Vinho Verde “Alvarinho Reserva” 2021

Alvarinho (Albariño) is a green-skinned grape variety which makes elegant white wines with stone fruit, citrus and mineral nuances. Very fresh, bright wines with lush aroma and high acidity.

Vinho Verde is a well-known DOC in the Minho region of north-western Portugal. Each year it is responsible for vast quantities of straw-yellow, light-bodied, tangily tart wines produced from many thousands of small farms throughout the region. And amid the wash of white wine is the faint glimmer of ruby-tinged red Vinho Verde tinto – rarely seen outside Portugal.   A quantity of the wines made here are so fresh and youthful that they earn the moniker verde ('green'), which applies even to the reds. Although not sufficiently effervescent to be officially classed as sparkling wines, much white Vinho Verde has an obvious petillance. They are most often based on such classic Portuguese white-wine grapes as Arinto, Loureiro and Trajadura.   It isn't just the wine here that is green; the countryside is lush and leafy across much of Minho. Vines are grown in the majority of properties, whose average area is just a few acres. The tell-tale sign of a Vinho Verde vineyard is not just its diminutive size, but its upwards orientation: the density of viticulture here is such that most farmers train their vines on high pergolas, and even telephone poles.   The famous Douro river crosses the southern fifth of Minho, in the latter stages of its long journey from the hills of Castilla y Leon. Along this stretch of river, Port, the nation's most famous wine, is transported to the town of Porto from the Douro vineyards. Vinho Verde and port could barely be further apart on the spectrum of wine styles.