Loureiro. What? Never heard of it!

You look at the label and read: Rabigato. Arinto. Encruzado. Loureiro. What? Never heard of them! That’s the lovely thing about the Portuguese. No Chardonnay craze, no Sauvignon trend – Portugal just does its own thing. Its own grapes, its own character, its own flavour. That doesn’t necessarily make buying wine any easier, but it certainly makes it all the more of an adventure.
Text: Evelijn van Heuven | Image: Unsplash

Portugal is a land of explorers. Vasco da Gama, Bartolomeu Dias, Fernão de Magalhães and Pedro Álvares Cabral were the Portuguese adventurers who sailed to India, Africa and Brazil, helping to chart the world. They crossed the ocean, got to know the world and discovered new cultures and different customs.

Yet their homeland remains true to itself: curious about the outside world, yet stubbornly independent at heart. This is also reflected in the wine’s DNA. Whilst much of Europe is converting its vineyards to meet market demand, the Portuguese cling fiercely to their own grape varieties. They now grow more than 250 indigenous varieties, more densely concentrated than anywhere else in the world. No copycats. Just true to themselves.

250+ grape varieties

So many indigenous grape varieties – it’s overwhelming! That’s why we’ve picked out five that you’ll come across quite often. Each one has its own distinct character.

Take Alvarinho, the star of the north. It grows in northern Monção e Melgaço, close to the Spanish border, is sheltered from the Atlantic winds by the mountains. It is warmer and drier there than in the rest of the Vinho Verde region, which is precisely why it is the only place where it is permitted to appear as a single grape variety on the label.

The wine has aromas of flowers, peach, apricot and apple, with a hint of saltiness. It is more aromatic and complex than its lighter counterparts from the rest of the Vinho Verde region, which are blended with other grape varieties. Premium Alvarinho can be aged for up to ten years or more.

Then there is Encruzado, which means ‘crossroads’. This grape lies precisely at the intersection of fresh and rich, of floral and nutty. At home in the Dão region, on granite and sand at an altitude of four hundred metres, in the right hands it even brings to mind white

This article also appears in WINELIFE issue 101, shop here.

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