To claim that the time is ripe to discover Vinho Verde may sound oxymoronic. The name of Portugal’s northwesternmost DOC—its highest rainfall region—has been inextricably linked with the concept of wine (vinho) that is green (verde), in the sense of unripe. Then there is the stereotype born of 80% of Vinho Verde DOC’s production revolving around so-called “classic” white commodity wines, distinguished by low alcohol, added gas, and residual sugar. Let me challenge those misconceptions from the off. Vinho Verde produces some of Portugal’s finest white wines and fashionably light reds. There. I said it. Now let me tell you why.
A region, not a wine
True to its name, Vinho Verde is a verdant region, characterized by numerous smallholdings, whose high-trained vines traditionally formed the borders surrounding fields or covered pergolas shading drives and walkways. Fertile soils privileged cereal over grapes, pushing vine-growing to the perimeters. “In the past, most of our best plots used to grow corn,” observed João Camizão Rocha of Sem Igual in Sousa, whose hunch that the family vineyards “were maybe a diamond to be polished” was right. High-trained hence high-yielding, these traditional bordadura and ramada vines forged Vinho Verde’s reputation for low-alcohol, high-acid wines, a good deal of which was made for domestic and home consumption. They still dot the landscape and can be seen from the A3 motorway on the journey from Oporto to the Portugal–Spain border on the Minho River, which bounds Vinho Verde to the north.
Running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean, which forms Vinho Verde’s
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
