Vinho Verde refers to Portuguese wine that originated in the historic Minho province in the far north of the country. The modern-day 'Vinho Verde' region, originally designated in 1908, includes the old Minho province plus adjacent areas to the south. In 1976, the old province was dissolved.
Alvarelhão is a red wine grape grown in northern Portugal.
Verdelho is a white wine grape grown throughout Portugal, though most associated with the island of Madeira, and also gives its name to one of the four main types of Madeira wine. At the turn of the 20th century it was the most widely planted white grape in Madeira.
Albariño or Alvarinho is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galicia and Northwest Portugal, where it is also used to make varietal white wines. Albariño is the Galician name for the grape; in Portugal it is known as Alvarinho, and sometimes as Cainho Branco.
Portuguese wine is the result of traditions introduced to the region by ancient civilizations, such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. Portugal started to export its wines to Rome during the Roman Empire. Modern exports developed with trade to England after the Methuen Treaty in 1703. From this commerce a wide variety of wines started to be grown in Portugal. And, in 1758, one of the first wine-producing regions of the world, the Região Demarcada do Douro was created under the orientation of Marquis of Pombal, in the Douro Valley. Portugal has two wine-producing regions protected by UNESCO as World Heritage: the Douro Valley Wine Region and Pico Island Wine Region. Portugal has a big variety of local kinds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality.
Douro is a Portuguese wine region centered on the Douro River in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region. It is sometimes referred to as the Alto Douro, as it is located some distance upstream from Porto, sheltered by mountain ranges from coastal influence. The region has Portugal's highest wine classification as a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC). While the region is associated primarily with Port wine production, the Douro produces just as much table wine as it does fortified wine. The non-fortified wines are typically referred to as "Douro wines".
Trás-os-Montes is a Portuguese wine region located in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region. The entire wine region is entitled to use the Vinho Regional designation Transmontano VR, while some areas are also classified at the higher Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) level under the designation Trás-os-Montes DOC. VR is similar to the French vin de pays and DOC to the French AOC.
Cayetana blanca, also known as Cayetana or Jaén, is a white Spanish wine grape. It is grown mainly in the south of Spain, especially in Extremadura and in the Jerez region where it is distilled for use in brandy production.
Bombino nero is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in southern Italy, particularly the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, and Lazio, as well as on the island of Sardinia. It is a permitted grape variety in the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) wines of Castel del Monte and Lizzano. The grape is primarily a blending grape but it can also be used as a varietal for red and rosé wines. Though DNA evidence has shown that Bombino nero is not a dark-berried color mutation of the similarly named Bombino bianco, ampelographers still believe that the two varieties are related in some way.
Duriense is a Portuguese wine region covering the same area as the Douro DOC and the Port wine region. In difference from Douro DOC, Duriense VR is a designation at the lower Vinho Regional (VR) level, which corresponds to table wines with a geographical indication under European Union wine regulations, similar to a French vin de pays region. Thus, it is the simpler or less typical wines of the Douro region that are sold using a Duriense VR label.
Treixadura or Trajadura is white Portuguese wine grape variety grown primarily in the Vinho Verde wine region of northeast Portugal and the Galician wine regions of Ribeiro and Rías Baixas in Spain where the variety is known as Treixadura. The grape is primarily a blending variety that adds body and light lemony aromatics to wines. It is most commonly blended with Loureiro and Alvarinho in Rías Baixas while in Ribeiro it is often blended with Torrontés and Lado.
Tinta Carvalha is a red Portuguese wine grape variety that is widely planted throughout Portugal, most notably in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province, due to its easy maintenance and high yield potential. It is primarily a blending grape that on its own tends to produce light bodied, nondescript wines. It is an approved grape variety used in Port wine production as well as the non-fortified wines of the Chaves and Valpaços wine region.
Terrantez is a white Portuguese wine grape variety that was once widely used on the island of Madeira to make the sweet fortified wine for which the island is known. Today, the variety is nearly extinct on the island. There are still some limited plantings in the Minho Province where, as Cascal, is a permitted blending variety with Alvarinho and other grapes in the Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) wine Vinho Verde. As Terrantez the grape is permitted in several of the Indicação de Proveniencia Regulamentada (IPR) regions of the Azores including Biscoitos IPR on Terceira Island, Graciosa IPR on the white island of Graciosa and Pico IPR on Pico Island.
Rufete is a red Spanish/Portuguese wine grape variety that is grown primarily used in port wine production in the Douro region of Portugal. It is also grown up along the Duero basin across the border in the Spanish province of Castile and León and can be found in the Dão DOC of Portugal where the variety is known as Tinta Pinheira.
Persan is a red French wine grape variety that is grown primarily in the Savoie region. While the name hints at a Persian origins for the grape, it is most likely native to the Rhône-Alpes region with the name "Persan" being a corruption of the synonym "Princens" which is also the name of a small hamlet by Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Savoie which has been noted since the 17th century for the quality of its vineyards.
Nosiola is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Trentino region north of Lake Garda in the Valle dei Laghi. Here it is used in varietal Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) wines and as a blending component in wines such as Sorni Bianco from Trento. It is also used to produce a dessert wine in the Vin Santo style from grapes that have been allowed to dry out prior to fermentation.
Douce noir is a red Savoyard wine grape variety that has historically been grown in the Savoy region, but today is more widely planted in Argentina. The earliest mention of the grape dates from when Etruscans first planted Bonarda some 3.000 years ago in the Padana Region. It arrived in Savoie in the early 19th century, and by the end of the century it was the most widely grown red wine grape in the region. In the early 21st century it was discovered that the Bonarda grape, which is the 2nd most widely planted red grape, after Malbec, in Argentina was the Italian wine grape Bonarda Piemontese imported by Italian immigrants. The grape is also grown in California where it is known as Charbono.
Caíño blanco or Cainho branco is a white Spanish and Portuguese wine grape variety that is grown in northwest Spain and northern Portugal in a stretch of area between Vinho Verde and the Denominación de Origen (DO) of Rías Baixas. The grape is often confused for Albariño and in Vinho Verde it is sometimes known under the name Alvarinhão. While DNA profiling conducted in the early 21st century has shown that the two grapes are distinct varieties, the evidence has suggested that Caíño blanco maybe an offspring of Albariño from a natural crossing with the red Portuguese wine grape Azal tinto.
