Spritzy, acidic, bright wines are the Vinhos Verdes region’s bread and butter – the expressions that have drawn an international audience to the northern Portuguese wine appellation. Take the UK, which has become a resolute export destination in recent years. Between 2015 and 2024, sales to our domestic market have more than tripled from around €2m (£1.7m) to close to €6.9m (£6m).
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Portuguese wine is in a good place right now. Even a few years ago, we would have to patiently explain our varieties and regions, but now consumers – many familiar with the country through tourism – seem at ease with them,” says Anthony Symington, deputy head of sales at Symington Family Estates (SFE). The famous Anglo-Portuguese Port family made its debut into table wine around 1999, focusing on the Douro. Since then, however – in a pattern familiar among other Portuguese winemaking families and companies – SFE has spread away from its home base. The first ever winemaking venture outside the Douro took them in 2017 to Alentejo’s relatively cool-climate Portalegre, where they bought and modernised Quinta da Fonte Souto – where Symington says the Arinto- and Verdelho-based whites in particular have proved “a revelation”.
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Quinta de Soalheiro has appointed Thorman Hunt as its distributor in the UK.
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As part of its international growth strategy, Wines of Portugal – the interprofessional Portugese wine association – has said that it intends to make the UK Portugal’s number one export market over the next decade.
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Tejo Wines has announced updated regulations for the region’s lower-alcohol and dealcoholised wines. The move follows approval by the Tejo General Council (CVR), as well as official recognition by the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho (IVV).
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Quinta do Noval has declared three Vintage Ports from 2023.
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Taylor’s has made its declaration of Vintage Port today, St George’s Day – the traditional date for the announcement – and alongside launches Sentinels Vintage Port 2023.
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Innovation and reinvention are prerequisites for any dynamic wine industry, but Portugal is in a league of its own. For years winemakers here have been rediscovering indigenous varieties, experimenting with new styles and exploring terroir. The Douro has moved well beyond Port to also produce the highest quality red and more recently white wine. Minho – home of Vinho Verde – now produces complex, often single varietal wines from native Alvarinho, Loureiro and other varieties alongside the spritzy poolside wines for which the region has long been famous.
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Port giant Symington Family Estates has announced that it will produce 2023 Quinta Vintage Ports from its top six Douro estates. The move will see the wines bottled in May and available from mid-June.
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Jo Gilbert catches up with some of the UK’s most innovative indie merchants to identify the best up-and-coming regions – and the potential hurdles along the road.
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When I first visited Lisbon in 2014, I was able to get an Airbnb in Bairro Alto for €20 a night and there was only one cool wine spot in town. Now there’s an official Wines of Portugal tasting room on the waterfront, a decade of tourism has transformed the country and contemporary wine bars are as easy to find as bacalhau.
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The breadth of Portugal’s diversity was on full show in London yesterday, where lower yields, good value and newly emerging grape varieties formed an interesting picture of one of the world’s fastest growing-in-popularity regions.
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Quinta da Boeira’s Helena Teixeira talks to Barnaby Eales about microbiology, minimum intervention and shaking up Port classifications.
A ground-breaking celebration of Portuguese wine, gastronomy and culture, will be held at Tobacco Dock, in Wapping, London, from June 24-25. The inaugural edition of FESTA will pay tribute to festivals, which are at the heart of traditional Portuguese culture.
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Leading importer Justerini & Brooks will distribute three niche Portuguese wine brands in the UK, in anticipation of rising consumer demand.
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London’s Tobacco Dock will host an inaugural consumer-led festival in June, dedicated to Portugal’s wine, gastronomy, music and arts. The event is set to coincide with the Festa de São João, a famous event within Porto’s calendar where thousands travel to the city and surrounding neighbourhoods to celebrate Porto's patron saint, John the Baptist.
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UK importer Hatch Mansfield has expanded its portfolio with the addition of Portuguese wine brand Esporão.
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The UK remained the third biggest destination for Portuguese wine in the first half of 2021 in value terms, according to new export data released by Wines of Portugal.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has added fuel to a trend among regular Portuguese wine drinkers for more expensive wines, according to the latest Portugal Wine Landscapes 2021 report from Wine Intelligence.
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Bibendum Wine has expanded its Douro menu with the addition of Quinta de la Rosa to its on-trade and Walker & Wodehouse portfolios.
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