If you're in the wine business, João Nicolau de Almeida looks like someone you know. And when Brad Paton, winemaker at Buitenverwachting nailed it, the answer came with the shock of recognition. "Tienie Louw from Diemersdal, right down to the droopy moustache that I've studied for ages, trying to get a good price for the grapes that I buy from him."

The comparison was an unexpected one, given that the style of wines the two gentlemen make are 6000km apart: flinty sauvignon blanc as compared to 3 million bottles of port and intense red and white wines from the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal. And the location was an unexpected one - a tapas bar at the wild end of Long Street.

"This is our virgin night," explained sommelier-turned-wine entrepreneur Jörg Pfützner who, with his wife Claire, had organised a tasting of some of the best known wines from Portugal - Casa Ramos Pinto. The venue was Ultima Tapa, a Spanish tapas bar owned by Scott ("a character from a Graham Greene novel", as one food blogger commented), whose other operation is the Japanese restaurant Kyoto Gardens in Tamboerskloof, the finest sushi spot in the Mother City.

Speaking of matters matriarchal, De Almeida's mom was a Ramos Pinto, one of the few Portuguese family port houses ("I was born in a barrel in the cellar"). This is a name to conjure with in the heady world of fortified wine, where white port mixed with tonic goes down well with Scott's elegant sushi.

His dad made Barca Velha, the Meerlust Rubicon of Portuguese wines, for the Ferreira Port House. Those first vintages of "the old ship" date back to the 1950s, when mom and dad would disappear into the Douro Valley for two months for the harvest, leaving the family behind in Oporto. But this was no case of child neglect, as João is now vice-chairman of Ramos Pinto ("We sold the company to French Champagne maker Louis Roederer in 1990, as we were 25 family members and it was impossible to make decisions"). His brother is today Portuguese ambassador to SA.

De Almeida studied oenology in Bordeaux ("there was no winemaker training in Portugal") in the '70s and would make frequent trips to the vineyards. His two sons are eighth-generation winemakers and they live in the vineyards, confirming a move back to the land over three generations.

This next generation of Ramos Pinto winemakers are into biodynamic practices as a defense against global climate change. In particular, the sons use a cactus growing in the stony Douro Valley. Soaked in water, a chemical compound is extracted which, when sprayed on the vines, forms a second skin on the grapes to protect them from the ravages of the sun - something for SA port producers in Calitzdorp in the Little Karoo to consider. Their succulents and aloes could become a valuable source of suntan lotion for vines.

Tasting Ramos Pinto wines, it's necessary to reboot your mouth. All the reds are blends - "we don't speak of varietals, we speak of vineyards which may be planted with any number of the 70-odd grape cultivars growing in the Douro. Wines are typically made as blends of all the grapes growing in a vineyard," said De Almeida.

They have a remarkable freshness and fruit intensity that make them well suited to food.