The world of Port Wine is dominated by a few large corporations. Therefore it is so refreshing to see a company like BULAS becoming quite successful.
They have become one of my favorite Port Wine companies… for the following three reasons:
- Their Port Wines
- The location of their Quintas
- Their people
When I tasted the first time their 20 Year Old Tawny I couldn’t believe it… such an interesting aroma. This is still today my favorite 20 Year Old Tawny (Richard Mayson wrote in his book “Port and the Douro” about BULAS: “Aged tawnies can also be good, if slightly rustic in style.” Well, it seems that I really like this “rusticness”…
The adventure started really in 1951 when Jose Bulas Cruz bought the QUINTA DA COSTA DE BAIXO. While he is unfortunately no longer around, his legacy continues: his signature is the iconic handwriting that forms the name “Bulas” on the labels.
This Quinta is located on the northern side of the Douro, on the top of a hill, exactly at the location where the river CEIRA flows in the Douro.
Another Quinta is located at the bottom of the hill, directly by the water: QUINTA DA FOZCEIRA. It is exactly at the mouth of the river – and since I have been the first time to the Douro, I am in love with those little, so absolutely humble buildings. They are not used anymore for anything else than storage – but the location and there shape and size are so harmonic that it is just a pleasure to look at them while driving from Regua to Pinhao.
The Quinta is owned nowadays by the siblings Maria Gabriel and Jose Afonso Bulas Cruz.
Like at so many places in Portugal and the Douro there is some construction going on at the QUINTA DA COSTA DE BAIXO: some ruins are getting restored to the buildings they once were… and I believe that we will also see some accommodation available for tourists.
One of the main features of this Quinta is a beautiful old storage building from 1836 – a majestic, very long-stretched property.
What makes this Quinta also so amazing are the views – standing on the hill, seeing the boats on the river Douro going by; looking to the other side of the river at the Quinta do Tedo and Quinta Napoles… One of the nicest views the Douro Valley can offer.
But now a quick look at the wines:
As mentioned, the 20 Year Old Tawny is just amazing… Great price-value-ratio; a very well made Tawny. The company of course does also 10, 30 and 40 Year Old Tawnies… and the 30 Year old is also great. But for some funny reason I prefer the 20 Year Old Port.
BULAS has also two different 10 Year Old White Ports in their offering… and I can’t remember any other company with two different White 10 Year Old Ports… One is the “normal” 10 Year Old White, the other is a dry 10 Year Old White Port. I must confess that I didn’t have tasted them yet, but a comparison of these wines is on my bucket list. In addition to these ages wines BULAS also offers a normal dry Port and a Reserve White Port.
While one of the many believes about Port Wine says that the English are better at the Vintage Port and the Portuguese are better at the Tawny-style, BULAS has some outstanding Ruby Ports. As a prime example, I would like to mention the BULAS 2011 LBV – an outstanding LBV that doesn’t need to hide behind any other LBV.
The location guarantees great grapes – and BULAS uses them to make some really nice VINTAGE Ports. They are not so powerful that you can’t drink them while they are young – but they do have quite some tannins that make me believe they will develop nicely – and the 2011 I wouldn’t drink now – but wait until 2025-2030 to try it. Like so many other Vintage Ports from that year, I think it is a very promising Port and look forward to seeing how it will be in 10 years.
BULAS offers of course also table wine, in red and white. The grapes for the white wine are Viosinho, Códega de Larinho, Rabigato Moreno and Malvasia. This wine ferments in steel tanks and sees french oak barrels only for a few months. Crisp and precise, some peach undertones. Nice wine. The 2018 is already available.
Looking at the red wines, the Grande Reserva Touriga Nacional is standing out as an interesting wine. A full bodied wine and the nose of this wine brings me mentally immediately back to the Douro Valley. Some vanilla aromas, thanks to 12 months in oak, some strawberry, too.
If money is not an issue, then BULAS offers something very special… In 2015 a small number of bottles of a “very old” Port were made. This Port is roughly from 1860. You can never be too sure aboutv the exact date, as sometimes the paperwork has gone missing over a centtury, sometimes there is no information about which wine was used to top-up the barrels… and that is why Bulas is very careful with this wine and just calls it “very old”.
Such an old Tawny is the pinnacle of Port Wine and if you have an opportunity to try this wine, please do so. Port Wine can’t get much better than this!
When I started this report, I mentioned that I like the company for the wines, the Quintas and the people. We have spoken about the wine and the Quintas… that leaves us now with the people.
Joana Duarte is the winemaker and thanks to her the reputation for BULAS has grown tremendously over the last years. She is doing an amazing job – whereby I don’t even know where she finds the time, as she is often at wine tastings and trade shows and presents her wines! Her photos of the Douro as seen from the BULAS Quinta are just beautiful.
Isabel Vieira is the other person that has been instrumental in raising the visibility of BULAS. She knows how to use social media as a platform to promote wines and attends wine tastings all over the world and explains the BULAS wines with passion and charm.
These two plus Joana Garcia, who can also be found at social events to promote BULAS, have helped this small family company to increase its footprint in the complicated world of Port Wine by focusing on quality wines and being there to explain to interested listeners the many details of their wines.
If you want to learn more about BULAS and their wines, I suggest a visit in Porto to PORTOLOGIA, a small bar in Porto, near the river. The offer several Ports from BULAS.
However, if possible, I suggest to contact the company BYLAS itself and see if it is possible to visit the Quinta in the Douro Valley – only there you can get a feeling for the passion and dedication that goes into the wines – plus the amazing view from the very photogenic Quinta…
Quinta da Costa de Baixo, N322-2
5060-057 Gouvinhas
Sabrosa, PORTUGAL
Phone: +351 259 107 629
Phone: +351 932 001 099
Email: geral@bulas.eu
Web-Page: http://bulas.eu/