Portugal is a country of vinous extremes. It has a diverse array of terroirs and grape varieties and an ancient winemaking history. Yet its story is often oversimplified, with a focus on the massive success of Portuguese fortified wines and the industrial upheaval that occurred in the 20th century.
More recently, a new generation of winemakers has reexamined Portugal’s land, grapes, and history, and these efforts are being recognized by the broader wine industry and consumers. Although the country’s wine evolution continues, Portuguese wine has never been more exciting, or delicious, than it is today.
This guide focuses on Portugal’s dry wines. While it includes a general discussion of the country’s history, geography, climate, wine law, grapes, and regions, information relevant only to Portuguese fortified wines is omitted and will be addressed in a future expert guide to fortified wine.
Wine has been made in Portugal for thousands of years. Phoenician amphorae have been found along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Portugal in settlements that date back as far as 800 BCE. The legacy of the western Phoenicians is felt in Portugal even today, especially in Alentejo, where amphora (known locally as talha) winemaking still thrives.
Starting around 200 BCE, Portugal was conquered by the Roman Empire, and the Romans expanded winemaking efforts. They planted heavily in Lusitania, a Roman district that extended from the Tagus River to the Douro River. The Romans also likely introduced the first serious plantings of vinifera in Gallaecia, the Roman administrative district that covered the area from the Douro River north to the Atlantic.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Portugal was briefly occupied by Germanic tribes before being assimilated into the Islamic empire in the eighth century CE. Despite Islam’s prohibition on alcohol, wine production did not suffer significantly.
In general, the northern part of Portugal was planted by the Cistercians, and the southern aspect was planted by the Phoenicians and expanded on and commercialized by the Romans. Notably, this divide between northern and southern Portugal is still felt deeply today. Those in the north and those in the south follow separate football teams, drink different beer, and rarely drink the other’s wines. This divide also highlights the remarkably minor distinctions between northern Portugal and Spanish Galicia, which have tremendous cultural similarities. The Galician language is much closer to modern-day Portuguese than it is to Spanish.
The event that cemented Portugal as a wine-producing powerhouse in Europe was the Reconquista, or the Christian “retaking” of Spain and Portugal in the 11th and 12th centuries CE. As devout Christian practice spread across the Iberian Peninsula, the production of wine went from a matter of gastronomic and commercial desirability to a religious and social necessity.
To facilitate the expansion of wine production in Portugal as Christian immigration and conversion swelled, the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques (the son of Henry of Burgundy), relied on the expertise of the Cistercian monks. The Cistercian order was founded in 1098, and the monks quickly developed a reputation as some of Europe’s greatest farmers and craftsmen. The order entered Portugal in 1153 and spread along its Atlantic and northern borders, instilling its style of intensive viticulture and land management here, as it famously did in northern Europe. The network of the Cistercian order remained strong in Portugal well into the 19th century, continuing to support the progress of viticultural ideas and materials.
During the Reconquista, while monastic land ownership and wine production remained important, land was also distributed to the new nobility of Portugal. Often, land was given to knights as a reward, with the stipulation that one-fifth of the harvest be given to the kingdom as tax. These estates were called quintas, a name still used for wineries and vineyards in Portugal.
Portugal was arguably Europe’s first maritime colonial power. The Portuguese discovered the Canary Islands in 1336 (soon after, they ceded the territory to Spain), followed by Madeira in 1419 and the Azores in 1427. Planting grapevines was part of settling these areas. The islands, like Portugal, were strategically located between Europe, western Africa, and the Americas, and they would later become crucial harbors not just in Portugal’s maritime endeavors but for all of Europe. While Portugal’s colonial footprint shrank substantially in the 16th and 17th centuries, Portuguese wine remained part of the global colonial economy for centuries afterward, and the wines evolved to fit this global trade.
The evolution that occurred was largely that of fortification, or the addition of distilled spirit, first as a preservative to help the wines survive long maritime journeys, then as a stylistic preference for creating the rich, mellow, sweet wines that dominated the fine-wine market in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Douro River valley and Madeira are the most famous sources of these wines today, but historically the Azores, Carcavelos, and Setúbal were major producers of fortified wines as well.
Gradually, in these isolated, provincial areas where wine was made mostly for local consumption, vast commercial enterprises were developed, and they were run by what were essentially some of the first multinational corporations. Shipping companies, primarily of British and Dutch origin, were created to purchase massive quantities of grapes or finished wines and to consolidate, fortify, and age the wines themselves.
It is no surprise that, given the international emphasis of certain Portuguese wine regions, Portugal was one of the first European countries to be exposed to the onslaught of American viticultural diseases that reached Europe in the mid-19th century. Oidium (powdery mildew) arrived in Portugal in 1845, downy mildew followed soon after, and phylloxera was first discovered in the Douro valley in 1862.
Phylloxera was slow to spread across the country, however, not reaching southern Alentejo, northern Vinho Verde, or the islands of Madeira and the Azores until the 1890s. Portuguese farmers were quick to adopt new methods to combat the aphid, and, by the late 1890s, American rootstock was widely embraced as an effective solution to the problem. The Portuguese government refocused on concerns about wine overproduction as early as 1895.
The exception to this was in the Azores. In the islands’ cool, humid climate, powdery mildew was an especially onerous problem, and the extremely rugged vineyards on many of the islands made replanting costly. This, combined with the near simultaneous decline of the whaling industry (of which the Azores were an important hub), caused economic devastation and severe depopulation on the islands. While the rest of Portugal recovered from phylloxera within decades or even years, the wine industry in the Azores is only now becoming more stable.
There were also several areas in Portugal where phylloxera never became particularly pernicious. Vineyards planted in sandy soils along the Atlantic coast, most famously in Colares, survived unscathed. Other areas, such as the most mountainous zones of Alentejo, Dão, and Trás-os-Montes, were so physically isolated and irregularly planted that phylloxera had a limited impact. As a result, Portugal has one of the greatest collections of centenarian and own-rooted vines in Europe.
Portugal had a distinct experience with fascism in the 20th century. The somewhat ironically named Estado Novo (New State) turned the country inward and aimed to stabilize and streamline—yet not modernize—the Portuguese economy. In the wine industry, this meant protecting, further regulating, and heavily taxing the established players of the Port and Madeira industries. António de Oliveira Salazar, Portugal’s prime minister from 1932 to 1968, addressed the wine industry early in his time in government. In 1933, he created the Grémio dos Exportadores de Vinho do Porto (Exporter’s Guild). All Port producers had to belong to the guild, and it required each producer to have over 150,000 liters of Port in reserve and a lodge to age it, basically outlawing the production of Port by smaller growers. Major Portuguese wine companies during this era, including Sogrape (Mateus), José Maria da Fonseca (Lancers), and Aveleda (Casal Garcia), followed a similar model: buy cheap grapes from thousands of tiny farmers and commercialize the wines at a mass scale under large brands.
Wine regions that did not adhere to this corporate model were considered inefficient, and state-owned cooperatives were often created. Strict regulations made them more or less the only legal source of wine from these regions. In other areas, where the land was considered valuable for other endeavors, commercial vineyards were simply outlawed. Most vineyards in Alentejo, for example, were ripped up in favor of wheat, olive, and cork production. Today, many of the oldest vineyards of Alentejo are surrounded by olive and cork trees, planted to hide the vines from state inspectors.
Salazar actively resisted the creation of modern infrastructure in rural Portugal, and, even into the late 1970s, much of the Portuguese interior lacked electricity and modern plumbing. Modern pension and social services programs were never created for rural citizens. The legacy of this underdevelopment and economic isolation continues today. In many areas, vineyards are mostly worked by elderly people who have lived off the land their entire lives.
In regions such as Vinho Verde, Douro, and Madeira, most wine is still made by large companies that do not grow grapes. Even though the laws that mandated co-op production in areas including Dão have been repealed, it remains more common to farm grapes and sell them to the cooperative. The model of estate production of wine, from vine to bottle, is still being reestablished in Portugal, and many of the longest-standing estates are just two generations old.
Portugal formally joined the European Union in 1986, greatly expanding Portuguese winemakers’ access to investment and modern winemaking equipment. Alentejo, largely a blank slate after the policies of the Salazar regime, was an area of particularly substantial investment and replanting.
For a period, it seemed that Portugal’s future would depend on the continued success of the fortified wine industry, along with large quantities of rich red wine from mostly French varieties in its southern interior. In the past 20 years, however, each of these sectors has peaked and begun to decline. Meanwhile, there is a renewed global interest in terroir-driven, distinctive wines. The established producers of the Portuguese wine industry have experimented with making ambitious, classically structured table wines to compete with wines from regions such as Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Barolo.
A shift in the underlying structure of the Portuguese wine industry has also begun, as the lack of regulation and relatively low costs of table wine production are allowing small farmers around the country to vinify and commercialize their own wines. Today, families who have been working their land and growing grapes for centuries are making their own wines, and, in the process, revealing indigenous varieties and traditional styles of winemaking that were previously unknown to the rest of the wine world.
In the 21st century, Portuguese wine production and exportation has shifted dramatically, from a focus on high-quality fortified and bulk still wine production, to an emphasis on small-scale, artisanal still wine production.
These changes are evident in the Portuguese wine landscape, with land under vine shrinking dramatically, from 246,000 hectares (608,000 acres) of vineyards in 2000 to 192,000 hectares (474,500 acres) in 2018, and registered wineries increasing, from 841 in 2011 to 1,364 in 2020.
The value of exports has also risen steadily, growing from US$817 million in 2015 to US$994 million in 2022. Today, Portugal is the ninth largest exporter of wine in the world, following Germany. This increase has come overwhelmingly from still wine. In 2002, fortified wines represented about one-third of Portuguese wine exports by volume and two-thirds by value. By 2011, fortified wine accounted for just under 50% of export value, and that percentage has been steadily decreasing since.
Although small, Portugal has an astounding diversity of climatic conditions and geologic formations. It features some of Europe’s mildest and warmest growing seasons, lowest- and highest-elevation vineyards, and poorest and richest soils. The rugged geography of the country also caused it to be both internally disconnected and isolated from the outside world for most of its history, leading to the development of various winemaking cultures and well-preserved ancient vineyards and vinous traditions.
