Vinho Verde

The region’s verdant green landscape accounts for its name. Located in north-west Portugal, Vinho Verde stretches from the Minho river on the Spanish border to the Douro river to the south and is book-ended by the Atlantic to the west and mountainous Douro and Trás-os-Montes regions to the east. Sizeable, with high annual rainfall and fertile river basins, it is among Portugal’s most productive regions and best known for simple, low alcohol, fresh, fruity off-dry wines. Scratch the surface and you will find ambitious, dry artisanal and boutique wines, sourced from thoughtfully selected grape varieties and rigorously managed vineyards on higher potential soils and/or warmer, drier sites. Fresh and aromatic, but with intensity and substance, single varietal Alvarinho, Loureiro and Avesso from the sub-regions of Monção e Melgaço, Lima and Baião lead the pack; refined red wines from Vinhão (traditionally rustic, intense) and Alvarelhão (softer, lighter) are emerging.