Evolution is part of the process in all industries and some old ones, with centuries of existence, tend to keep the old habits as immutable trues.
That’s not the case of the Portuguese wine industry now a days, with many things happening from the land to the table.
Some old habits are good to keep, and the investment in native grape varieties instead of the most grown ones is what makes today Portugal as a big player in the wine industry.
All the rest is evolving and the vinho verde region is where you can feel that.
It’s not anymore the place for slightly fizzy white wines with lack of body and easy to drink.
The best native grape varieties such as the Loureiro, Alvarinho, Arinto and Avesso along with new vinification technics is putting this wine region is the most important in terms of white wine production.
The Alvarinho is still the number one variety in the region in terms of grapes market value and in the end also in terms of wine quality.
The big innovation on these wines is the Alvarinho ageing in wood that gives a completely different profile to the wines, more gastronomic and more body but loosing part of the freshness that the vinho verde wines usually have.
It’s wines easy to pair with most type of dishes and now you can see the main producers in this region keeping their new harvest for a couple of years while the older harvest are in the market getting great reviews among the wine reviewers.
A great example is the wines we selected from 2013 to 2015, with a stage in wood or in bottle and still with many years for you to keep it if you want to try completely different type of white wines.