This section includes generalizations around climate, yet climate change is causing conditions to shift. Maritime climates are becoming less reliably mild as ocean temperatures rise, and the diurnal swings of continental climates are becoming less extreme as nighttime temperatures rise faster than daytime temperatures. Growing seasons are also becoming drier, and rains that typically arrived in September are now much more sporadic or absent altogether.
Western Portugal is dominated by the Atlantic Ocean. Between Lisbon and Porto, the continental shelf nearly disappears, creating one of the deepest and coldest coastlines in Europe. The ocean constantly brings cold, humid air onto the mainland, while mountains to the east trap that air on the coast, insulate the region from extreme temperature swings, and create consistent morning fog. This stretch of land also sits on a giant vein of calcareous clay, with pockets of deep sand. The regions of Lisboa and Bairrada (Beira Atlântico) are located here.
North of Porto, the continental shelf extends farther into the ocean, slightly weakening the maritime influence of the coastline on Vinho Verde. The presence of mountains to the east, which have much higher peaks than the mountains farther south, results in a more extreme rain shadow and one of the wettest growing regions in Europe. The mountains of Vinho Verde are made mostly of granite, but there are veins of schist and sedimentary limestone at lower elevations.
East of the coast and north of the Tagus River, elevation rises dramatically. Giant granitic mountains dominate the interior of northern Portugal, with veins of schist at lower elevations. In the far north, vineyards can be found at over 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in elevation. The soils of the mountains tend to be extremely poor, especially on the high slopes, and hydric stress is both a benefit and a challenge.
Historically, most of the highly regarded wine from the northern interior came from the mountains. In this area, there are subtle ocean influences, but grapes are protected from excessive moisture. Large diurnal temperature swings encourage ripeness, balanced acidity, and a more prominent fruit expression.
South of the Tagus River, the mountains of northern Portugal gradually recede. Here, in the vast savannah of Alentejo, subtle rolling plains and rich red clay soils provide perfect conditions for a diverse range of agricultural products, including grains, most of the world’s cork trees, and livestock.
Closer to the coast, or where larger hills or mountains allow for exposure to ocean breezes, there are viticultural areas yielding some of the most famous wines in the country. Even in these areas, however, extremely high temperatures are not uncommon during the growing season. The heat and rich soils tend to produce luscious and soft wines. Most of this area is within Alentejo, but regions at its periphery, such as Setúbal, Tejo, and Algarve, share many of its characteristics.
Portugal includes Madeira and the Azores, two of the three major Atlantic island archipelagoes that produce grapes. Despite being about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) apart, these islands share important qualities that make them exciting wine regions: an extreme maritime climate and volcanic soils.
Madeira and the Azores are temperate, with high levels of moisture and temperatures typically between 10 and 25 degrees Celsius (50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit), occasionally higher in recent years. This results in long growing seasons and moderate levels of alcohol (in Madeira, this refers to base wines).
While Douro is considered one of the first demarcated wine regions in the world, recognized in 1756, Portugal was slow to establish a national system of nested regional designations akin to those of the rest of Europe. It was not until Portugal entered the EU, in 1986, that it formally adopted the pyramid-like appellation system it has today.
Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) is at the top of the quality pyramid. This designation theoretically has restrictive rules regarding geographic, varietal, and stylistic boundaries, but many DOCs are liberal in the interpretation of historic styles. It is likely that this is partly because of the relatively recent rise of dry wines in many places where fortified wines had been dominant. There are 31 DOCs in Portugal.
Underneath DOC is Vinho Regional (VR, equivalent to the general European IGP). This designation tends to cover wider geographic areas and often permits international varieties. In several regions, however, producers often label their wines as VR rather than DOC for reasons that reflect the internal politics and regulatory eccentricities of respective governing bodies more than any geographic reality or explicit deviations from historic styles. Many producers in Lisboa, Alentejo (Alentejano VR), and Bairrada (Beiras VR, Beira Atlântico VR), in particular, often declassify their wines. For Portuguese wine, whether organizing inventory or speaking to guests, it is worth researching the specific origins and details of a wine rather than relying on regional designations.
The widest and most permissive category in Portuguese wine is Vinho de Mesa, or table wine. As in other European countries, these table wines cannot display varietal contents, vintage dates, or geographic specificity other than simply “Portugal.”
In 2017, the Portuguese government published the Catálogo Nacional de Variedades de Videira, which identified 262 indigenous varieties in Portugal. Most wines in Portugal, however, are made with relatively few of those grapes. According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, about 55% of the grapevine acreage in Portugal is planted to just 10 varieties. The classic wines of coastal Portugal tend to be either monovarietal or blends of two or three different varieties, and modern trends are pushing eastern regions that traditionally made complicated blends toward monovarietal bottlings.
The traditional field-blend wines of mountainous Portugal, which might include dozens of varieties, now account for a relatively small percentage of the country’s production. These wines are often thrilling, coming from ancient vineyards on isolated mountaintops, but are best understood in terms beyond their varietal composition.
This section focuses on the most common indigenous and culturally significant varieties in Portugal. In addition to these varieties, French and international grapes are planted throughout the country, including Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in Alentejo, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Bairrada, and Sauvignon Blanc in Lisboa. Many Portuguese grapes are, confusingly, called by multiple names even within the country. Common synonyms that are used in Portugal or elsewhere are included in parentheses.
This section continues this guide’s focus on the dry wines of Portugal, thus excluding otherwise important varieties that are used almost exclusively in fortified wines.
Alvarinho (Albariño): Often thought of as a Spanish variety, Alvarinho likely originated on the border of Portugal and Spain, where southern Galicia meets the Minho River and northern Vinho Verde. It is midbudding and midripening, with relatively thick skins, but it is still susceptible to downy and powdery mildew. Alvarinho can display a range of flavors, though citrus and stone fruits, as well as herbal and floral tones, are most typical.
Today, the grape is most famously known in Portugal for the varietal wines of Monção e Melgaço, in the mountains of northeastern Vinho Verde. Here, Alvarinho tends to reach a slightly greater degree of ripeness than the more coastal plantings in Rías Baixas, across the border, expressing more florality and riper fruit than its Spanish twin. Because of Alvarinho’s commercial success, it is being planted more widely in Portugal, with producers in Lisboa and Alentejo experimenting with small plantings.
Antão Vaz: Antão Vaz is an ancient variety, most likely originating in the southern Alentejo region of Vidigueira. It is increasingly spreading throughout Alentejo because of its vigor and resistance to most diseases. If picked early, it can retain excellent acidity and tart tropical fruit flavors. It is particularly important as a prominent blending component in the talha wines of Vidigueira.
Arinto (Pedernã): Arinto is a very old variety that can be found along the coast of Portugal, although its most famous home (and probably where it originates) is the Bucelas subzone, in Lisboa. Arinto is a late-budding, late-ripening variety with very prominent acidity. It has medium-size, tight bunches that are susceptible to botrytis. Arinto can display a wide range of fruit flavors, from lemon and lime at lower levels of ripeness to stone fruit and melon in warmer climates. Varietal and blended examples are traditional in Lisboa, and Arinto has long been featured in blended wines of Bairrada and Vinho Verde. Great examples can easily age for 20 to 30 years. Arinto is increasingly found in Tejo and Alentejo, and it is prized for its ability to maintain its acidity in these warmer climates.
Bical: Bical is an important variety in Bairrada, although it was once relatively common in Dão as well. It is an early-budding, early-ripening grape, and the best examples are planted in cooler sites to slow ripening and keep alcohol levels low. Peachy stone-fruited aromas often round out Bical’s very mineral profile. The variety is frequently blended with Maria Gomes and Cercial in both the white and sparkling wines of Bairrada, and varietal examples are becoming more common.
Cercial (Cerceal): A very high-acid variety, Cercial is grown throughout northern Portugal, and most prominently in Bairrada, where it is spelled with an i, and Dão and Douro, where it is spelled with an e. Long thought to be separate varieties, they were confirmed by recent DNA testing to be the same. Historically, Cercial was included in the blended wines of these regions to contribute acidity and mineral flavors; today, it is increasingly being made into varietal examples, especially in Bairrada. Cercial often displays stone-fruited aromas, intense chalky minerality, and even gasoline-like flavors with age.
Encruzado: Encruzado is the dominant grape in Dão, especially for wines made intentionally for gastronomy and export. It is an early- to midripening variety, and carefully farmed fruit will produce wines of broad texture and elevated acidity, with complex flavors that include citrus and pomaceous fruit, rose, and flint. Increasingly, Encruzado is being fermented and aged in French barrels and made in a Burgundian style. Traditionally, it was blended with many varieties; today, it is often paired with only a few or bottled varietally.
Fernão Pires (Maria Gomes): The most widely planted white grape variety in Portugal, Fernão Pires is planted extensively in Bairrada, Lisboa, and Tejo. The variety is early budding and early ripening. It can be very aromatic, with strong citrus and floral flavors. With its short growing season, vigor, and lively aromas, Fernão Pires is a popular blending component throughout coastal and southern Portugal. Because its acidity tends to drop quickly toward the end of ripening, the variety has rarely been considered suitable for varietal wines. Increasingly, however, winemakers are discovering that, if picked sufficiently early, Fernão Pires can yield fresh and juicy varietal wines.
Gouveio (Godello): While the Gouveio variety is most often associated with Spain (there called Godello), there are records of its planting in Douro as far back as the 16th century, and the total planted area is roughly equal in Spain and in Portugal. Gouveio is a relatively early-ripening variety and can produce high sugar while retaining moderate acidity and minerality. Although varietal examples of Gouveio are rare in Portugal, it is an important component of both the table and fortified white wines of Douro.
Loureiro: Loureiro is the most widely planted variety in Vinho Verde, yet the most impressive examples are made in the coastal zone of Vale do Lima. Loureiro is Portuguese for “laurel,” and the grape is so named because the berries have an aroma similar to that of the flowers and leaves of the laurel tree (dried laurel leaves are better known as bay leaf). Midbudding and early-ripening, with pronounced acidity, Loureiro can be very floral and citrus driven in flavor, with an intense mineral backbone, especially in examples from vineyards near the coast. Because of its deep flavors and short growing season, it is the most important blending component for the inexpensive, spritzy wines of Vinho Verde, but varietal examples from Lima can be of high quality.
