.

He says the results can be seen in widening sales and recognition in US and British restaurants.