Baga

Baga is the dominant red grape of Bairrada, on Portugal's Atlantic coast between Coimbra and the sea, and it has a reputation for being difficult that is entirely deserved.

It is thick-skinned, small-berried and very high in both tannin and acidity, and it ripens late in a region with heavy autumn rainfall and a real risk of rot. In a poor year the wine is hard, green and astringent. In a good one, from old vines on the heavy limestone-clay soils, it produces a red of genuine distinction — dark, structured and long-lived, with sour cherry, blackcurrant and damson over dried herbs, tobacco, leather and a smoky, earthy depth.

The comparison to Nebbiolo comes up repeatedly: pale-to-medium colour, ferocious tannin, high acidity, an aromatic rather than fruity profile, and a wine that is unpleasant young and excellent at twenty years.

Bairrada's modern history has been shaped by disagreement over how to handle it. Traditional producers used whole bunches and long maceration, which extracted formidable stem tannin. Reformers destemmed and softened the extraction. A group known as the Baga Friends has since argued for the traditional approach with better vineyard work, and their wines have made the strongest case for the variety.

It is also the base for a good deal of Bairrada's traditional-method sparkling wine, both white and rosé, where its acidity is a considerable asset.

Plantings have fallen as growers switch to easier varieties.