Malvasia Fina (Boal): Malvasia Fina is found throughout the northern interior of Portugal but most prominently in Douro and Dão. It is also an important grape variety in Madeira (and slightly less so in the Azores), where it is known as Boal and used for fortified wines. It is late budding, vigorous, and fairly resistant to many diseases. It can produce a significant amount of sugar but starts to lose acidity relatively early in the ripening cycle. Malvasia Fina is often included in the blended white wines of Douro and Dão, where it is used to add texture and nutty complexity, but it is rarely made as a varietal wine.
Rabigato: With its high acidity and sugar content, Rabigato is one of the most important varieties for white fortified wines in the Douro valley. It has also, in the past few decades, become appreciated for its ability to produce balanced, complex table wines, most importantly as a part of blends but increasingly in varietal examples. It is citrusy, floral, and herbal, with a pronounced smoky mineral expression.
Síria (Roupeiro, Códega, Dona Branca): Síria grows widely across the eastern half of Portugal, from Trás-os-Montes in the north to Algarve in the south. It features prominently in blended wines from the interior and is the second most planted white variety in the country. Síria is highly productive and has notable floral and melon, stone, and tropical fruit aromas and flavors. It often has relatively low acidity and moderate sugar content, likely because it is generally considered a workhorse variety and cropped heavily.
Sercial (Arinto dos Açores, Esgana Cão): Sercial is a very high-acid, relatively productive variety that is fairly resistant to downy and powdery mildew. It is best known for wines from Portugal’s islands. In Madeira, it is used to make the driest fortified wines of the region. It is also the most planted grape variety in the Azores (where it is known as Arinto dos Açores), most notably on Pico Island, where it is used for both blended and varietal dry wines that have high acidity and minerality and are richly textured. It is also planted on the mainland (where it is known as Esgana Cão), mostly in Bucelas, Lisboa, where it is typically blended rather than bottled varietally.
Alicante Bouschet (Alicante): Alicante Bouschet (often simply called Alicante) was developed in France by the grape breeder Henri Bouschet in 1855. It is a tenturier variety and was planted widely in southern France and Spain after phylloxera.
Portugal has a relatively small percentage of the world’s plantings of Alicante, and, while the grape is often used to add color to bulk wines in Spain and France, in Portugal it is a key component of ambitious wines intended for aging. Alicante is one of the most important varieties in northern Alentejo, where it is often blended into dark-fruited, complex wines. It is also planted in smaller quantities in Tejo and Lisboa.
Aragonez (Tinta Roriz, Tempranillo): Aragonez (Tempranillo in Spain) has been cultivated in Portugal for centuries and is the country’s most planted variety. It can be found throughout Portugal’s wine regions, but it is most prominent in the interior, notably in Alentejo and in Dão and Douro, where it is known as Tinta Roriz.
Portuguese styles of Aragonez vary based on geography and climate. In Douro and Alentejo, two of Portugal’s hottest climates, the grape tends to excel in cooler sites and is used to add acidity and spice notes to blended wines, both dry and fortified. In Dão, there are both blended and varietal examples. The latter can be relatively similar to bottlings from Rioja, with notable red-fruited and herbal flavors.
Baga: Baga is the key red grape of Bairrada and is almost exclusively found there, producing some of the most distinctive and long-lived wines in Portugal. It is a vigorous, late-ripening variety. Historically, it had a reputation for making astringent, thin wines, but climate change has helped limit yields, warmed the growing season, and made the once-typical September rains far less consistent. Modern Baga wines are usually full fruited yet structured, with prominent tannins and acidity.
Baga is sensitive to small differences in terroir, and winemaking approaches in Bairrada vary, so the wines reflect a range of styles. Baga can display notes of red and black fruit, red and purple flowers, smoky and salty minerality, and herbs. It is also used for the traditional method sparkling wines of Bairrada, in both blanc de noirs and rosé styles.
Baga used to be a leading variety in Dão (where it likely originates), and it is still commonly found interplanted in older vineyards there, but it is not permitted in the DOC wines of the region.
Bastardo (Trousseau): Bastardo is a French variety (native to Jura, France, where it is known as Trousseau) and is still primarily thought of as such because of the role of Jura wines in the international market. But Bastardo has been planted in Portugal for centuries, and, although there are about 200 hectares (500 acres) planted in France, plantings are over five times higher in Portugal. Most are in Douro, where Bastardo was traditionally used in Port wine blends, but the variety is also relatively common in Dão, Beira Interior, and Trás-os-Montes. In these drier climates, Bastardo tends to produce examples that are darker and fuller fruited than those of France, yet with excellent balance and soft tannins. Dão, in particular, is starting to produce excellent varietal wines from Bastardo.
Castelão: Castelão is found mostly in the southern half of Portugal, though small plantings are virtually everywhere. It is an adaptable and vigorous variety, performing well in both the cooler, wetter climate of the coast and the arid heat of the interior. The flavors it produces can vary widely depending on where it is grown, ranging from juicy and delicate to heady, dark fruited, and spicy. Castelão was traditionally blended, but varietal examples are appearing, especially in Lisboa and Setúbal.
Jaen (Mencía): Jaen is a newer grape to Portugal, where most plantings are in Dão. The clonal material in Portugal is much more limited and distinct from the Jaen that grows in Spain. Portuguese Jaen tends to be more delicate, red fruited, and juicy compared with examples from Spain (where it is known as Mencía). Jaen has historically been blended with other Dão varieties, such as Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, but pretty, almost Pinot Noir–like varietal wines are being made from Jaen today as well.
Touriga Franca: The most planted red variety in Douro and Trás-os-Montes, Touriga Franca, is an easy-to-ripen grape that is fairly resistant to most diseases, with balanced sugar and acidity at ripeness. The wines tend to be red and purple fruited, floral, and subtly herbal, with relatively soft tannins for a Douro variety. Although treated as a workhorse variety for Port production, Touriga Franca is increasingly starring in blended table wines from Douro. Varietal expressions are also becoming more common.
Touriga Nacional: Touriga Nacional is planted all over Portugal, but the challenges of managing it and its lower yields result in modest acreage overall. It is originally from Dão but is most famous for its role in Port production, in Douro. At lower levels of ripeness, Touriga Nacional can show aromas of bergamot, orange zest, rose petals, and graphite, yet structurally it can be intensely tannic and high in acidity, leading to a very astringent sensation. At higher levels of ripeness, those aromas can become subdued. Varietal examples vary widely in style.
From a quality perspective, Touriga Nacional is the most important blending component in the wines of Douro and Dão, and well-made examples can be exceptionally ageworthy. Touriga Nacional is also commonly found in Lisboa, Tejo, and Alentejo, where it is added to blends and made as a varietal wine. It is increasingly used for rosé wines.
Trincadeira (Tinta Amarela): Trincadeira, despite being challenging to grow, is widely planted in the interior of Portugal. It is very aromatic, offering fruit, floral, and spice notes. It can maintain high levels of acidity even at high sugar levels, and the wines are often richly textured yet energetic. Trincadeira is frequently blended into the Port and dry wines of Douro (where it is known as Tinta Amarela) and is a major component of the dry wines of Tejo and Alentejo. Producers in these latter regions are increasingly making varietal examples.
Vinhão (Sousão): Widely planted in northwestern Portugal, Vinhão is a dark-skinned variety that produces wines with very high acidity, intense red and black berry aromas, and a dark purple color. It is made as a varietal wine in Vinho Verde, where it is popular with locals. In Douro (where it is known as Sousão), it was historically used in Port production to intensify the color of the wine.
Minho VR and Vinho Verde DOC cover the same geographic area, which spans 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres) of granitic mountains and hills, with several different climates, geographic zones, and wine cultures. Vinho Verde is the single largest producing DOC in Portugal and one of the largest in Europe, with 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of vines. Yet the name of the region has become synonymous with just one of its wine styles: low-alcohol, force-carbonated white blends.
Vinho Verde’s climate and geography can be considered through three groupings of subzones. Historically, the most important region for fine wine was Monção e Melgaço, in northeastern Vinho Verde, on the border of Galicia. Here, the Minho River and Serra d’Arga warm and protect the vineyards from the harsh Atlantic climate of the coast. Varietal Alvarinho wines from Monção offer a markedly distinct expression of place compared with many examples of Albariño from Rías Baixas.
The Lima, Cávado, and Ave valleys extend across Minho, with many vineyards at low elevations just a few kilometers from the Atlantic. The more coastal climate in this area results in cool to moderate temperatures during the growing season and significant rainfall. Loureiro, traditionally blended with Arinto or Trajadura, flourishes, and varietal examples are increasingly being produced.
The regions of Sousa, Basto, Amarante, Baião, and Paiva extend into Minho’s mountainous south and east and share similarities with the vineyards of Baixo Corgo. These regions produce most of Vinho Verde’s volume, especially its popular spritzy wines. Most of the red wines of Vinho Verde are produced here as well. Though rarely exported, red Vinho Verde is the preferred beverage of locals.
Vinho Verde was one of the first wine regions to be recognized by the Portuguese government. On September 18, 1908, the king of Portugal signed a declaration establishing seven wine regions: Bucelas, Colares, Carcavelos, Dão, Madeira, Moscatel de Setúbal, and Vinho Verde.
Historically, the industry in Vinho Verde functioned through big players, such as Aveleda, buying grapes from a vast number of tiny farmers. In the 1940s, when the Casal Garcia brand was created, there were an estimated 116,000 grapegrowers in Vinho Verde. By the end of the Salazar era, the number of farmers had dropped to around 70,000. Today, an estimated 16,000 remain. The makeup of the vineyard has also changed drastically. As global tastes shifted toward white wine consumption, the region followed suit. In a region where red wine once composed the majority of wine production, white grapes now account for over 80% of production.
In 1974, João António Cerdeira founded Soalheiro, in Monção e Melgaço, with the goal of focusing on the Alvarinho variety, which had always excelled in the region. Since then, the area’s high-elevation style of varietal Alvarinho has become recognized as one of the great white wines of Portugal. The Lima valley has also attracted attention for its highly aromatic, varietal Loureiro wines.
