We seem to be in the midst of a white wine resurgence. There has been a shift to white from red in many markets around the world. Certainly, it is happening here in the U.S. The French market has seen sales momentum move from red to pink to white. Even in Asia, I am told, the old orthodoxy that wine’s first duty is to be red is changing. Aromatic white wines (which seem so well suited to some of the cuisines) are getting attention.

There are certainly many reasons for the “red shift” to white. Affordability is probably part of the answer, since white wines are often cheaper than reds. Recent NIQ data published in Wine Business Monthly, for example, puts the average price of white wines sold through U.S. market channels at $8.48 per bottle. The average price for red wine is almost 25 percent more at $10.54.

Case Study: Vinho Verde

Recently Sue and I have been taking a closer look at Vinho Verde, the popular Portuguese white wine, and we think it might provide some insights into the white wine situation. Vinho Verde isn’t a grape variety (although a lot of people probably think that); it is a region in northern Portugal that has produced crisp white wine for hundreds of years.

Vinho Verde is a wine with many faces, which is part of its appeal. It can be an inexpensive daily drink. The Broadbent NV Vinho Verde, for example, has been a popular brand in the U.S. for nearly 20  years. It is both good (Decanter 91 points) and, with a retail price hovering around $10 per bottle, a very good value. No wonder it shows up frequently on both “best” and “best buy” lists. You can usually find a bottle in The Wine Economist wine fridge, especially in the warmer months.

But there is more to Vinho Verde than good value, as we learned a few years ago on a trip to Lisbon. A friend guided us to Cervejaria Ramiro, the popular seafood restaurant, and recommended a particular Vinho Verde made from the Alvarinho grape variety. It might have been the grape or the maker or the ridiculously delicious Ramiro food, but the result was an elevated experience that told us there was more to learn about “green wine.”

Take the Next Step

Now some producers are taking the next step by focusing on single-variety Vinho Verde wines from native grapes. The idea is to show another face of Vinho Verde, with distinct characteristics and greater complexity.

We recently tried two wines that convinced us that this is a promising path to follow. The first was the Casa da Tojeira – Tojeira Arinto 2023, which is made entirely from the native Arinto grape variety (it is more common to find blends of Loureiro, Avesso, Azal, Arinto, and other grapes). The wine was well balanced and developed nicely in the glass as it warmed up. An excellent introduction to this style. Casa da Tojeira makes a full line of white wines that explore every aspect of Vinho Verde. I hope we have an opportunity to explore more of their wines in the future.

Next came a bottle of Márcio Lopes – Pequenos Rebentos Vinhas Velhas Loureiro 2022, made from the Loureiro grape variety. The wine was intense  with complex aromas and flavors. I am not sure I would have guessed Vinho Verde if I didn’t already know it. It was completely different from anything I can remember tasting before. Now I want to taste more wines like this.

Loureiro is Portuguese for “laurel” according to my reference materials, and if you think of the aroma of a laurel hedge and then add in orange and acacia blossoms and maybe some peach or pear, you begin to sense the nature of this wine. It can be so intense, in fact, that it is often blended with other grapes to tone it down a bit. Quite an experience.

The thing about these next level wines is that the price premium to move up is relatively small. High-end Vinho Verde like these sell in the $20 to $25 range. This fact is perhaps another reason for the shift to white wines. Red wines in this price range often don’t deliver the complexity and distinctiveness that these white wines provide.

I don’t know if the “red shift” to white wines will last, but it seems like a good idea to take advantage of the opportunities to try new wines.

The Greatest Wine in the World?

We cannot write a column featuring Vinho Verde without telling a story about the “greatest wine in the world.” Sue and I were in Evora, Portugal, for a conference presentation and we were having dinner with a group that included many producers. We were enjoying some Vinho Verde and I congratulated the winemaker on his delicious wine.

He shook my hand enthusiastically and proclaimed that Vinho Verde was the greatest wine in the world. It was good to drink, he told me, and good to grow and make because vineyard yields were relatively high, which generated profitable margins, too. It was green wine in the economic sense. He loved it.

Who am I to disagree? Maybe Vinho Verde really is the greatest wine in the world!

