Open Mike: Vinho Verde.

Warm summer evenings, grilled seafood on the barbie, what could be more inviting than a nice chilled bottle bottle of Vinho Verde from Portugal. I think most winestores should carry a VV but if not try one of the excellent Portuguese whites out there. These light wines can be drunk without food so check around. Even better if you can find a red VV !!

Here is a fair introduction care of Wikipedia......>

The Vinhos Verdes are light and fresh, and are intended to be drunk within a year. At less than one bar of CO2 pressure, they do not quite qualify as semi-sparkling wines but do have a definite pétillance. The white Vinho Verde is very fresh, due its natural acidity, with fruity and floral aromas that depend on the grape variety. The white wines are lemon- or straw-coloured, around 8.5 to 11% alcohol, and are made from local grape varieties Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso and Azal. Vinho Alvarinho is made from Alvarinho grapes, from a small designated sub-region of Monção. It has more alcohol (11.5 to 14%) and ripe tropical aromas. The reds are deep red and tannic, and are mostly made from Vinhão, Borraçal and Amaral grapes. The rosés are very fresh and fruity, usually made from Espadeiro and Padeiro grapes.

WTN: `08 Azul Portugal Vinho Verde.

Blend of Trajadura, Loureiro and Arinto, 12% alc, $15 Cdn, good natural cork. RS is 6.4 gr/lt.

The color is a medium to dark straw. I find the nose fresh, minerally with slight herbal hints. Some citrus and took an hour to open up. I did serve quite chilled with shrimp kebabs and a mild chipotle dip.
Off-dry, crisp and refreshing, easy to drink on a hot evening. More on the palate than on the nose, citrus finish, leesy, green apple and some gooseberry. Entry level introduction if one is new to VV.

Look out for their easy drinking reds, esp. the Bairrada.

****** Fortheloveofport website has linked this interesting article......>

http://www.intothesoup.com/portugals-vi ... ed-country

Bob, can you tell us a bit more about vinho verde? Are they always labelled as such or do we need to know the regional appellation in order to identify them. I ask because the best wine store in Brussels for "exotic" wines does not have a mention of vinho verde against any of them on his website. The last I had from the broad area was an Alvarinho, much softer and more grapey than its crsip Spanish cousin, but I am not sure whether it was strictly a vinho verde.

Good question Tim. If a wine is labelled VV, it has to come from the Minho region in the far north of the country. It has a protected designation of origin, meaning that only wines from Minho produced in a particular way may be labeled as vinho verde.

Vinho verde is a blended wine, with a number of grape varieties considered acceptable for inclusion in vinho verde. It generally includes around 60% white wine and 40% red wine, creating a finished wine with a rosy blush. It is also lightly sparkling, which adds to the lightness of the flavor. Many fans of vinho verde say that it can be dangerous, because the delicate flavor and light weight of the wine can trick you into drinking more than you should.

Unlike many wines, vinho verde is not designed to be aged. It is meant to be consumed within a year of bottling, and can turn flat and tannic if allowed to age too long. In Portugal, the wine is also very dry; exports to other regions are sometimes sweetened. If you don't like sweet wines, you may want to try vinho verde brands which are also consumed in Portugal. Many vinho verdes are produced by small estates which make a limited run of the wine each year, and each is distinctly different.

Tim: the Vinho Verde regional commission has a very informative website that will probably answer your questions: http://www.vinhoverde.pt/en/

I've been drinking a lot of VV this summer; we had 3 bottles in just the last week. No tasting notes, but this from memory:

NV Gazela VV: Light, (9% abv), spritzy and not very dry but absloutely refreshing in hot weather. A very cheap mass market wine from Sogrape (I can get it for $3.99, although some places sell it for more than double that). Hard to belive they can make such a solid product for the price. Screwcap.

2008 Vinhao VV, Quinta da Lixa: A VV tinto made with the teinturier grape Vinhao, consdered by many to be the best red grape for this type of wine. Extremely dark, with some mild carbonation, 11% abv. Comes across as a well made wine, with lots of berries on the nose, some in the palate, with some leathery notes and substantial tannins. Brought to mind a good quality Lambrusco. I enjoy this with fatty meats (e.g. ribs), but not for everyone. Made me want to try some of the other Lixa wines. Around $11.

2007 Alvarinho VV, Portal de Fidalgo, PROVAM: Showing a bit of gold already. Tropical, minerals, nice backbone for a ripe year. Not spritzy, dry, alcohol 12.5%, IIRC, so more like a dry riesling than the 'traditional' Gazela/Casal Garcia style of VV. PROVAM is a quality oriented co-op and they make some nice wines at bargain prices. This goes for $11, which is probably $6-$7 less than many comparable wines from producers like Solalheiro (to me, one of the benchmark Alvarinhos).

[Jenise]

I usually see a few around every summer, and I'm helpless to NOT buy some. This summer, however, the only one I've seen is Casal Garcia in both a red and white version, both of which we've had with immense pleasure. In fact, I've been drinking more of the red than the white. Delightful stuff--lemon-lime flavors, very fine bead on the fizz. And lower in alcohol than most wines. What's not to love on a hot summer day?

Thanks for the link Joe. I tried to find an English version so you beat me to it!!!

Looksie here, excellent article from Sarah ......>

http://www.thewinedetective.co.uk/regio ... n-melgaco/

Bob: thanks for that link from Sarah Ahmed. I tasted wines at the Solar do Alvarinho in Melgaco last October - it is a great place to explore the region's wines. There is a similar tasting room in Moncao, but that one has the added advantage of selling all the wines they taste for 5.50 euros/bottle, IIRC, making some bottles very good bargains.