Minho VR allows for many varieties, only a small percentage of which are indigenous to the region, to be blended in any proportion. The wines may be white, red, or rosé, and may be still or carbonated between one and three bars of pressure. The minimum alcohol requirement is 8.5%.
Vinho Verde DOC focuses on a much smaller number of varieties, all traditional in the region. The wines can be white, red, or rosé, and darker-colored rosé wines may use the clarete designation. White grapes are permitted in red wine production, but any red wine with more than 15% white grapes must be labeled as palhete. Sparkling wines must be made in either the traditional or tank method. Late-harvest wines are also permitted.
Wines with a subregion designation can highlight any of the permitted varieties except Alvarinho, which can only be varietally designated if it is also designated as originating from the Monção e Melgaço subregion or under the general DOC. A higher minimum alcohol of 11.5% is also required for Alvarinho to protect its style as a more concentrated, high-quality expression of Vinho Verde.
In general, Vinho Verde DOC has successfully focused on traditional categories and highlighted subregions while still permitting a variety of styles and producer preferences. As a result, virtually all the great wines of the region are labeled with the DOC or its subregions, which is rare in Portugal.
Trás-os-Montes, the most mountainous region in Portugal, sits alongside the northeastern border of the country. Here, the mountains of northern and eastern Portugal merge into a plateau-like formation, creating Portugal’s most extreme continental climate, with long, cold winters and very dry, hot summers. The soils vary between outcroppings of schist and granite, with schist soils found at much higher elevations than in Douro, to the south. The vineyards here are among Portugal’s highest, with some extending above 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in elevation.
Trás-os-Montes is famous for its vast olive and chestnut groves. Recently, some of Portugal’s natural winemakers have begun experimenting with dried chestnut flowers as an antibacterial and antioxidative alternative to sulfur.
Trás-os-Montes is the home of Mateus Rosé, one of Portugal’s first great international success stories. This lightly colored, semisweet, and semisparkling red wine was initially produced because of the extremely cold winters of the region, in which the wines didn’t finish alcoholic fermentation before becoming dormant and being shipped. The success of Mateus Rosé made Sogrape, its owner, the largest producer of wine in the country. By the late 1980s, Sogrape accounted for almost 40% of Portugal’s table wine exports, at 3.25 million cases annually. But Sogrape’s success did not remain the success of Trás-os-Montes, as the company moved production of the wine to the more conveniently located Bairrada region in the 1970s and diversified beyond the brand as global tastes shifted toward drier, more robust styles of wine.
Today, a small resurgence is being fueled in the wine culture of Trás-os-Montes as consumers become more excited about lower-alcohol wines and practices such as high-elevation viticulture.
Trás-os-Montes was initially regulated under the Trás-os-Montes VR, which also included the dry wines made in the Douro River valley. In 2006, this framework was replaced by the Trás-os-Montes DOC, which highlights three distinct subzones, and Transmontano VR, a designation that excludes Douro, which received its own VR for dry wines.
Transmontano VR covers all dry wines made in the region—red, white, and rosé—and permits a huge range of varieties blended in any percentage. Trás-os-Montes DOC is more focused on the traditional varieties and styles of the region, though the number of varieties is still high, and there are no preferred varieties that must compose a majority of the blend. More than anything, however, this shows that many vineyards are still planted as traditional field blends. The three subzones of Chaves, Valpaços, and Planalto Mirandês have slightly different permitted varieties but, overall, similar regulations.
Douro, famous for its Port wines, yields the richest wines of Portugal’s northern interior, but there is significant diversity in geology and climate here, and high-quality wines are produced in a variety of styles.
The mountainous Douro River valley has a hypercontinental, arid climate, with annual rainfall as low as 300 millimeters (12 inches) per year. Until the mid-19th century, this area was not considered an ideal place to plant grapes, both because of its geographic isolation and because the schist soils of the lower Douro were hidden underneath granite outcroppings.
The heart of the Douro River valley is Cima Corgo. During the growing season, Cima Corgo is much warmer than other mountainous zones farther south, such as Dão or Távora-Varosa. This area has the greatest concentration of both schist slopes directly exposed to the warmth of the river and highly graded vineyards for fortified wine. Warm winds from the Spanish interior and Atlantic breezes pass through the area, creating balance in the fruit even at the very high levels of ripeness desired for Port production.
Baixo Corgo, to the west, has cooler days, more cloud cover, and more rain (900 millimeters, or 35.5 inches, per year on average) than the rest of the valley. While there is still quite a bit of schist here and reasonably well-graded Port vineyards, granite soils are more common, and production has traditionally focused on table wine.
Various tributaries along the river extend away from Douro to the north and south. Along these tributaries, elevation rises, and there are more east and west expositions as well as greater concentrations of granite in the soils. While these tributary vineyards were historically considered unimportant for Port production and graded poorly, today they are being reexamined as potentially exciting places to grow grapes for table wine.
The fortified wines of Douro were first “exported” in 1678, when a wine merchant from Liverpool visited the abbot of Lamego, a Cistercian monastery located along the Douro River, where fortified wine was being produced. The merchant shipped the wine back to England, finding that it had survived the journey in remarkably good condition. It is tempting to think of this as the definitive start of the Port wine industry, but it would be a long time before wine from Douro would resemble the sweet, fortified beverage known today.
Just a few decades later, England was once again at war with France, and purchasing French wine was becoming difficult. In 1703, Portugal and England signed the Methuen Treaty, which dramatically lowered duties on Portuguese wines imported to England. Portuguese wine began to flood the market. When English wine merchants went to Porto, they encountered the rustic red table wines of the Douro valley, which were often quite sour but robust enough to survive the journey back to England and serve as a replacement for Bordeaux.
Over the next century, Port evolved from a harsh table wine into the rich fortified wine it is known as today. In the first step of this process, British wine merchants traveled up the Douro River to take full control of the transport of the wines. The river valley was incredibly rugged and wild, but the merchants found better wine upstream that hadn’t been spoiled by poor storage and transport. They began to transport the wine downstream in their own barrels and experimented with fortifying finished wines with brandy, greatly improving the quality of the wine that arrived in Britain. Port wine experienced a rapid rise in popularity among British consumers, but producers elsewhere in Portugal soon attempted to take advantage of the market with lower-quality, counterfeit wines.
To tackle these two problems—foreign control of an increasingly successful industry, and the long-term dangers of inferior counterfeits—the Portuguese government intervened. In 1756, the Marquis de Pombal (Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello), who was a former ambassador to Britain and the prime minister and de facto ruler of Portugal, established Companhia Geral da Agricultura dos Vinhos do Alto Douro, or, as the British knew it, Douro Wine Company. A central goal of this governing body was to take control (and revenue) of the Port wine industry back from the foreign shipping companies, but its more lasting impact was the introduction of regulations that standardized the quality and style of Port wines. The creation of Douro Wine Company is often cited as the establishment of one of the world’s first “official” wine regions.
Under the regulations of Douro Wine Company, the official boundaries of the Douro region were established, highlighting the importance of schist soils for high-quality grape production. Fertilizers and additives other than grapes were forbidden. The regulations even enlisted tasters to ensure that finished Port wines were fit for export. Douro Wine Company also created a monopoly on the sale of Portuguese brandy, a necessary ingredient in the fortification process of Port.
These regulations were revisited in the 20th century, when the Salazar government created, in 1933, new regulatory bodies to oversee the Port wine industry. The Casa do Douro regulated vineyards and grape production; the Instituto do Vinho do Porto oversaw Port production; and the Grémio dos Exportadores de Vinho do Porto regulated the international shipping of Port wine. These organizations further consolidated the Port wine industry, limiting the ability of small farmers to produce their own Port wines and concentrating production under relatively few shippers. Because of the lack of economic opportunity for small farmers, land accumulation was virtually impossible, and the effects of these policies are still deeply ingrained. Today, there are about 20,000 registered growers in Douro, with an average holding of less than two hectares (five acres).
In 1947, the agronomist Álvaro Moreira da Fonseca published an exhaustive classification of every vineyard in Douro. Each vineyard was graded from A (highest quality) to I (lowest quality), with points given for location, altitude, aspect and steepness of slope, soil type, vine-training methods, grape varieties, density of planting, and more. This classification is still used today. The higher the grade of the vineyard, the more Port wine the vineyard is permitted to produce. This amount, based on the quality of the vineyard and market conditions, is identified by a license known as the beneficio. The beneficio system is designed to ensure that the general quality of Port wine remains high while also limiting supply to protect prices.
In 1976, João Nicolau de Almeida (the son of Fernando) released a now-influential study on which grape varieties were best suited to Douro. He planted a dozen different varieties in each of the region’s subzones and vinified them over the course of five years. The study resulted in five top varieties: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cão, Tinta Roriz, and Tinta Barroca. Since the study, these grapes have dominated new plantings.
Even as the reputation of the Douro valley as a fortified-wine region continued to grow, the idea of great Douro table wine was being considered. In the late 1930s, Fernando Nicolau de Almeida, the technical director of the Port house Porto Ferreira, traveled to Bordeaux and was inspired to create a Douro table wine that could compete with the first growths of France. Instead of looking for vineyards in Cima Corgo, Fernando went to Douro Superior, where the higher elevations and richer granite soils could produce grapes with more freshness. In 1952, he released the first vintage of Casa Ferreirinha Barca Velha, which remains one of Portugal’s most critically acclaimed and expensive wines, only made in the very best vintages.
Enthusiasm for producing high-quality Douro table wine grew once Portugal joined the EU and winemakers began traveling across Europe. Around the late 1980s, established Port houses, such as Niepoort, Quinta do Noval, Quinta do Crasto, and Quinta Vale D. Maria, started producing dry table wine. But established Port houses were not alone in doing so, as small growers, who had been forced to sell their grapes to the large Port houses because of regulations around Port production, began making estate-bottled wine. Ambitious upstarts without land, too, began making table wines. Over the past 30 years, production of dry table wine has increased dramatically; today, equal amounts of dry and fortified wines are produced in Douro for commercial sale. In 1998, Douro DOC was established.
