The WINES from MINHO ... Alvarinho and Vinho Verde

The Demarcated Region of Vinho Verde is located in the northwest of Portugal in an area traditionally known as Entre-Douro-e-Minho. Orografically, the region presents itself as a wide amphitheatre rising gradually from the maritime border to the inland, exposed to the Atlantic Ocean influence, reinforced by the main river valleys orientation that facilitates the maritime winds' penetration.

It was in the Northwest of Portugal, the most populated region since Asturian-Leonese times, that the dense population spread through the fields of the region. There are many references to vine growing, whose development started by the initiative of religious orders, as well as by the positive contribution of the Portuguese Crown. Viticulture had not much importance until the XII-XIII centuries, when wine consumption started to be part of the habits of the Entre-Douro-e-Minho population. The demographic and economic expansion itself, the enhancement of agricultural trade and the development of metal currency, turned wine into an important and essential source of revenue.

Although its export was rather limited, history reveals, however, that it should have been the Vinho Verde wines the first Portuguese wines to be known in the European markets (England, Flanders and Germany), specially those of Monção and Ribeira de Lima sub-regions. In the XIX century, the institutional reforms, opening the way to a larger commercial freedom, as well as the transport and communication's revolution, were the cause for the definitive changes in the regional viticulture panorama.

The quality guidance and the Vinho Verde wine production and trade regulations appeared in the beginning of the XX century, when the Law of September 18, 1908 and the Decree of October, 1st of the same year, demarcated the "Vinho Verde Region" for the first time. Cultural issues, wine types, the grape varieties and vine's guiding systems forced the division of the Demarcated Region in six sub-regions: Monção, Lima, Basto, Braga, Amarante and Penafiel. Of great importance in all the world was the acceptance of the "Vinho Verde" Denomination of Origin petition report presented to the OIV - Office International de la Vigne et du Vin - in Paris (1949), and the subsequent recognition of the international certificate of this Denomination of Origin by the GIPO - General Intellectual Property Organisation, in Geneva (1973).

The recognition of the Denomination of Origin bestowed, from the international law point of view, the exclusive use of the denomination "Vinho Verde" to a wine with unique characteristics, mainly due the geographic environment and its natural and human elements.

I – ALVARINHO WINES FROM MELGAÇO

Our choices of Alvarinho from Melgaço:

SOALHEIRO

DONA PATERNA

CASA DE MIDÃO

TERRAS DAS ALDEIA

COTO DA MOURA

Appellation: Alvarinho DOC
Sub region: Melgaço, sub-region of Monção
Demarcated Region: Vinho Verde (Minho)
Country: Portugal
Type: white

Alvarinho Variety
An old grape variety of exceptional quality, deservedly famed for the varietals wines it is produced in the Minho region, specifically in the two sub regions of Monção and Melgaço. Alvarinho has a highly characteristic floral and fruity profile with notes of lime tree, balm mint, honeysuckle, peach, grapefruit and apple, all well-married with the high acidity typical of crisp white wines from north-west Portugal. The grapes yield balanced wines with good structure and alcohol levels. Between all the Vinho Verde Demarcated Region varieties, Alvarinho is the most noble.

Viticulture
Alvarinho vines can found growing around the trunks of poplar trees and in bushes along the outside margins of a field. When grown in a vineyard, the vines need to be wire trained with large canopies to accommodate the typical 30 to 40 buds per vine. The grape responds well to the heat and humidity though the high yields and bunching of clusters usually keeps the grapes within the margins of ripeness.

Alvarinho Wine notes of taste
Alvarinho is noted for its distinctive aroma, very similar to that of Viognier and Gewurztraminer, suggesting apricot and peach. Elegant citric colour, shining green tonalities, unusually limpid, frank and clean nose, very delicate aroma, discloses youth, fruited with good aromatically intensity. In mouth it has good attack, good acid structure, leaving a final taste of vivacity and persistence cool. Alvarinho Wine is personalized and distinguishes itself from the others by its balance full of emotional feelings. It is for their originality, one of the best world wines. Alvarinho is unusually light, and generally medium-high in acidity with alcohol levels of 12 to13.5%.

Recommendations
It must be served chilled and on frappé, between 8° and 10° Celsius degrees, but slowly cooled to conserve its entire aroma and taste. The bottle should be opened twenty to thirty minutes before being assessed.

Suggestions
You could drink this happily enough as an aperitif, but it really shines with food. Seafood and fish are the better choice given the body of the wine.

ALVARINHO SOALHEIRO
ALVARINHO DONA PATERNA
ALVARINHO CASA DE MIDÃO
ALVARINHO TERRAS DA ALDEIA
ALVARINHO COTO DA MOURA

II – ADEGA COOPERATIVA DE MONÇÃO

Monção. A proud village of Minho. Land of vineyards and traditions.

DEU LA DEU – ALVARINHO WINE

Appellation: Alvarinho DOC
Sub region: Monção
Demarcated Region: Vinho Verde (Minho)
Country: Portugal
Type: white

The grapes are selected when they arrive to the Cellar, on the basics of their alcoholic richness and sanitary condition. After being weighed and smashed, the nust is carefully observed. After fermentation, it is stabilized and bottled, remaining like that for a period of time before it is commercialized.

