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Portuguese Wines

Think of Portuguese wines and Vinho Verde may well spring to mind, the slightly petillant, acid wines of the north which go so well with the local olive oil and salt cod dishes. Or Alvarinho - if you have been to the Algarve you will no doubt have tried the local sardines and swallowed them down with dry white wine made from the fresh and aromatic Alvarinho grape (in Spain Albarino). Or you might think of Lancers or Mateus Rose, the slightly carbonated pink wines which happily go down so well in England with our curries. There`s just a chance, if you have wined and dined with the Portuguese in their homes, you will even think of the rustic, full-bodied red wines which accompany their very basic, traditional cuisine.  But think of Portugal and surely we all think first of Port. After all, it is as English a Portuguese wine as you can get. Fortified with brandy and sweet on the palate, vintage port is the Englishman`s traditional nip after dinner with the stilton, just as claret is his red with roast lamb. The decanting process required to remove the wine`s sediment is all part of the ritual, showing off the wine`s deep ruby colour. Sweet and velvet, the ruby style is also popular in less costly and lighter versions such as Late Bottled Vintage, which don`t require decanting. But it`s the white ports and amber-coloured, nutty style of wood-matured tawny ports which the locals in Portugal like to drink – chilled as aperitif wines or famously with creamy cow`s cheese and quince jam. Here we tend to ignore white port and sip Tawny by the fireside, perhaps with nuts or a biscuit.

Finally, some of us will also think of  Madeira. Fortified wines produced on Portugual`s eponymous Atlantic island, they include aperitif wines Sercial (dry) and Verdelho (medium dry), and dessert wines  Malmsey (rich & sweet) and Bual (medium rich).  For a change from port, if you have never tried Madeira, do yourself a favour this Christmas!

Madeira

Port