The shift is impacting Douro in several ways. The highest-graded vineyard land for Port production is generally around the village of Pinhao, in central Cima Corgo, on south-facing, steep vineyards that have pure schist soils and the closest possible proximity to the river. Increasingly, however, winemakers seeking to produce great table wine are moving farther along various tributaries to higher elevations, slopes with northerly exposure, and more granitic soils, where grape ripening is slower, more evenly paced.
The beneficio system is also coming under increasing scrutiny. As the demand for fortified wine has decreased globally, farmers in Douro have witnessed a decline in the size of their beneficios. Because of the maturing table wine industry, farmers have a legitimate economic choice between growing grapes for Port and producing table wine. There is a rising illicit trade in Douro in which small growers sell their beneficios to larger Port houses, who want to keep their production of fortified wines high. This both undermines the economics behind fortified wine production, as the added costs lower the margins on a product with an already shrinking market share, and subsidizes the production of dry wine, artificially deflating prices. For a long time, changes in this system seemed unlikely, as it remained popular among the thousands of small growers in the region, but on September 5, 2023, the president of Portugal endorsed an open letter calling for reform that was signed by many of the country’s leading Port producers.
Located high in the mountains northeast of Dão, Távora-Varosa is one of the most geographically isolated wine regions in Portugal. It has steeply sloped, scraggly granite mountainsides where grapevines grow alongside fruit trees. Vineyards are generally between 500 and 800 meters (1,600 and 2,600 feet) of elevation and often adjacent to the riverbanks of the Varosa, Távora, Tedo, or Torto Rivers. The climate is continental, with long, cold, and wet winters, and a short growing season that is tempered by the extreme elevation of the vineyards.
During the 20th century, Távora-Varosa developed a reputation for sparkling wines that has persisted. The vineyards are dominated by white grapes. Malvasia Fina is the most important variety for sparkling wine, although it is frequently supplemented by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which have been common in Távora-Varosa for at least a century. Red wines are also produced, featuring varieties common in the other mountainous regions of northeastern Portugal, such as Beira Interior and Douro Superior.
Távora-Varosa DOC, established in 1990, and Terras de Cister VR cover roughly the same geographical area. The DOC, though not particularly restrictive, has more regulations for grape varieties and styles. Sparkling wines must always be made in the traditional method.
The region of Bairrada is roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Atlantic coast, on the gentle rolling limestone hills between the ocean and the mountains of Dão. The land west of Bairrada is among the flattest and most low lying in Portugal, allowing ocean rain and fog to enter the region, where they are trapped in vineyard areas by the nearby mountains.
Because of Bairrada’s proximity to the ocean, temperatures during the growing season generally remain mild, hovering between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius (75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit)—though the region has experienced more severe temperature spikes in recent years. Humidity during flowering and September rains are significant viticultural challenges, and diligent treatment of mildew and green harvesting to create more airflow are often necessary to produce a high-quality crop.
The soils of Bairrada are primarily calcareous clay (Bairrada is derived from barro, the Portuguese word for “clay”), with the limestone taking on various levels of concentrations and textures throughout the region. There are also pockets of sand suitable for grapegrowing. Plantings are sparse, with much of the vineyard land broken up by forest and other crops. There are extensive pine and eucalyptus forests in Bairrada, and the trees’ volatile oils can imbue the wines with spearmint and sassafras aromas.
Bairrada was initially recognized by foreign merchants as a place where Port production might be expanded, but, after the establishment of the Port wine region in 1756, the vines of Bairrada were uprooted by the order of the Marquis de Pombal to ensure that the grapes of Port were exclusively from the Douro valley.
Over a century later, in 1867, the agronomist António Augusto de Aguiar founded the Escola Prática de Viticultura da Bairrada and mapped the wine region, creating the first official designation of its borders. He also conducted a comprehensive survey of where certain varieties of grapes (as well as other fruits) grew best. Arguably, Aguiar’s most important contribution was his vision of Bairrada as a source of sparkling wines. By 1890, traditional method espumante of Bairrada was being produced at commercial scale. Today, sparkling wine is Bairrada’s main commercial output, and the region produces over two-thirds of Portugal’s sparkling wines.
Like other parts of Portugal, Bairrada became dominated by large cooperative and corporate producers during the mid-20th century. Most famously, in the 1970s, Sogrape moved the production of Mateus Rosé to Aveiro, changing the wine’s recipe to include a significant portion of Bairrada wine. Large cooperatives, including Alianca, Caves São João, and Adega de Cantanhede, were also established to fuel domestic consumption. At the same time, estate production increased, with a growing number of wineries focused on making high-quality, long-lived red wines from the native Baga variety.
Viticulture in Bairrada is defined by intense mildew pressure. Vines are generally trained high off the ground, and leaves are pulled away from the fruiting zone to help promote air circulation. Growers must be careful, however, as delaying photosynthesis can mean that the late-ripening Baga won’t be ready before the September rains. To address this challenge, the winemaker Luís Pato developed a green harvesting strategy in the early 2000s in which, following veraison, a large proportion of fruit (up to 75%) is harvested from the vines and used for sparkling wine production. The remaining fruit on the vine both receives greater airflow and has less competition for the plant’s resources, decreasing mildew pressure and advancing ripeness.
Established in 1979, Bairrada DOC is a wide-ranging classification that can be used for red, white, sparkling, and rosé wines, as well as aguardente (brandy). Today, the number of permitted grape varieties in Bairrada DOC wines is fairly generous; until 2003, a minimum of 50% Baga was required for a red wine to be labeled as Bairrada DOC. A new Classico designation preserves the old regulation but is rarely used.
Most red wine that is exported from Bairrada is primarily or solely Baga, but the wines range in style based on winemaking and a vineyard’s proximity to the local forests. Destemming and smaller barrels produce wines of softer tannins, whereas some winemakers still use 100% whole cluster fermentation and long élevage in large Portuguese oak casks.
White wine is a fast-growing category in Bairrada. Most typical is a blend of Maria Gomes and Bical, but Cercial and Arinto are also commonly included. These wines have high acidity and an intensely saline, mineral focus.
The largest category of wine produced in Bairrada is sparkling, made from both red and white grapes in rosé, blanc de noirs, and blanc de blanc styles. Virtually all are made in the traditional method, but relatively loose regulations result in a wide range of time on the lees, from just nine months to over a decade. Examples range from youthful, vivaciously fruity wines to more sophisticated bottlings with distinct autolytic character, often vintage dated. Well-made wines in all three categories can be supremely ageworthy, gaining complexity over 30 to 40 years.
Dão sits in a bowl of granitic mountains, just east of Bairrada. The largest of these mountains, the Serra da Estrela, forms the southeastern border of the region, blocking much of the hot, dry air from Alentejo and the Iberian interior. The Serra do Buçaco and Serra do Caramulo to the west and southwest are slightly more diminutive, allowing a stream of cool, moist air from the coast to circulate throughout the region. Despite its long-held reputation for wine, Dão is sparsely planted today. Across roughly 376,000 hectares (929,000 acres) of land, there are only 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) planted, and most vineyards are concentrated in the central bowl.
There are seven subregions in Dão. By far the most well known is the Serra da Estrela, in the southeast, followed clockwise by Alva, Besteiros, Silgueiros, Castendo, and Terras de Azurara, with Terras de Senhorim in the middle. The mountainous terrain and rapid elevation shifts here result in an extremely varied terroir. High-elevation vineyards in Serra da Estrela or Castendo, which can reach up to 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet), have some of the coolest growing seasons in Portugal’s interior, with temperatures rarely exceeding 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). Low-lying plots in Senhorim, Alva, and Besteiros, generally around 200 to 300 meters (650 to 1,000 feet) in elevation, might be 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer and produce dramatically different fruit.
As a growing region, Dão began strongly, with significant plantings of Bastardo (Trousseau) and Alfrocheiro in the 12th century and acclaim for the region’s wines in Europe by the late 19th and early 20th century. The French called Dão Bourgogne du sud, and the viticulturalist and aristocrat João de Sacadura Botte Côrte-Real was an advocate for the region.
The Salazar era, however, was particularly destructive for Dão. Even at its height, Dão was sparsely populated and very unevenly planted. Most vineyards were, in fact, people’s backyards, where grapes were grown for subsistence or to sell to the local winery. Salazar characterized the region as representing the inefficiencies and parochialism of the Portuguese wine industry, and it became one of the first regions in the country to be forced into cooperative production. While this policy was by no means unique to Dão, it had a particularly damaging effect on the quality of the region’s wines.
During the 1980s, estate production slowly began to re-emerge, and many historic quintas from the pre-Salazar era started producing wine again under their own labels. Today, young winemakers are also rehabilitating old high-elevation vineyards that were abandoned at the beginning of the cooperative era.
Dão DOC was officially created in 1990, and its regulations reflect how the varietal diversity of the region has shifted over its history. Varieties are separated into “recommended” and “authorized” categories. New vineyards must be planted only to the recommended varieties. Beyond the DOC designation, wines can be labeled Vina Nobre, Reserva, and Garrafeira. Nobre wines must have a certain percentage of recommended varieties, while Reserva and Garrafeira wines are subject to minimum alcohol and cellar aging requirements. In practice, however, these additional classifications are rarely used.
Red wines dominate commercial production, at over 80% of overall volume. Touriga Nacional is the most important grape, and its darker fruit, firm tannins, and high acidity have become synonymous with the stylistic markers of red Dão wines. Common blending grapes are Tinta Roriz, Jaen, and Alfrocheiro. Despite composing only a small fraction of the region’s overall production, the white wines of Dão, typically a blend of primarily Encruzado and Malvasia Fina, have attracted the attention of sommeliers and critics for their combination of mineral focus, incisive acidity, and textural breadth.
Beira Interior is a massive, diverse region, comparable in size to Vinho Verde. The north is split into two subregions, Castelo Rodrigo and Pinhel, to the east and west of the Côa River (a tributary of the Douro River), respectively. Geologically, these are southern continuations of Douro Superior, with shallow, granitic soils but large veins of schist, called picarra. The climate in the north is continental, with long, cold winters and short, hot, and dry summers.
The southern subregion of Cova da Beira is just east of Dão, in the eastern foothills of the Serra da Estrela. The geography and climate here are milder, with clay-rich soils and shelter from the mountain, which moderates the intense summers of eastern Portugal.
