Portuguese wine: from Vinho Verde to the Dão

More than 250 grape varieties are native to Portugal, and many of them are barely grown outside the country. This winter the first Portuguese wines arrive at UVA, from two estates we visited in October: Solar de Serrade, which makes Alvarinho in Monção e Melgaço at the very north of Vinho Verde, and Quinta da Fata in the Dão, inland.

Why Portugal now

Vinmonopolet is already seeing it. In its sales figures for 2025, it names Portugal among the smaller red wine countries with marked growth, while red wine from Italy, France and Spain declined. On the white side, Alvarinho is established: the two best-selling Alvarinhos in the core range sold more than 185,000 bottles between them over the last twelve months, according to Vinmonopolet's sales data up to September 2026.

In DN on 16 October, Espen Nersveen wrote about the winemaker Luís Seabra, who argues that the country's opportunities lie in its own grapes, old vineyards and a clearer identity. That describes both estates we have chosen: Alvarinho from the place the grape is thought to come from, and Encruzado and Alfrocheiro from the only region where they are grown in any quantity.

A short history

Portuguese wine grew up in the trade with England. The Methuen Treaty of 1703 gave Portuguese wine a duty one third lower than French wine in England, and port from the Douro became an important trade good.

When demand fell and quality became uneven, the Marquis of Pombal stepped in. In 1756 he founded a company that, among other things, drew the boundaries of the Douro and marked them with stone pillars. The Douro is therefore regarded as one of the world's first demarcated wine regions. Vinho Verde and the Dão were demarcated in 1908.

The regions

Wines of Portugal divides the country into fourteen wine regions. Broadly, the north is cool and Atlantic, the interior high and sheltered, and the south warm and flat:

Region	Character
Vinho Verde	Northwest, strongly Atlantic, cool with heavy rainfall
Trás-os-Montes	Remote northeast, cut off from the coast by mountains
Douro and Porto	Steep valley sides along the Douro river, schist
Távora-Varosa	Small high-altitude valley, sparkling wine
Dão and Lafões	Granite, ringed by mountains, vineyards among pine forest
Bairrada	Flat coastal strip with Atlantic influence
Beira Interior	The most mountainous region on the mainland
Lisboa	Hills north of Lisbon along the coast
Tejo	Central Portugal, along the Tagus
Península de Setúbal	Sandy plain and the Serra da Arrábida
Alentejo	Plains covering almost a third of the mainland
Algarve	The south coast, separated from the Alentejo by a mountain range
Madeira	Fortified wine that keeps for a very long time
Azores	Archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic

Our two estates sit in the first two of those types: one by a river in the north, the other on a plateau inland.

Monção e Melgaço: Alvarinho at the border

Vinho Verde means "green wine", but according to the region's commission the name refers neither to colour nor to how ripe the grapes are. The region covers Portugal's entire northwestern corner and has nine subregions.

Monção e Melgaço lies furthest north, along the river Minho, which here forms the border with Spain. On the other side, in Galicia, the same grape is called Albariño. The subregion is regarded as Alvarinho's home, and its climate differs from the coast: cold, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, with the river and its tributaries moderating the temperatures.

Many people know Vinho Verde as a light, slightly spritzy summer wine. Serrade's wines are still, apart from the sparkling one, at 12.5 and 13% alcohol.

Solar de Serrade

The manor house in Mazedo dates from the mid-17th century, and in 1801, during the Napoleonic Wars, it served as headquarters for the French forces in the area. The wine is made by SAVAM, run by José Adriano Afonso. All the grapes are picked by hand into 20-kilo crates.

We are bringing in three wines, all pure Alvarinho:

• Alvarinho 2025 ferments and rests on its fine lees in stainless steel until bottling. The producer describes stone fruit, citrus and a hint of mint. Dry, 13%.
• Alvarinho Reserva 2024 comes from plots chosen for concentration of sugar and acidity. Half is aged in French oak, half in stainless steel, and the wine is not bottled until a year after harvest.
• Espumante 2023 is made by the traditional method, with at least nine months on the lees before disgorgement. Brut.

Serve the whites at 10-12 °C and the sparkling wine colder. More about the estate on the producer page.

The Dão: granite and mountains

The Dão lies on a plateau in central Portugal, ringed by mountains: the Caramulo to the west, the Buçaco to the south, the Nave to the north and the Serra da Estrela to the east. The mountains keep out the coastal humidity and the winds of the interior. The soil is mostly poor granite that drains quickly, and most vineyards lie between 400 and 500 metres above sea level.

Touriga Nacional is the grape the Dão is best known for. The white Encruzado and the red Alfrocheiro are grown almost nowhere else, and the red wines are usually blends, with Jaen and Tinta Roriz as well.

The region's recent history is about its cooperatives. In the 1960s and 70s they dominated the market, and according to the region's commission volume rose and quality fell. Since the mid-1990s the Dão has recovered.

Quinta da Fata

Fata is that story in miniature. The estate in Vilar Seco near Nelas, in the Terras de Senhorim subregion, has been in the family for three generations. Dr. Eurico Amaral, father of the current owners, was one of the founders of the Adega Cooperativa de Nelas, the first cooperative in the region. Today the family bottles its own wine, from 10 hectares on a gentle south-facing slope of granite, with an average vine age of 25 years. The winemaker is João Cabral de Almeida, and Revista de Vinhos named Fata producer of the year in 2017.

We are bringing in three wines:

• Clássico 2023 is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro, Jaen and Tinta Roriz, foot-trodden in lagares and aged in stainless steel and briefly in used barrels. 13%.
• Reserva 2022 has the same four grapes, ferments in granite lagares and ages six months in French and American oak.
• Encruzado 2024 ferments and ages in stainless steel, with five months on the lees. The producer describes flowers and citrus, with structure and freshness.

Serve the reds at 16-18 °C with lighter meat and fish dishes, and the Encruzado well chilled with fish and shellfish. More about the estate on the producer page.

When do the wines arrive?

The wines are ordered and arrive in Norway this winter. We will say so in the newsletter when they can be ordered through Vinmonopolet's special order range and for restaurants. The full Portuguese range is gathered under Portugal.