One of the wonderful things about wine is its ability to surprise and delight — there are always new wines made with unusual wine grapes and from unexpected places to enjoy. A person who is bored with wine, given this great discovery potential, is bored with life!

Portuguese explorers were at the forefront of the “Age of Discovery” that opened the world to economic and cultural exchange. Portugal’s impact on global trade was astonishing considering that it is and was a relatively small country hanging on Europe’s western-most edge.

Now I propose a reverse movement with respect to Portuguese wine and its native grape varieties. The New Age of Discovery, as I call it, calls for wine enthusiasts to take deep dives into Portugal’s many wine regions and especially to explore native wine grape varieties with unfamiliar names but intriguing flavors and unlimited potential.

Discovering Portugal Wine Diversity

Maybe that’s why Italian wines frequently appear on The Wine Economist page (although this is a global wine blog, for example, it was recently named one of the 40 best Italian wine blogs and pages). The wine map of Italy is a colorful mosaic that invites close inspection. But Italy is not alone is this regard. It is time to explore in more depth the diversity that Portugal offers.

Vini Portugal sent us three wines selected to illustrate three sides of Portuguese wine diversity. The Villa Alvor Singular Moscatel-Galego-Roxo 2020, for example, comes from the Algarve region, which is better known for sunny beaches than lush grapevines.  The Antonio Maçanita Tinta Carvalha 2020, an Alentejo wine, is made from grape varieties now quite rare, but that once dominated the region. This wine brings them back from near-extinction. Finally, the Esporão Reserva Tinto 2019 is an interesting hybrid from a famous Alentejo producer, blending indigenous grapes with international varieties such as Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It tells the story of the winery and the region, too.

Unexpected Field Blend

Knowing of our interest in native grape varieties, António Graça, the head of Research and Development at Sogrape Vinhos, arranged for us to receive examples of Casa Ferreirinha Castas Escondidas, a field blend from an old vineyard at Quinta do Seixo in the Douro.

The grape varieties include such unfamiliar names as Touriga-Fêmea, Tinta Francisca, Bastardo and Marufo, which are sometimes included in Port wine blends, but rarely make themselves known in unfortified wines. Tinta Amarela, Tinto Cão, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa and vinha velha are also part of this unique blend.

Now it would be easy to dismiss a wine like this as a “kitchen sink” product made up of odds and ends, but that is clearly not the case here as you will know immediately when you taste it. It is really true that what grows together often goes together, and the combination of these wine grapes in the talented hands of Sogrape Douro winemaker Luís Sottomayor results in a distinct and delicious statement of terroir. We found the wine to be complex, balanced, and elegant with a finish that went on and on. An experience as much as a wine. Fantastic.

Quiet! Old Vines at Work

António writes that, “We have been surveying our old vineyards and inventoried all varieties present in that vineyard, plant by plant in an effort to identify the patterns of the historical field blend. This wine is the result of the knowledge we gained from that work which we extended now to other old vineyards we own in order to gain knowledge that will assist us in adapting to a warmer climate in an already warm region.”

“This has led us to develop new vines and wines using blends or single variety wines made from minority varieties, some representing less than 50 hectares as total planted acreage today. The revelation of their sensory aspects has been very reassuring. Examples are Touriga Femea (literally «female Touriga»), Tinta Francisca in the Douro, Sercialinho in Bairrada or Encruzado and Alfrocheiro in Dao.”

Portuguese winemakers have a lot of material to work with in this new age of discovery. The official wine grape registry lists 343 native varieties so far — incredible diversity for a relatively small region.

An Age for Discovery

When I first visited Portugal and began tasting wines made from the native grape varieties, I saw the unfamiliar names as an obstacle to their success on the global market. It made sense to me, I wrote, to market the wines under proprietary brands or in blends with familiar international grape varieties in order to avoid erecting another barrier to entry for consumers new to the country’s wines.

But things have changed and my opinion has changed with them. The world is re-discovering Portugal as a place to visit or live along with its history, cuisine, and of course its wine. It is the new Age of Discovery and my, but there is a lot to discover in Portuguese wine.