This week's Verdes at my house (notes from memory):

2009 Alvarinho, Soalheiro, Sub-Regiao de Moncao & Melgaco: Absolutely delightful, young wine. Interesting mix of the apricot/tropical and somewhat sauvingnon blanc type notes (grapefruit, grass) set against a elegant, nervy structure. Nice length, too. 12.5% ABV, about $18-20.

2008 Foral da Rainha, Loureiro Seco, Vinho Verde: More golden color and richer body than the above. Made from the other notable (in the sense that it is often bottled separately) white grape of the region. This comes from an area south of the Moncao & Melgaco Alvarinho region, around Ponte de Lima. Fruit tends to be more towards the pear end of the spectrum, but nicely balanced with minerals. Very solid wine for a paltry sum of $6.99. 12% ABV.

I will be picking up more of each of these!

Germaine was passing a local wine shop who lists a& Vinho Verde on his website and offered to bring a bottle home. The owner passed off a Rias Baixas Albariño as one . It's not far geographically and it may be excellent but it's not the same thing. I'll go on searching.

Vinho Verde Tapada dos Monges branco 2008 – Manuel da Costa Carvalho – Alc. 11% - (c.€9).

C : Pale lemon with a prickle round the glass.
N : Citrus with an aromatic component of « pastèque » water melon with a touch of anis.
P: Light/medium bodied, quite refreshing and citrus initially with good acidity but also a touch of sweetness on the tongue on entry. Then towards the finish the water melon and anis noted on the nose kicked in but in a quite confected and cloying manner. The overall effect became disjointed and we did not finish the bottle; 13.5/20.

I see that there is a red vinho verde with the same name which Jamie Goode writes up favourably in Wine Anorak - http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/wine ... s-compared .

I had a better experience with a pure Alvarinho Vinho Verde in February 2008.

Alvarinho – Reguengo de Melgaço – 2006 – Vinho Verde DOC – Sub-região de Monção – Produced by Hotel do Reguengo de Melgaço – Alc. 12.5%. (Approx. € 10).

C: Quite pale with a suspicion of a bubble.
N: Freshly floral and aromatic with melon, pear, citrus and grape notes.
P: Good freshness and very aromatic with soft mouth-feel and good “gras” showing white fruit with grapey notes more marked than on the nose and attractively bitter hints towards the finish.

This is quite different from the Spanish Albariño from Castro Martin on which I wrote a note some months ago. That wine was bracing and zesty and a suitable substitute for Muscadet with oysters and shellfish, in a slightly more aromatic and complex vein. This one, whilst not short of freshness and acidity, is softer and more generous and much more aromatic. No longer ideal for shellfish, like its Spanish cousin, but probably good with crustaceans and excellent with sea fish, like the swordfish with which we consumed it; 15.5/20.

Sighing for the good old days (and in this sense at least they were very, very good indeed) when vinho verde was made entirely from white grapes and was given that name because the wines were "green" in the sense of "very young" and meant to be consumed within a month or two of the harvest. So delicious was the real thing that was worth makng a trip from Paris, Geneva or wherever just for the fun festivals that took place around its serving and drinking. Light and remarakbly refreshing, meant to be served very well chilled and with humongous quantites of grilled beef, goat or lamb and not sipped but consumed in generous gulps. Those wines never made it to export as the vast majority of them were consumed in the villages that produced them, some going as far away as Lisbon perhaps, but not much further than that. And, truth be told, they probably would not have survived the rigors of international travel.

And then vinho verde went commercial and became the Nouveau Beaujolais of Portugal. And before they did there was simply no such creature as red vinho verde!

True vinho verde is still made in the villages and in the villages it is almost entirely consumed. Much akin to the heuriger of Austria which makes it way to Vienna of course but never, never for export.

Best
Rogov

Germaine was passing a local wine shop who lists a& Vinho Verde on his website and offered to bring a bottle home. The owner passed off a Rias Baixas Albariño as one . It's not far geographically and it may be excellent but it's not the same thing. I'll go on searching.

Way to go, important that in-house PO is looking around for us all/where applicable!!

Sighing for the good old days (and in this sense at least they were very, very good indeed) when vinho verde was made entirely from white grapes and was given that name because the wines were "green" in the sense of "very young" and meant to be consumed within a month or two of the harvest. So delicious was the real thing.....

Daniel, I really enjoy your post. I think that this explains my degree of disappointment with the exported version and makes me want to plan an urgent trip to Portugal. Local recommendations would be needed, though, to avoid any dross.

I have fond memories of Heuriger wines in the taverns of the Wiener Wald as well as less fond memories of some king sized hangovers. I guess that some of the old style wines may still exist even though Grüner Veltliner has gone posh with far more successful results than those of any Vinho Verde which I have met.

Tom C from the UK forum has just published his VV report, sure to create interest here I`d say.

http://www.wine-pages.com/features/vinh ... ges.com%29

The Ameal VV is available here.

http://www.wine-pages.com/organise/quinta-do-ameal.htm

Tom C from the UK forum has just published his VV report, sure to create interest here I`d say.

http://www.wine-pages.com/features/vinh ... ges.com%29

Thanks for that very interesting report from Tom Cannavan. Even though we get some wines from the likes of Anselmo Mendes or Ameal, there seems to be some interesting bottlings that don't get imported. Oh, and I'd love to try the Afros wines as well. Tom seems to like some of the barrel aged VVs; I managed to taste a few of these in Portugal and am not such a big fan.

Well, here is the latest VV update from Sarah Ahmed. Lots to read...>

http://www.thewinedetective.co.uk/blog/ ... alvarinho/