Beira Interior has always been among the most geographically and economically isolated regions of Portugal, and the urbanization of the country in the 20th and 21st centuries further depopulated the region. Almost all the region’s wines are produced by cooperatives. Reflecting its large size, Beira Interior DOC permits a wide range of varieties and styles.
Lisboa occupies a large stretch of sand and calcareous clay between the cold Atlantic coast and a series of mountain ranges that run along the region from southwest to northeast. Just west of Lisbon are the Sintra Mountains, which, curving toward the northeast, are followed by the Scorro, Archeira, Montejunto, Candeeiros, and Aire ranges. Situated between the ocean and these mountains, which trap cold air, Lisboa has an extreme maritime climate.
East of Lisbon and across the Tejo estuary is Setúbal Peninsula. Here, the limestone and sandy soils of the coast continue, but fewer mountains inhibit Mediterranean winds from the Alentejano savannah, warming the region and allowing for the production of richer wines.
Lisboa was likely planted by the Phoenicians about 3,000 years ago. The Cistercian order entered Portugal here, founding its first monastery in Alcobaça after the Reconquista, in 1153. At that time, Lisboa was known as Estremadura, as it was at the “extreme edge” of Christendom, and this name was also used for the official wine region when it was created in 1986. The name was changed in 2008 to Lisboa to differentiate it from the Spanish region of Extremadura, and Setúbal became its own region.
Just outside Lisbon are three of Portugal’s most historic wine regions: Carcavelos, Colares, and Bucelas. These areas have had defined winemaking styles and quality reputations for centuries, and, as a result, their DOC regulations are among the most restrictive in the country. Because of their proximity to the city, however, they have been impacted by urban sprawl, with housing replacing vineyards throughout the 20th century. Today, these regions produce very small quantities of some of Portugal’s most singular and delicious wines.
Carcavelos, just west of Lisbon, was essentially created as a commercial wine region by the Marquis de Pombal when he demarcated the Douro wine region in the mid-18th century. The laws he created strictly limited Port production to fruit grown on the schist soils on the banks of the Douro River, but he left one exception for fruit from his own vineyards in the town of Oeiras, in what is today Carcavelos.
Eventually, the marquis realized that the region would benefit from establishing its own reputation for Port-style wines, and he advocated for the production of local fortified wines labeled as Carcavelos, a seaside village in the area where, presumably, casks of the wine were loaded onto ships sailing to Lisbon.
Today, just over 25 hectares (62 acres) remain in Carcavelos. Carcavelos DOC is reserved solely for the classic fortified wines of the region, and just one producer, Villa Oeiras, continues to make them. White wines must have a minimum of 75% combined Arinto, Ratinho, and Galego Dourado, and red wines must have a minimum of 75% combined Castelão and Negra Mole. Yields are restricted to 55 hectoliters per hectare. Musts for DOC wines must have a minimum of 11% potential alcohol, and the final wine after fortification and aging must be between 17.5% and 22% ABV. The wines are required to age for a minimum of two years in oak and six months in bottle before release; in practice, they typically age for much longer in both vessels.
Colares is the westernmost wine region and the westernmost piece of land in Continental Europe. It is also the point where the mountains of Lisboa are closest to the ocean, with the Sintra Mountains almost spilling into the Atlantic, creating an intensely maritime climate that rarely exceeds 25 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) during the growing season. The region has sandy soils, locally called chão de areia, that are generally around 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep, above a layer of calcareous clay. The soils are just shallow enough to allow for viticulture yet deep enough to protect the vines from phylloxera.
Grapegrowing here requires incredible effort. Growers dig trenches in the sand to the clay and limestone base soil, where they plant the vines. As the vines grow, the holes are filled in until the mature vines appear to be crawling across the sandy floor. Intense Atlantic winds are capable of not only stripping new flowers off their buds but shearing the leaves off the plants. The vineyards are close enough to the ocean that the leaves can get burned by salt water, and the mildew pressure can be extremely high. Local seabirds, who love ripe grapes, present another hazard. The resulting wines, however, are arguably among the most distinctive and ageworthy in the world.
Colares wines are documented in Portuguese literature as far back as the early 1800s, but the popularity of the wines skyrocketed in the early 20th century, as Colares was one of the few European regions not impacted by phylloxera. Colares was known for structured, regal wines that could age for decades. This reputation led to issues with counterfeit bottles, and, in the 1930s, the Portuguese government intervened and established the country’s first official cooperative winery, mandating that only wines made by the cooperative could be labeled with the region’s name. At its height in the late 1930s, there were roughly 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of vines in Colares.
By the 1960s, the urban sprawl of greater Lisbon had reached the region, and grapegrowing in Colares was almost entirely abandoned. Even after Portugal joined the EU, in 1986, Colares faced challenges. Fine print in EU wine law mandated that grant money be available only to vineyards planted on grafted rootstock, preventing the region from attaining any serious investment. By 1999, there were just 12 hectares (30 acres) planted.
Today, while the region has yet to recover, changing tastes have made the wines of Colares fashionable again, and new vines have been planted. The wines planted in the region’s limestone soils, known locally as chão rijo (hard floor), have also gained traction. While a portion of chão rijo wine is permitted in DOC wines, wines made entirely from grapes grown in chão rijo soils can be labeled only as VR Lisboa.
Colares DOC wines must contain a minimum of 80% of the required varieties, which vary based on the soil type. In the chão de areia soils, red wines are based on Ramisco; in the chão rijo soils, red wines are based on Castelão. White wines from both soil types feature Malvasia. Yields are restricted to 70 hectoliters per hectare for white varieties and 55 hectoliters per hectare for red varieties; in practice, though, yields even this low are generally a struggle to achieve. The minimum alcohol for DOC wines is 10%. Red wines must age for 18 months in a non-bottle container and 6 months in bottle, while 6 months in each is required for white wines. The red wines are generally aged much longer in bottle, however, with most producers waiting five to eight years before release.
Bucelas is just northeast of Lisbon, with more exposure to the Atlantic winds than the other inland subregions of Lisboa. The soils in Bucelas are a loamy mix of the sand and calcareous clay of the coastline, causing some hydric stress in the vines.
The wines of Bucelas have been appreciated domestically and abroad for centuries, but their fame was heightened in the 19th century following the Peninsular War. The English war hero Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, returned home with several barrels of the wine and publicly expressed his enthusiasm for this “Portuguese Hock.”
The region is the genetic home of the grape Arinto (also called Arinto de Bucelas), which defines the wines of Bucelas. The only permitted wines under the Bucelas DOC are dry white wines and traditional method sparkling wines. Both must be a minimum of 75% Arinto. Esgana Cão (known as Sercial in Madeira) and Rabo de Ovelha are also permitted. Yields are limited to 70 hectoliters per hectare. DOC wines must also have a minimum of 10.5% alcohol and a minimum of four grams total acidity, an indication of how integral the high-acid style is to the identity of the region.
Traditionally, Bucelas wines hovered around this minimum alcohol requirement and underwent long lees aging, resulting in incisive wines that would blossom with age. Today, however, the region is mostly dominated by larger producers that are eager to make a more fruit-forward, commercial style.
In sharp contrast to the suburban regions close to Lisbon, the more outlying regions of Lisboa are some of the most productive in the country. The more commercial focus of these regions is reflected in their DOC regulations, which are among the country’s most permissible in terms of styles, higher maximum yields, and permitted grape varieties. Today, however, because of the low cost of land and fruit, these areas are a hotbed for a new generation of winemakers. Many of the best wines produced here are labeled as regional wines.
The subregion of Encostas d’Aire, in the far northeast of Lisboa, contains the subzones of Ourém and Alcobaça. Ourém specializes in Medieval de Ourém, a blend of 80% Fernão Pires and 20% Trincadeira. For this style, in contrast to the co-fermented palhete and clarete wines made elsewhere in Portugal, each variety is fermented partially in separate containers. Then, before fermentation is completed, the two musts are combined, including the red pulp, to finish fermentation. The resulting style is typically richer, headier, and more structured than a classic palhete or clarete wine. The maximum yield designated for this style, at 40 hectoliters per hectare, is the lowest of any DOC in Lisboa.
Also notable is Lourinhã DOC, which is focused exclusively on brandy production.
East of Lisbon is the sprawling Tejo wine region, a transitional area with humid Atlantic influence in the northwest, and arid Mediterranean heat in the southeast. The Tejo River traverses the region along a northeast axis.
The Tejo River valley is arguably the most important agricultural zone in Portugal. Through the 20th century, bulk wine production was significant here. As the larger Portuguese wine market has moved toward quality over quantity, however, the total vineyard area of Tejo has shrunk from 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres) in 1989 to around 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) today.
Surrounding the Tejo River are floodplains, known locally as lezíria. These are some of the largest and most productive vineyard zones in Portugal, with some yielding over 200 hectoliters per hectare of wine. Much of the current contraction of the Tejo vineyard, however, is taking place along the lezíria. Fernão Pires is the dominant grape in these areas.
North of the river, the soils are rockier, dominated by calcareous limestone in the west and with outcroppings of granite and schist toward the east. South of the river, the soils become more reminiscent of the rich red clay of Alentejo.
Tejo’s subregions north of the river are Cartaxo, closest to Lisbon, followed by Santarém and Tomar. On the northern side of the river—where soils are rockier, the topography is hillier, and the climate presents more challenges to growers—estates tend to be smaller. This is especially true in Tomar, where schist and granite mountains overtake the landscape, and industrial-scale agriculture becomes nearly impossible.
South of the river, from southwest to northeast, are the subregions of Coruche, Almeirim, and Chamusca. Coruche is becoming known for a more structured, deeper style of red wine than that of the lezíria, where fruitier red wines are typically made. The wines of Coruche are generally produced from a blend of Trincadeira, Castelão, and Alicante Bouschet, though the inclusion of French grapes, such as Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon, is also common.
Tejo is covered by both Tejo VR and DoTejo DOC, and various subregions can be appended to these names. The two regions cover largely the same area (Tejo VR is slightly bigger). Both allow for a wide range of grape varieties. The DOC specifies stricter maximum yield, minimum alcohol, and minimum aging requirements.