Alvarinho is a very personalized wine that stands out among others due to its balance, its citrine colour, its characteristics and unique fruited flavour, mouth-full and pleasantly mouth-persistent. Its alcohol contents from 11,5 to 13°, its unique nature in the world, demand that it is drunk at 10 to 12° centigrade degrees, preferably "frappé" at the consumer's table, twenty to thirty minutes after having been opened, in order to be tasted by all those who know how to take profit from its organoleptic properties. It is also an excellent appetizer.

Colour
Citrine

Bouquet
Caste-specific, intense, delicate and floral.

Flavour
A taste that results from a balance between alcohol contents and acidity.

Body
Alvarinho is a full-bodied wine due to the value of its dry extract and other main components.

Harmony
The relation between its alcohol contents, fixed acidity and flavour component result in good harmony and mouth-persistence.

Appraisal
It is a quality wine, with a well balanced composition and notorious flavour component.

Recommendations
It should be served between 11º-13ºC.

Suggestions
You could drink this happily enough as an aperitif, but it really shines with food. Seafood and fish are the better choice given the body of the wine.

MURALHAS DE MONÇÃO WHITE WINE

The Cellar also produces the caste Trajadura which is allotted with Alvarinho wine and gives origin to the wine under the name of Muralhas de Monção (Walls of Monção). Who does not know it in the market?

This wine benefits from the freshness of the Trajadura caste, with a unique flavour and alcohol contents of around 11°. It is a dry wine which does not have the acidulous characteristics of most green wines. It is full-bodied wine, with a little gas, excellent at the table to accompany fish or shellfish when not to cool.

The Muralhas de Monção wine shares most of the characteristics of Alvarinho, differing mainly in its lower alcohol contents.

Varieties
Alvarinho and Trajadura.

Colour
Citrine

Bouquet
Delicate scent, proceeding from Alvarinho and Trajadura, but less intense than Alvarinho.

Flavour
A taste that results from a balance between alcohol contents and acidity.

Body
Not as intense as Alvarinho due to a less dry extract, but still full-bodied.

Harmony
The relation between its alcohol contents, fixed acidity and flavour component result in good harmony and mouth-persistence.

Appraisal
It is a quality wine, full-bodied, due to the relation alcohol/fixed acidity and flavour component.

Recommendations
It should be served between 11º-13ºC.

Suggestions
You could drink this happily enough as an aperitif, but it really shines with food. Seafood will work but fish is a better choice given the body of the wine.

III – ADEGA COOPERATIVA DE PONTE DE LIMA

Ponte de Lima will surprise the most demanding visitor with the beauty and harmony of its architecture, surroundings, gastronomy, and above all, with the uniqueness of its Verde white wines, which are, indeed, of unrevealing quality.

Ponte de Lima wines have always stood out for their unique vivaciousness, smoothness and aromas. Oh to savour a wine region…

LOUREIRO IP Selected Harvest Wine

Appellation: Vinho Verde DOC
Sub region: Lima
Demarcated Region: Vinho Verde (Minho)
Country: Portugal
Type: white

Loureiro Variety
Grown mainly in the upper Minho region along the River Lima valley, Loureiro is a very old grape variety yet is largely responsible for the success of white wine in recent years. Aromatically exuberant, Loureiro (along with Moscatel) is considered the most perfumed of Portuguese grapes, evoking bay leaf, lime tree, acacia, orange and peach. Along with Alvarinho, Loureiro is a grape of great typicity, producing varietals wines as well as in blends. In blends with other regional grapes, its exceptional aromatic qualities construct some of the best white wines in Portugal.

Viticulture
Integrated Protection Control aims to decrease the negative impacts of agriculture on environment and develop a sustainable viticulture. The wine Loureiro IP is made from the grapes of Loureiro variety and is produced according to Integrated Control programmes. The vineyards are controlled from first left till the harvest, as well as the grapes are quality certified.

Loureiro IP Wine notes of taste
Grapes are carefully selected and harvested at the best stage of ripeness. Before fermentation, they are submitted to a special process of maceration, which gives the wine a fine, fruity and intense aroma, alongside with a delicate, well structured and complex flavour. This excellent white wine reflects all the care that grapes were submitted to.

Loureiro wine is a unique product in the entire world with a blending of aroma and petillance that makes it one of the most delicious natural beverages. Medium in alcohol, Loureiro has great digestive properties due to its freshness and special qualities. It is a highly regarded wine, especially for summer drinking. The malolactic fermentation gives it a distinctive taste and personality.


Recommendations
It must be served chilled and on frappé, between 8° and 10° Celsius degrees, but slowly cooled to conserve its entire aroma and taste. The bottle should be opened twenty to thirty minutes before being assessed.

Suggestions
Loureiro IP is an ideal choice to accompany plates of fish and sea food, as well as an aperitif.

LOUREIRO WHITE WINE

This wine comes from the Demarcated Region of Vinhos Verdes and is exclusively produced from the most famous white grape variety of the region Loureiro.

