Vegan Wine Grape Varieties
Antão Vaz
 The Antão Vaz grape is indigenous of Vidigueira (Alentejo region) where our winery is located. As the most important white wine grape varietal in the Alentejo, it is particularly well adapted to the hot Alentejo climate in spring and summer. Antão Vaz produces a high-quality, lasting, full-bodied wine with a citrus yellow colour, fruity, with overtones of citrus and ripe tropical fruit. To the mouth the taste is mild with a slight acidity, adding to the wine’s elegant aroma and its lasting, agreeable finish. The grape provides a wonderful single variety wine, as is the case with our two Antão Vaz labels, but it also does well, blended with the Arinto and Síria grapes.
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Síria Thanks to its excellent cultural adaptability, this indigenous white grape (formerly known as ‘Roupeiro’) grows in different regions across Portugal, but is especially well adapted in the Alentejo region.
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Verdelho Whilst grown in many regions across Portugal, the white grape variety Verdelho is most commonly associated with the island of Madeira and fortified wines. Today, it has adapted perfectly to the Alentejo terroir, as showcased in our Gáudio Verdelho, made with 100% Verdelho grapes. Verdelho produces full-bodied, well-balanced wines, and is labeled as medium dry when used in fortified Madeira wine. The variety grows with small, tight bunches of yellowish green grapes Verdelho was wiped out from continental Portugal during the Phyloxera pelage in Europe, surviving in Madeira and the Azores. It was reintroduced back in Portugal about 20 years ago.
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Alvarinho This northern grape is one of Portugal's finest and most characterful. It was one of the first Portuguese grape varieties to be bottled as a single variety. Its full-bodied, subtly fragrant wine is easy to recognise. It has complex but delicate aromas reminiscent of peach, lemon, passion fruit, lychee, orange zest, jasmine, orange blossom and lemon balm. The wines are deliciously young, but they are specifically known to age well, often for ten years or more. Alvarinho grows mostly along the River Minho, right up in the north of the Vinho Verde region - the northern Vinho Verde sub-regions of Monção and Melgaço are its famous heartlands. It is now well adapted to the Alentejo terroir and a perfect example of this fact is our Gáudio Alvarinho wine.
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Arinto This is a versatile grape, grown in most of Portugal's wine regions. In Vinho Verde country, it goes by the name of Pedernã. It makes vibrant wines with lively, refreshing acidity, often with mineral quality, along with gentle flavours reminiscent of apple, lime and lemon. Arinto-based wines can keep well, but are also delicious when young. Because it keeps its acidity even in hot climates, Arinto is often added to other lower-acid white grapes to improve blends - especially in the hot Alentejo and Ribatejo. It makes some of its greatest wines in the small DOC region of Bucelas, just north of Lisbon, where it must account for at least 75 per cent of blends (along with Sercial and Rabo de Ovelha). Its good acidity also makes it great material for sparkling wines. Arinto's medium-sized bunches are tightly packed with small grapes.
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Chenin Blanc Chenin Blanc (known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names), is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley in France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire, it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it is also known as Steen. It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation and the winemaker's treatment. Relevant wine:
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Aragonez The Tinta Roriz grape variety, the name by which it’s commonly known in the Dão and Douro regions, has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula. Some consider that it originated in the Aragon region, hence its name, while others claim that it stems from Rioja, where it is known as Tempranillo. Wines made from Aragonez are typically powerful in the mouth, with a certain complexity, some acidity as well as tannins. With an initial taste of plum and wild berries, they become more complex as they mature, and are typically mild-tasting. The variety makes world class wines and is highly productive, provided its yield is well controlled.
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Touriga Nacional
 Grown across all regions of Portugal, this indigenous red grape is becoming increasingly popular. Out of 7 new grapes selected into Bordeaux for 2021, we have the blockbuster grape in the making, Touriga Nacional.
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Alicante Bouschet Despite not being an indigenous Portuguese grape variety, Alicante Bouschet is so deep-rooted in the Alentejo collective heritage, that it is often assumed to be Portuguese. In fact it is a displaced variety, the result of conjoining the French varieties Petit Bouschet and Grenache.
Alicante Bouschet is seldom bottled as a varietal wine, reinforcing its image as a rustic, structuring grape that can produce pungent and extraordinary wines. The aromas it evokes are of forest berries, cocoa, chocolate, olives and vegetal notes. Alicante Bouschet is certainly our most Portuguese, non-Portuguese grape variety! Its many wine attributes include structure, firmness and tannins and colour… lots and lots of colour!
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Tinta Miuda This Mediterranean red grape of unknown origin is grown in different regions across Portugal, especially in the various DOP regions covered by the Lisbon PGI.
It prefers a hot and dry climate, and is well-suited for a variety of soil types, although maturing might be hampered when planted in fertile wet soils; as the grapes come off easily, mechanical harvest is done easily.
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