Portugal - A wine country

Despite being a small country with just over 90000 square kilometers, it’s an important wine producer worldwide. With over 250 thousand acres of vineyard, Portugal is a country that produces over 6million hL of wine each year and belongs to the top 15 wine producers in the world. Even though it is a small in terms of total area, it is very diversified in terms of its various wine regions and this is what I’ll try to describe the most important ones to you.

Starting for bottom:

A region most known for its beaches and nightlife but it still has a few acres of vineyard. Despite being of minor importance to wine production it still has some beautiful vineyards to visit and lately it seems to be a renewed interested in this regions by winemakers. It’s a very sunny region but with some influence from the sea and the surrounding mountains.

A big region in Portugal, perhaps the second most important and the fastest growing one. It’s a very sunny and in the summer temperatures are very high, so it’s a great place to produce to good red varieties. It has very big plains. There are 8 sub-regions in Alentejo like Portalegre, Borga, Reguengos, Redondo, Évora, Moura, Vidigueira and Granja-Amareleja. Some of the most important varieties planted are indigenous like Roupeiro, Antão Vaz, Arinto, Trincadeira, Aragonez and Castelão.

Mostly known for its moscatel wine, which is a generous wine produced for an indigenous white variety, moscatel. Despite being a small region south of Tejo river , it has lots of big wineries and a great history in wine industry. The vines are planted in the Arrabida Mountain in calcarian soil or in sandy soils in plan ground. The main indigenous varieties are Moscatel and Castelão.

The Tejo region is known for its soil near the river, so there are very big productions but sometimes not so good. In the past is was known for cheap wines, but in recent days they are trying to improve their image and the quality of their wines. There are 6 sub-regions Almeirim, Cartaxo, Santarém, Tomar, Chamusca and Coruche. In this area there are a great deal of varieties like Castelão, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional, Cabernet or Merlot. In white varieties you can find Fernão Pires, Arinto or Chardonnay.

The Lisbon region (not the city) has a very big tradition in Portuguese viticulture. It has different regions like Bucelas, Alenquer, Colares, Carcavelos, Óbidos, Torres Vedras, Arruda and Lourinhã. The Colares region is known for its sandy soils and proximity to the ocean, and the vines are planted and grow near the soil as seen on the picture. Bucelas is known for the Arinto variety, and Carcavelos is just a small area not that important in the present. The center area of Lisbon, Alenquer, Torres Vedras, Óbidos and Arruda is a very beautiful region with lots of wineries and big productions.

Famous region for its piglet, it’s also an important region for its wines. The most known variety is Baga, that provides powerful red wines. Close to the Atlantic ocean it has sunny summers but windy and rainy winters.

The most important Portuguese region and classified by UNESCO as a world heritage in 2001. In 2010 National Geographic considered the Douro region as the 7^th best sustainable tourism destination in the world. This is an amazing place to take a boat trip along the river, you’ll be overwhelmed! This region is famously known for its Port Wine, which is a generous wine and one of the most important products exported by Portugal.

Literally means green wines, because this region is very green since the weather is generally cold and very rainy with lots of humidity. Lots of old vines still grow attached to a tree supported by its branches. The wine is very acid, light and typical from this area.