Until 2008, Setúbal was part of the larger Estremadura administrative region, and it has many similarities to Lisboa: calcareous clay and sandy soils, common grape varieties, and a long-standing reputation for both outstanding quality and vast commercial production.
Suburban Lisbon is in the northwest part of Setúbal, while the southern and eastern ends of the peninsula are more agrarian and primarily planted to grapevines. Setúbal is mostly low lying and is impacted by warm Mediterranean winds. The exception is on the southeastern coast of the peninsula, where the Serra da Arrábida rises, trapping colder air and creating poorer soils.
Setúbal Peninsula first attracted widespread attention with the wines of José Maria da Fonseca (JMF), founded in 1834. Over the next several decades, JMF became the first large-scale producer of table wine in the country. JMF also pushed Setúbal Peninsula toward developing its own style of fortified wine, Moscatel de Setúbal. At its height, JMF was the largest producer of wine in Portugal, and Setúbal Peninsula essentially became a monopole of the company. This helped protect the region’s vineyards against the extreme shrinkage experienced by the other suburban wine regions of Lisboa.
Today, Setúbal Peninsula has a VR and two DOCs: Moscatel de Setúbal, or Setúbal, for the traditional Moscatel fortified wines of the region, and Palmela, for everything else. Setúbal Peninsula VR is the most liberal in Portugal in terms of permitted styles and grape varieties, allowing for all colors of still wine, frisante and espumante wines in any method of production, and both fortified and distilled wines. Over 200 grape varieties can be used, and there is no declared yield limit either in the vineyard or at the press.
Palmela DOC covers the same geographic area as Setúbal Peninsula VR but has more regulations, restricting production to a shorter list of grapes traditional to the region and declaring maximum yields, though they are large. While a wide variety of wines are produced under the designation, it is particularly associated with full-bodied expressions of Castelão, often driven by high alcohol and soft, velvety tannins.
Setúbal DOC (which can also be labeled as Moscatel de Setúbal or Moscatel Roxo de Setúbal DOC) is focused solely on the traditional fortified dessert wines of the region. Wines must be a majority of either Moscatel (the local name for Muscat of Alexandria) or Moscatel Roxo, a rare red color mutation of Moscatel Galego. Unlike most other fortified Portuguese wines, these wines often undergo very long postfortification macerations on the grape must, generally five to six months, leading to deeply perfumed, structured wines, which then age in barrel until they are bottled. The wines may be either vintage designated or given age statements, although the latter is a stylistic designation and rarely corresponds to the actual average age of the wine in the bottle, which is generally much older.
Alentejano VR encompasses the land south of the Tejo River and north of Algarve, making it the largest wine region in Portugal, covering roughly one-third of the country’s land mass and the entire administrative zone of Alentejo. Most of the region is very sparsely planted with grapevines, with cork and olive trees as the more popular alternatives. Because of its size, Alentejo includes diverse climatic and geographic conditions, but most vineyards are concentrated in the northeastern quadrant, which constitutes Alentejo DOC. This area has very hot, dry summers but also some of the largest diurnal shifts in Portugal, reaching a difference of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius (40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit) between day and night temperatures in certain areas. The soils here are very complex, with rich red clay interspersed with granite, schist, limestone, and even marble in various areas.
Despite the dominance of cooperatives during the Salazar era, Alentejo recovered quickly after the collapse of the Estado Novo, in 1974. A few high-quality estates rapidly re-emerged from enforced co-op production, namely Tapada do Chaves, in Portalegre, and Herdade do Mouchão, near the city of Estremoz, in Borba. The real change came, however, when investment poured into the region after Portugal joined the EU, in 1986. Entrepreneurs saw the warm, expansive plains of Alentejo as an ideal location to make wines that could compete, in both flavor and price point, with those of international powerhouses, such as Australia and South America. Large wineries with modern equipment were built, and vast vineyards were planted with Portuguese varieties as well as French grapes, such as Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Even as Alentejo has become defined by some of the largest-scale commercial winemaking in Portugal, the ancient practice of talha winemaking has begun to re-emerge. Talhas are clay pots, historically used by both the Phoenicians and the Romans. Even larger producers in Alentejo are making special talha cuvées or reintegrating the vessels into their programs. The Vinho de Talha DOC, a special designation for traditionally made talha wines, under the umbrella of Alentejo DOC, was established in 2011.
Alentejano VR permits red, white, rosé, sparkling, and red and white fortified wines. The minimum alcohol for nonfortified wines is 11% (including the base wines for both fortified and sparkling production), and fortified wines must have a minimum alcohol of 17.5%. There are no designated maximum yields in the vineyards or aging requirements in the cellar. Sparkling wines may be made in any style. There are over 50 permitted varieties.
Alentejo DOC permits all the same styles as the VR, but each has a specified minimum alcohol level. Although yields are restricted, the governing body of the region may increase the permitted maximum yields by up to 25%, depending on its judgment of the quality of the vintage. Permitted grape varieties are more restrictive, favoring traditional varieties, but there are allowances for international varieties with global commercial appeal. Like Alentejano VR, there are no aging requirements.
There are nine permitted regional amendments to Alentejo DOC designation. They are covered here roughly from north to south.
Portalegre is in the far northeastern corner of Alentejo, on the border of Spain, and surrounds the Serra de São Mamede, one of Portugal’s tallest mountains. Some of Portugal’s highest-elevation viticulture is practiced here, at up to almost 800 meters (2,600 feet) in elevation. The mountain is mostly granitic, a geology that is much more typical of northern Portugal, and the DOC regulations stipulate that vineyards in the region must be planted on granitic soils.
While Portalegre isn’t a cool-climate region, especially today, its proximity to the mountain, elevation, poorer mineral soils, and abundance of bush vines allow it to ripen grapes at significantly lower potential alcohols than the DOC’s other subregions.
Borba’s most notable geographic feature is the sprawling Serra d’Ossa and its foothills, which form a plateau-like landscape that rises to around 400 meters (1,300 feet) in elevation. Here, unlike most of eastern Alentejo, limestone soils are prevalent. The city of Estremoz, in the northern reaches of Borba, was once among the most important marble quarries in Europe. The area was historically highly regarded for wine production and is home to Herdade do Mouchão, one of Portugal’s oldest estate producers of table wine, founded in 1901.
Borba wines tend to be ripe, yet structured and mineral forward, and incredibly ageworthy. The dark-fruited and graphite-scented Alicante Bouschet, first introduced to Portugal by John Reynolds, part of the family behind Herdade do Mouchão, arguably reaches its greatest expression in the hills of Borba.
Redondo is south of Borba, in the shadow of the Serra d’Ossa, where it benefits from the cooling effects of the mountain. Redondo is home to one of the oldest cooperative wineries in Portugal, Adega de Redondo, established in 1956 after a particularly destructive wave of phylloxera hit the region in the 1940s. It remains the dominant winemaking institution of the region, organizing over 200 growers and producing roughly 10 million liters, or 75% of the region’s wine, annually.
Évora is just west of Redondo and surrounds the medieval walled city of the same name, the largest city in Alentejo and its administrative capital. The region has rich red clay soils, with occasional outcroppings of granite, and its wines are some of the richest, headiest wines of Portugal.
Évora is also a gastronomic, cultural, and commercial hub for Alentejo. Tasting rooms for wineries throughout the broader region are located here, as well as urban wineries that source grapes from throughout Alentejo.
Reguengos, Granja-Amareleja, and Moura are southeast of Redondo and straddle the Vigia reservoir. This area has rich red clay and alluvial stones. The Vigia pulls in the intense heat of North Africa and the Iberian interior, yielding grapes that can be made into rich, full-bodied wines. These regions are still dominated by their local cooperatives. The Reguengos co-op, CARMIM (Cooperativa Agrícola de Reguengos de Monsaraz), includes 99% of the region’s growers, totaling around 800 farmers and 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of vineyards. It produces roughly 33 million liters of wine annually.
Vidigueira extends significantly farther west from the area of Reguengos, Granja-Amareleja, and Moura, and the red clay here is complicated by rolling hills of volcanic basalt and granite. The region has been celebrated since Roman times, as its name translates roughly to “grapevine.” Because of Vidigueira’s more westerly location and high-elevation hills, the influence of the Atlantic is stronger on this region than the rest of Alentejo DOC.
Vinho de Talha DOC is a subdesignation of Alentejo DOC. As such, only wine that is already eligible for Alentejo DOC is eligible to be labeled as Vinho de Talha. The grapes must be destemmed, though a portion of the stems may be (and often are) returned to the base of the talha before the must is poured in to act as a natural filter for the wine when it is being removed. Inclusion of the grape skins in the must is required. Wine must remain in the talha until at least November 11 of the same year of the vintage, which is Saint Martin’s Day, the feast day on which talha wines were traditionally first consumed.
There are no regulations that stipulate the size of talhas or the material they must be lined with. Most talhas being used today in Alentejo are at least a century old, many handmade, and there is no uniform size. Talhas used in commercial wineries generally range anywhere from 600 to 1,000 liters in size.
The traditional lining of pes, a mixture of olive oil, pine resin, and beeswax, is being revived as producers relearn to make and apply the waxy substance. Pes should impart virtually no flavor to a finished wine, instead serving to seal the talha, regulating the wine’s exposure to oxygen while preserving fruit and terroir expression. Many producers, however, still line the talhas with epoxy or leave them completely unlined. Both techniques avoid any potential resiny or waxy flavors in the finished wine, but while the former renders the talha neutral in its interaction with the wine, the latter can lead to a more aggressively oxidative style.
Algarve was probably the first place grapevines were planted in Portugal, as it is near the first major Phoenician settlement on the Iberian Peninsula, in Cádiz. The region has the most Mediterranean climate of Portugal, defined by mild, moderately wet winters and hot, dry summers. The soils of the coast are mostly Mesozoic limestone, but vineyards are typically planted in the schist foothills of the region’s interior, as coastal land is largely dedicated to tourism infrastructure.
The cooperative wineries established during the Salazar era are still the dominant winemaking entities in the region, but some estate producers are starting to investigate Algarve’s history and terroir, showing its potential for a return to fine-wine production.
