Portugal Flashcards
As of 2011, what are the fourteen IGPs in Portugal
Minho, Transmontano, Duriense, Terras do Dão, Terras de Cister, Terras da Beira, Beira Atlântico, Tejo, Lisboa, Alentejano, Península de Setúbal, Algarve, Terras Madeirenses, and Açores. The lower, or less stringent, tier of quality wines in Portugal is the Indicação Geogràfica (IG), or wines with “geographical indication”. (Below DOP)
If produced as vintage-dated DOP or IGP, Portuguese table wines may be labeled as what
garrafeira (“private wine cellar”), indicating a minimum period of aging prior to release
What are the aging requirements for Garrafeira wines
Tinto (red) garrafeira wines must age for a minimum 30 months, including at least 12 months in bottle. Branco (white) and rosado garrafeira wines must age for a minimum 12 months with at least 6 in bottle
Casta
Grape variety
The most widely grown red casta (“grape variety”)
Castelão, an adaptable varietal producing typically full-bodied, tannic wines with meaty, red-fruit aromas
Touriga Nacional .
Portugal’s finest red casta. Cherished for Port blends, accounts for approximately 10% of the nation’s vineyard acreage, and yields inky, full-bodied, structured wines. The low-yielding vine produces extremely small berries, valued for their extraction potential and concentration in the red table blends of Dão, Douro, and Alentejo. The country’s premium red table wines often contain a percentage of Touriga Nacional, lavishly treated to new French oak in the manner of Bordeaux.
Synonyms for Touriga Nacional
Bical Tinto and Mortágua Preto.
Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira (Tinta Amarela), Baga, and Aragonez (Tinta Roriz, known as Tempranillo in Spain)
Other widely planted and popular varietals in Portugal
Fernao Pires (Maria Gomes in Bairrada)
Most planted white casta in the country. The early-ripening, aromatic grape is found throughout Portugal, but it is concentrated in Bairrada and the southern plains of Tejo. It is a workhorse, producing fairly simple, honeyed wines that are often prone to oxidation and low acidity
Encruzado
Produces noble wines in the Dão, an elegant, balanced white grape yielding floral and citrusy wines that gain complex nutty, resinous aromas with age.
Arinto
One of oldest indigenous varietals, produces lively, mineral-tinged whites and is grown throughout the country, although its most striking examples issue from Bucelas
Sercial vs. Cercial
Sercial is a highly acidic grape prized for dry Madeira and known as Esgana Cão—the “dog strangler”—on the mainland. It is often confused with its homophone Cercial, which is used in Dão, Douro and Bairrada blends, but the two white grapes are genetically distinct.
enforcado
Vines in Minho/Vinho Verde trained high off the ground Vines would grow up the trunks of trees, telephone poles, and stakes, creating an overhead canopy. The probability of fungal disease in the wet climate is thus lessened, and other crops are grown beneath the grapes in the densely farmed region, displaced by more modern trellising systems, and fewer than 10% of vines are today trained in this fashion
Vinho Verde
“green wine,” a reference to the wines’ youthful freshness and the verdant countryside—is the largest DOP in Portugal and represents 15% of the nation’s total vineyard acreage, producing red, white, and rosado wines from an assortment of grapes. The region’s nearly 60,000 hectares of vines stretch northward from the city of Oporto to the Spanish border (the Minho River), and share lush landscape features and some grape varietals with Rías Baixas, Vinho Verde’s neighbor to the north.
Loureiro
most heavily planted white grape in Vinho Verde and the primary component of traditional Vinho Verde blends
White grapes of Vinho Verde/Minho
Trajadura (Treixadura), Avesso, Pedernã (Arinto), and the Spanish Albariño
Alvarinho
Known as Albarino in Spain, the grape is chiefly bottled as a varietal wine near the northern town of Monção, situated directly across the Minho River from Rías Baixas’ Condado do Tea region. Monção e Melgaço Alvarinho remains a bright spot for quality in a region driven by high yields and mass production
Wines of Vinho Verde/Minho
The light, floral white wines of the region are more common in both Europe and the US and are marked by lively acidity and low alcohol levels, and are slightly sparkling—a result, generally, of carbon dioxide injection prior to bottling. The red wines, also pétillant, gain their sparkle from malolactic fermentation in the bottle, a process usually avoided for white wines. The wines, whether white or red, are at their best in the year after release
Transmontano IGP
East of Minho along the Spanish border to the north of Duriense. Within the region are three non-contiguous subregions of the Trás-os-Montes DOP: Chaves, Valpaços, and Planalto Mirandés. The region is dry, hot, and mountainous, and the resulting wines are typically ripe and full-bodied, although the cooler, higher-altitude vineyards can preserve acidity
True or False: Douro and Porto were once included in the Transmontano IGP, prior to the creation of the Duriense IGP
True
Grapes of Transmontano IGP
Red: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Bastardo (Trousseau), Touriga Francesa and Trincadeira.
White: Fernão Pires, Síria, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and Rabigato
Where is the Duriense IGP and what DOPs does it include
The Duriense IGP is a slender region that encompasses the eastern, mountainous Douro River Valley south of Transmontano. It includes the DOPs of Douro and Porto.
True or False: The Douro is Portugal’s first demarcated wine region—one of the first such appellations recognized in Europe—and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
True. The river and its tributaries carve deep valleys through the granite Marão and Montemuro Mountains, and vineyards run from the riverside up the terraced, precipitous slopes.
Preferred soil type for Port
Schist
Climate of Douro Valley
continental climate of severely hot summers and cold winters, when temperatures often dip below freezing. The region’s craggy mountains act as barriers to the humid Atlantic winds, and the Douro becomes progressively drier toward the Spanish border
Subzones in Douro
Baixo Corgo to the west has the highest density of plantings, Cima Corgo has the highest total vineyard acreage, and Douro Superior, which stretches to the Spanish border, is the largest, most arid, and most sparsely planted region in Douro.
Douro vs Porto DOP
Table wines and the occasional licoroso (fortified) Moscatel do Douro are produced as Douro DOP; fortified Port from the Douro region is released as Porto DOP. Approximately 50% of the region’s wine is released as Porto. Douro table wines may be red, white or rosado
What year was the Madeira archipelago discovered
1419
What year was Port discovered
1678, by two Englishmen in Lamego, a town in the Douro valley
Mutage
arresting the fermentation of his wines with brandy while sugar was still present
Treaty of Methuen
1703 England and Portugal, establishing a long-lasting trade agreement between the two nations and preferential tariffs for Portuguese wines
