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PORTUGAL (2) – VINHO VERDE
If I had to mention one specific Portuguese wine region which potential has been the most underestimated, I would surely say the ‘Entre Douro e Minho’ region. Fantastic granite soils, not too warm Oceanic climate, unique grape varieties, good conditions for nice Oceanic type wines. Only one little problem, the soil can be quite humid. To protect the grapes for too much humidity and its logical consequences, fungus and diseases, the old vine-growers were using the old high pergola training system. That gave good protection against humidity excesses but was not ideal for the exposure of the grapes to the sun. The result was easy drinking, light, fizzy and fresh wines with low alcohol and concentration. Those ‘green wines’ (vinho verde) were highly appreciated by the tourists visiting Portugal. You could drink much more of it; it was not too heavy, not to tasty, but fresh and … cheap. Even though the most interesting ‘green wines’ were the reds, the offer to the tourists was quite exclusively white, dry or semi-dry/semi-sweet. Nowadays, the real potential of this region has been understood. In the past decades drastic changes gave the informal cheap and light wimpy wines a much higher quality. You will still find many old fashioned pergola vineyards, but nearly all quality vineyards are trained on lower systems, still keeping the grapes safely enough away from the soil humidity but allowing a much better canopy management, airing and sun exposure.
Not only the quality of the vineyard management has been improved, but also the technical processes in the cellars. Among all the allowed grape varieties, the alvarinho (a.k.a. albariño in Galicia) is the queen for the white quality wines. You will find some fantastic 100% alvarinho wines, but also from alvarinho blended with arinto, loureiro, trajadura and some more varieties. For the red wines, the most interesting results seem to come from the vinhão variety (AFROS!!!), but also from the rabo-de-ovelha, espadeiro and some other regionally used grapes. Red (and rosé!) vinho verde are still not really popular. I don’t know why, actually; for me the reds are most of the time worth the try, and I do believe that they have a big future in the next decades. The style is still quite rustic, harsh and peculiar, but when well-made like for example the AFROS VINHÃO, they can be just delightful wines with nice freshness, soft tannins, lovely fruit, a hint of spices and a nice touch of minerality.
The whites however are easier for the big public, especially when they have a good fizz and some rest sugar. You still will find plenty cheap, old fashioned wimpy white Vinho Verde for the big mass of tourists. But it is worth to look a little bit higher and go for the new generation Vinho Verde. Some wines are really absolutely high level (AFROS, CASA DE MOURAZ among my favourites). A little bit more alcohol and concentration give these high-flyers much more complexity without losing their fantastic freshness and minerality.
Soon more about it… see PORTUGAL (3)
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