As I noted in last week’s column, the Association of Port Wine Companies roadshow passed through Seattle recently and Sue and I were fortunate to be invited to attend the Porto and Douro Wines Tasting.

Expect the Unexpected

Events like this are always appealing because they represent a chance to see old friends and taste familiar wines. But the real attraction is the opportunity to find something new. Portuguese wines never disappoint!

In fact, when I think about it, all my recent experiences with wines from Portugal have included surprises, some of which I have written about here. Portuguese white wines, for example, were a surprising discovery during our visit to the Douro and Alentejo regions earlier this year.

Here in the U.S. consumers think Portuguese whites in terms of Vinho Verde and while these wines can be delightful, we found a world of white blends made using indigenous grapes that really took our breath away. Expect the unexpected, that’s Portuguese wine, and that’s how we prepared for the tasting.

Sandeman: Old Wine in New Bottles

The first big surprise was at the Sogrape table, where George Sandeman was pouring 10, 20, 30 and 40-year old Sandeman Tawny Port (as well as other nice Ports and great red and white Douro wines). The wines weren’t the surprise — it was the bottle.

The traditional Port wine bottle is black, but these bottles were clear and let the color of the wine shine come through. The idea, according to an article in Drinks Business, is to change the perception of these wines, especially in on-trade.

Port is often stuck in a rut as a wine that you drink at the end of a meal and at Christmas, but the wines are really much more versatile than that. These clear bottles (with their elegant Vinilok closures) invite consumers and bartenders to also think of Port as a brown spirit that has many uses, including cocktails and aperitifs.

The new design does change the look of Sandeman Tawny Port and the image, too. I wonder if it will have its desired effect or if the potential consumer of a 40-year old wine, for example, might not really prefer the traditional package?

It would be a mistake to dismiss this redesign too quickly. Image isn’t everything, but it is something and if you want people to think about Port differently it doesn’t hurt to change its look.

Remember that the great success of the Sandeman wine brand is due both to the quality of the Port and Sherry wines and also to the effectiveness of its advertising. “The Don” (with the Spanish hat and Portuguese student cape) is one of the most powerful images in wine and maybe in advertising generally. New bottles for old wine? I will be interested to see what happens.

Old Wine in Old Bottles

Another surprise was in store as we looked for new types of Port to taste. White Port was one of our discoveries this year and we spent the summer introducing our friends to White Port spritz (equal parts dry white Port and tonic), which is a great alternative to the ubiquitous Aperol spritz.

I noticed that C.Da Silva was pouring older white Ports and I asked to try a bit, but nearly changed my mind when I saw the deep color of the 1971 vintage wine. It looked like a Tawny Port to me. But these old whites are aged in barrel like Tawnies and take on the dark color.

We tasted through the decades, back to that 1971, and the wines were just fascinating — familiar and different at the same time. Memorable!

We moved on to the Sogevinus table, where we tasted Kopke’s line of White Ports with 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of age. These old wines were packed in the traditional stenciled bottles. Old wine in old bottles. I found them really interesting, although Sue was drawn more to other styles, especially the Vintage and LBV Port wines.

We sat at with the group from the Rozés Port house at dinner and enjoyed their fine Terras do Grifo white and red Douro wines, which we had not had an opportunity to try before.

Portuguese Wines on the Rise

Portugal may be a small country, as we were often told, but it is big in terms of the diversity of its wines. Always something new and exciting to discover. And it is clear that U.S. consumers are discovering them. Port wine sales are on the rise, due in part to more creative marketing efforts that, as Paul Symington notes, are necessary to bring Port out of the “dinosaur age” in terms of the who, what, when, where and how of its consumption.

Portuguese wine sales in general are booming. The most recent Nielsen data (published in the December 2016 Wine Business Monthly) indicate that Portuguese wines sales have increased by 13.8 percent  in the most recent year. That growth rate ranks behind only France (15.7%) and New Zealand (15.5%) among imports, although Portugal starts from a much lower base. Outstanding!

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Thanks to the Association of Port Wine Companies (AEVP) for inviting us to the Seattle tasting and dinner. Best wishes for continued success!