Red Wine Grapes Used By Portuguese Wine Makers
Portuguese winemakers have shown a heroic determination to preserve a heritage of more than 250 native grape varieties – and most of these varieties do not exist elsewhere in the world.
They are masters in unlocking the potential of a country full of diversity. Vines are planted in all types of soils, from sand to shale, and exposed to diverse microclimates, from the influence of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the influence of Continental Europe.
Portugal also welcomed to its land many foreign grapes such as Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz to marry to its native grapes. The result is an exciting range of wines that is as diverse as it is unique.
Challenge your senses and enjoy the unique!
Aragonez/Tinta Roriz
This is one of the rare grape varieties to be prized on both sides of the border. Tempranillo to the Spanish, the Portuguese call it by two different names depending on the region: Aragonês and Tinta Roriz. It can make rich, lively red wines that combine elegance and robustness, copious berry fruit and spicy flavour. The vines are very vigorous and productive and adapt well to different climates and soils, although it prefers hot, dry climates on sandy or clay-limestone soils. It tends to be blended with other varieties, typically Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, and also with Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet in the Alentejo.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Invisivel
Conde D’Ervideira Espumante Reserva Rose
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
Alicante Bouschet
Perhaps the most Portuguese amongst foreign grapes, Alicante Bouschet produces intense, deeply colored wines. It is native of France but found it’s home true in Alentejo where it was planted in the late 1800’s. Commonly mixed with other grapes, Alicante adds volume, structure and resistance to the test of time.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
Alfrocheiro
This is a Dão grape by origin, but it has spread successfully southwards into the Alentejo, Ribatejo/Tejo and Palmela regions because of its ability to retain good acidity even in hot climates. The wines are rich in colour with firm but ripe tannins and a good balance of tannins, alcohol, acidity and attractive, berry fruit, reminiscent in particular of blackberries and ripe strawberries.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Espumante Reserva Rose
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Touriga Franca
The Touriga Franca makes richly-coloured, dense yet elegant wines with copious blackberry fruit and floral notes and firm but velvety tannins that contribute to the ageing potential of blends – it is often blended with Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional. Apart from the quality of its wines, it is popular in the vineyard for its resistance to pests and diseases and its reliably good crops of healthy grapes.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Trincadeira / Tinta Amarela
Rich in colour, with good acidity and rarely an excess of alcohol, Trincadeira (as it’s known in the Alentejo) or Tinta Amarela (if you are speaking to a Douro producer) makes wines of serious quality when ripe. Properly ripened, it has vibrant raspberry fruit tempered by herby, peppery, spicy, floral complexity, and it can age well. It does better in hot, dry places, and is therefore particularly at home in the Alentejo and Ribatejo/Tejo areas and in the regions, it really shines!
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
Touriga Nacional
Few would dispute that the Touriga Nacional is Portugal’s finest red grape variety, deserving a place right up at the top of the world league of grapes, along with the likes of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo.
Though Northern in origin, it has spread right across the country – you will find it down south in the Algarve and the Alentejo, out west in the Ribatejo/Tejo and Setúbal regions, successfully competing with the local Baga grape in Bairrada, and way out mid-Atlantic in the Azores. Touriga Nacional is a thick-skinned grape, and those skins are rich in colour and tannins, giving excellent structure and ageing capacity. But it also has wonderful, intense flavours, at the same time floral and fruity – ripe blackcurrants, raspberries – with complex hints also of herbs and liquorice. Yields are never high. The Dão and Douro regions both claim to be the origin of this fine grape, and the rest of the winemaking world is beginning to wake up to its quality.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Monte da Capela – Grande Reserva 2016 Limited Edition
Villa Pias
Cabernet Sauvignon
This grape variety is the most well-known in the world. It has been welcomed to Alentejo to blend with Portuguese grape varieties such as Trincadeira, Aragonez and Alfrocheiro and in its warm climate it performs extremely well. The wines are concentrated with a good tannin structure and age very well. It has notes of cherries, blackberries, dark spices and cedar wood.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Tinta Caiada
This is one of those Portuguese grapes that you find mostly in mixed old vineyards in the Alentejo. Its wines are intensely coloured, with good acidity and pleasant aromas of ripe fruit with vegetative notes. It requires a really hot climate to ripen properly and therefore shines in Alentejo!
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot is a red grape that was traditionally reserved as a minor blending grape in the world famous Bordeaux wine blend. However, the grape has spread to warmer climates as it performs a lot better.
In the warm plains of Alentejo, Petit Verdot can make intensely bold, fruity-yet-floral with hints of black cherries, plums, violets lilac and sage with also some licorice notes.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Villa Pias
Syrah (also known as Shiraz)
Once again, this is a grape variety that adapted very well in Portugal, especially in the Alentejo region due to the poor soil and warm climate.
It provides powerful yet soft wines with notes of spices, mint and blackberries. Due to its concentrated flavours and high tannin content the wines using these grapes age very well and are therefore an excellent cellar addition.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Monte da Capela – Grande Reserva 2016 Limited Edition