This wine is dry, lively and aromatic. It is clear, with citrus colour and straw reflexes and has delicate and fresh aroma, floral bouquet and a citrus finish. It is a well balanced wine, full bodied with a characteristic acidity, persistent in its aroma and flavour.

It should be served at 8-10 ºC.

IV – WHITE SPARKLING WINES

Bubbly, lightly carbonated or fizzy, sparkling wines are ubiquitous throughout the wine world. Like port and late harvest and dessert wines, sparkling wines can be made from just about any grape variety. Old benchmarks are being joined (and sometimes challenged) by newcomers, resurgences of forgotten and obscure types and even new creations. In this module we will address the methods of producing sparkling wines, regional styles, terminology and a little history as well as grape varieties used in many of the most common sparklers of the wine world.

Our choices of White Sparkling Wines:

Alvarinho SOALHEIRO

Alvarinho QUINTA PIGARRA

Vinho Verde Sparkling QUINTA DO FERRO

Vinification
Our sparkling wines are produced according with the Méthode Champenoise, or the classical method. While carbon dioxide bubbles can be injected into sparkling wines much like they can be into carbonated soft drinks, a second additional fermentation process occurs and it takes place in the bottle.

Grapes for most sparkling wines are harvested considerably earlier than those meant for still table wines. This keeps the alcohol levels in the finished product in check, but also accounts for the delicate and subtle character of sparkling wines.

Once the wine is finished with the first fermentation and blended, it is poured into thick bottles, topped off with a solution of wine, sugar and yeast called liqueur de tirage, sealed, typically with a crown cap like those used on beer bottles (but not the twist-off type) and laid on its side for an extended period of time. This period may be as long as several years. During that time, the yeast converts the added sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide, which dissolves in the wine. The less imparts richness to the wine as it ages.

Before the sparkling wine is finished and can be sold, the lees must be removed from the bottle. The first step top achieving this is referred to as called remuage a French term meaning re-wetting) or riddling in English. The neck is gradually rotated and inverted from a 45° angle into a neck-down position. Each time, the bottle is tapped to help move the lees into the top of the neck. The process takes approximately eight weeks when done by hand but can be done in eight days by a computer-operated machine called a Gyropalette.

The plug of lees is removed in a process called dégorgement or disgorging in English. In this step, the neck of the bottle is dipped in freezing brine or glycol, which flash-freezes the plug of lees (and some of the wine) into a solid mass that comes out easily as one piece when the cap is removed. Brine is used for the same reason as glycol: they both lower the temperature at which the solution freezes. This allows for a colder dipping solution and faster, more thorough freezing. Modern producers insert a small plastic reservoir, called a bidule into the neck to facilitate extraction of the frozen plug.

The final step, called dosage, involves topping the sparkling wine off with sweeter wine to achieve a desired style. The bottle is then sealed with the distinct mushroom-shaped cork, held in place with a wire basket, covered in foil and either aged or released to market.

The Méthode Champenoise tends to impart a greater richness and breadth of aromas and flavours.

Alvarinho Sparkling Wines Variety
Alvarinho Sparkling wines are made with Alvarinho variety. Alvarinho is an old grape variety of exceptional quality, deservedly famed for the varietals wines it is produced in the Minho region, specifically in the two sub regions of Monção and Melgaço. Alvarinho has a highly characteristic floral and fruity profile with notes of lime tree, balm mint, honeysuckle, peach, grapefruit and apple, all well-married with the high acidity typical of crisp white wines from north-west Portugal. The grapes yield balanced wines with good structure and alcohol levels. Between all the Vinho Verde Demarcated Region varieties, Alvarinho is the most noble.

White Sparkling Wines Variety
Our white sparkling wine is made with Avesso variety, a high quality white grape variety, recommended for the sub-regions of Baião, Cinfães and Resende, where its culture is confined. Productive and rustic, this grape variety produces wines with a strong aroma, well balanced and flavourous.

White sparkling wines notes of taste
Elegant citric colour, shining green tonalities, unusually limpid, frank and clean nose, very delicate aroma, discloses youth, fruited with good aromatically intensity. In mouth it has good attack, good acid structure, leaving a final taste of vivacity and persistence cool. Rated among Portugal's top sparkling wines, these are really fresh tasting with yummy, zingy citrus flavour and a refreshing light zip to the finish. These sparkling wines are the truly taste of aristocracy.

Recommendations
It must be served chilled and on frappé, between 8° and 10° Celsius degrees, but slowly cooled to conserve its entire aroma and taste.

Suggestions
They are an ideal choice to accompany plates of fish and sea food, as well as desserts. Our choices of sparkling are the perfect festive beverage for your unforgettable celebrations.

Curiosities
According to Dr. Michael Apstein at Harvard Medical School sparkling wine & Champagne does go to your head faster than still wine. The reason is the bubbles. The dissolved carbon dioxide hastens the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream.

ALVARINHO SPARKLING SOALHEIRO
ALVARINHO SPARKLING QUINTA PIGARRA
VINHO VERDE SPARKLING QUINTA DO FERRO