Traditionally, the red wines of Algarve were blends focused on Negra Mole (Tinta Negra), and the white wines were blends based on Síria. During the 20th century, the region turned to more international varieties, but many producers are now returning to the traditional varieties of the region to make soft, herbal wines that offer a transparent sense of place.
The four DOCs of Algarve—Portimão, Lagoa, Lagos, and Tavira—share similar regulations, permitting the same styles (white, red, and rosé), yields, minimum alcohol levels, and aging requirements. They also follow similar varietal guidelines, with Negra Mole, Castelão, and Trincadeira recommended for red wines, and Arinto (Pedernã) and Síria (Roupeiro) for white wines. The exceptions are Lagoa DOC, which omits Castelão from its recommended varieties for red wines, and Lagos DOC, which includes Malvasia Fina among its recommended varieties for white wines.
The Madeira archipelago, located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southwest of Portugal, consists of two inhabited islands: Madeira and Porto Santo. The islands have significantly different topographies and climates. When the Portuguese started colonizing the islands, Madeira was referred to as Legnami (the isle of wood) and Porto Santo as Deserte (desert).
The island of Madeira is the top of a dormant volcano that starts deep on the ocean floor. The varied calderas and peaks of the island result in a huge variety of microclimates, with verdant tropical forests, snowcapped peaks, and wild cliff edges. Because of this topography, plantings are spread across thousands of tiny plots rather than in contiguous vineyards. Viticulture can be extreme, with many plots accessible only by boat or impossibly narrow mountain paths. The island’s climate is relatively mild, with temperatures during the growing season hovering around 25 degrees Celsius (high 70s Fahrenheit). High levels of moisture in the winter provide a steady supply of groundwater for the vines during the summer. The rich, decomposed volcanic soils and plentiful rain create the potential for high yields. Vines are often trained in pergolas (latadas in Portuguese) to make use of limited space and protect the vines from disease.
The other inhabited island in the archipelago, Porto Santo, located northeast of Madeira, has a flatter topography and a semiarid climate, and the very rocky calcareous soils further limit potential yields. Traditionally, these qualities restricted Porto Santo’s agricultural potential compared with that of Madeira, but, as dry wine production becomes increasingly important, Porto Santo may have greater opportunities. Grapes are typically grown on head-trained bush vines.
The wine industry in Madeira began well before the advent of widespread fortification. Grapes were first introduced to the region not long after its settlement by the Portuguese in the early 15th century, but they did not become an important crop until the 17th century, when the local sugarcane economy collapsed.
While Port dominated the domestic and British markets, Madeira became the preferred wine of the colonial world, with casks often shipped across the Atlantic or to the East Indies. During these long journeys, the wines would slowly oxidize, becoming richer and sweeter. These qualities quickly became appreciated in the wines, and slowly, in addition to the adoption of fortification, heating and oxidation would become key to the process of making the region’s fortified wines. For centuries, fortified Madeira was a crucial part of the transatlantic trade between Europe, western Africa, and the Americas. Madeira’s main port, Funchal, was often the last stop before ships made the long journey across the Atlantic. By the late 18th century, the fortified wines of Madeira had become a staple of the global wine trade. Dry wines continued to be made on both islands, fueling a robust culture of local consumption.
The process of making fortified Madeira, using the slow barrel-aging process until the wines were maderized, was expensive. As the industry grew, it consolidated similarly to the Port industry, with thousands of farmers selling fruit to a far smaller number of “shippers” that had the resources to store (and thus produce) the wines.
Starting in the 1850s, however, there was a series of substantial setbacks for Madeira. Downy mildew and phylloxera decimated the islands. Then, the Russian revolution and American Prohibition destroyed two of Madeira’s most important export markets. Throughout the 20th century, what was once an industry of hundreds of shippers shrank to single digits. Much of the vineyard land was never replanted after phylloxera, with vines replaced by sugarcane, and most of the vines that were maintained were American hybrids or the fertile yet resilient Tinta Negra. Quality began to dwindle, and soon Madeira became associated with bulk semisweet wine that was mostly used for cooking.
In the late 20th century, a few key developments signaled the beginning of Madeira’s resurgence. In 1979, hybrid grape varieties were officially banned in Madeira production, spurring the replanting of the traditional noble varieties of the island: Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvasia, and Bastardo. In 1988, the Symyngton family, one of the largest producers of Port wine, invested heavily in Madeira Wine Company, an incorporated consortium of several of the remaining shippers, and partnered with the Broadbent family to relaunch the Madeira category in the US as a fine-wine concept. In 1991, Barbeito, one of the island’s remaining shippers, abandoned the bulk wine business and refocused on high-quality, estate-bottled production. By the end of the aughts, the fortified wines of Madeira had been re-established as a key category of fine wine.
The most recent development in Madeira is the growth of dry wine production, from both Madeira and Porto Santo, though it remains a very small share of the region’s commercial output. Several of the most established fortified wine producers are innovators here, including Barbeito and Madeira Wine Company. Tinta Negra and Verdelho are the most-used grapes for dry wines.
The Madeira archipelago has three stylistic designations that allow fruit to be sourced from both islands. Terras Madeirenses VR, established in 2004, and Madeirense DOC, established in 1999, both cover the dry wines of the islands. Under the DOC designation, however, the minimum alcohol levels are higher, and the authorized varieties and yields are more tightly restricted, though even the DOC allows for 100 hectoliters per hectare for white wines and 90 hectoliters per hectare for red. Madeira DOC applies to fortified wines from both islands and will be covered in a separate fortified wine guide.
The Azores are a widespread chain of nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are much farther west and north than Madeira or the Canary Islands, with one of the most maritime climates of any wine region. The climate is mild, with relatively consistent rainfall year-round. The islands are volcanic in origin, but their geologic ages vary widely, leading to different soil compositions for each island.
During the colonial period, the Azores were an important wine-producing region, with roughly 13.4 million liters of wine produced each year by 1816. Unlike the rest of Portugal, however, the Azores were decimated by the subsequent waves of powdery mildew, downy mildew, and phylloxera.
Today, the wine industry is just starting to recover. In 2004, the Azores VR designation was created. But it wasn’t until the 2014 founding of Azores Wine Company, a partnership between prominent mainland winemaker António Maçanita’s Vinhos Fitapreta and local winemaker Paulo Machado’s Insula Vinus, that the dry wines of the Azores started to attract serious attention. The project has continued to recover old vineyards and highlight local varieties. Although wine was once made on all the islands, nearly all production now occurs in the central group of islands that surround São Jorge: Pico, Graciosa, and Terceira.
Pico, south of São Jorge, has always been the most famous island for wine and continues to produce most of the wines of the Azores. The soils here are bare lava rock that can be broadly categorized as either aa or pahoehoe. Aa lava comes from fast eruptions where the lava solidifies into pebbly, jagged stones. Locally, vineyards planted on aa lava are called chão de biscoitos (floor of cookies). Pahoehoe originates from much slower, gradual lava flows that dry in smooth, wavy formations. These soils must be physically broken up before vines can be planted on them.
Today, Pico’s plantings are primarily on its western half, surrounding Mount Pico, Portugal’s tallest mountain. The most famous and most planted zone on the island is Criação Velha, west of the mountain and south of the city of Madalena, far enough from the mountain to avoid significant cloud cover and fog. Criação Velha has the warmest microclimate on the island.
Graciosa is the northernmost and smallest island in the central group. Because its soils are much richer than those of Pico, a broader diversity of crops has been planted here. The wines tend to be less concentrated than those of Pico but still have elevated acidity and mineral focus.
Terceira, a large, round island with a varied topography, is east of São Jorge. Today, viticulture is minimal compared with other agriculture, and it is practiced mostly in the northern district of Biscoitos, named for the aa lava soils in the area.
On Pico and Terceira, vineyards are planted in mazes of volcanic stone walls called jeirões (singular jarão), which in turn contain canadas, which contain currais (singular curral). Essentially, these are layers of walled vineyards. The structures serve two purposes. First, to plant the vineyards, it was necessary to move the islands’ volcanic rock. Building walls close to the vineyards was the easiest way to use the rocks. Because of the proximity of the vineyards to the ocean, however, cold, wet winds are a significant threat to viticulture. The walls block wind and absorb heat, and, because of the geometry of the overall structure, there is never a straight pathway through which wind can enter a vineyard.
Also for wind protection, vines are head trained very low to the ground, and the same volcanic stones that compose the walls are used to support fruiting canes so that the grapes do not touch the ground. Because of the poor soils, vineyards are sparsely planted, with about three to six vines planted per curral.
Dry white wine, mostly from Verdelho and Arinto dos Açores, is the main style produced in the Azores. Because of the high potassium content of the volcanic soils of Pico and Terceira, fruit from these islands often has relatively high pH levels, so protecting the wines from oxidation is a chief concern. Wines typically undergo extended lees aging, often in small, horizontally placed stainless steel dairy tanks (about 300 to 500 liters in size), a benefit of the large dairy industry in the Azores. They maximize lees contact and help winemakers use the smaller lots of wine that come from the vineyards.
Fortified wines are produced in smaller quantities. The wines are typically made similarly to Madeira, with long barrel aging and a lack of temperature control leading to an oxidative yet rich and lively style.
Azores VR covers the production of all red and white dry wines on the nine islands of the Azores. The designation permits a wide range of grape varieties, blended in any percentage. The islands of Pico, Terceira, and Graciosa have their own DOs, each allowing different combinations of grape varieties for still, sparkling, and fortified wines. All wines, however, must be at least 80% combined Verdelho, Arinto dos Açores, and Terrantez do Pico.
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Compiled by Lewis Kopman (April 2024)
Edited by Stacy Ladenburger
Hey James! Great question. The answer here lies in the movement of information in the 19th century. Phylloxera arrived in Europe in the 1850s via American plant specimens and started to take over. That being said, the "discovery" of phylloxera is written as a Franco-centric history, since they were a very prominent country at the time. Its first recorded event in Portugal was in 1862 in the Douro but that flies under the radar due to the prominence of France.
Hello, I was curious about the date of phylloxera being discovered in the Douro valley stated as 1862. From other sources I am seeing the first European encounter with phylloxera as being in southern France and in 1863. Could anyone shine any light on this? Thank you