Vinho verde: your new favourite patio wine
During my student days, I had a friend who invariably drank vinho verde. In the park, on the patio, at dinners and parties. Well, where didn’t she, really? I thought it was a perfectly decent little wine, but I do like a bit more variety. The friendship faded, and this fresh, light wine disappeared from my life too. Until I rediscovered it recently and learned to appreciate it all over again.
This is a wonderfully refreshing patio wine: fresh, very lightly sparkling and lower in alcohol, so you won’t be completely knocked sideways after a few glasses in the spring sunshine. That’s nice too. Anyone with a bit of a knack for languages will already have deduced that vinho verde means ‘green wine’ in Portuguese. The name has nothing to do with the colour of the wine, but with the young grapes it is made from. Mainly the white grape varieties Loureiro, Alvarinho, Arinto and Trajadura.
Where is it made?
The wine is produced exclusively in Portugal, in the area between the Douro and the Minho in the northwest of the country. Officially, the region is divided into six subregions. Each differs slightly in flavour and alcohol content. For example, the vinho verdes from the north (made from the Alvarinho grape) contain slightly more alcohol (13%), those from the south are lighter in flavour, while those around the city of Baião are somewhat fuller-bodied because of the warmer climate.
What does it taste like?
Apart from those small flavour differences, vinho verde generally has a light, fresh, slightly citrusy flavour. Here, we are mainly familiar with white vinho verdes, but in Portugal they also drink red vinho verde. In fact, they are almost impossible to find in the Netherlands because the Portuguese prefer to drink them themselves. This version is also fairly high in acidity, has a hint of berries and the characteristic ‘bubbles’.
What makes it distinctive?
That is precisely what makes the wine distinctive. Vinho verde is produced just a little differently from other wines. Because winemakers let the fresh grape juice ferment in open stone vats and only then store the wine in barrels, the wine undergoes a second fermentation, releasing carbon dioxide. That creates its characteristic sparkle.
What should you look out for when buying it?
This is also the part that is occasionally tampered with: to save time (and therefore money), the second fermentation is sometimes skipped and compensated for by adding carbon dioxide. To make sure you have a good vinho verde, it is wise to check whether there is a DOC quality seal over the cork.
