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FIRST VISITED Portugal’s Vinho Verde region in 2008 and found the wines polarised. One sort was what most people think about when Vinho Verde is mentioned: a bright, light, white wine with low alcohol, searing acidity and a slight spritz. The other sort represented the wines being made by a small band of quality minded producers such as Soalheiro, Covela and Ameal, who were looking to make more serious wines from riper grapes without any spritz. Examples would be Soalheiro’s Alvarinhos, which had quite a reputation for developing with age, and the Loureiro-based wines of Quinta do Ameal. At this time, there were very few wines that didn’t fall into these two categories of cheap spritzy or high-end bottlings.

I visited again recently and found things have changed considerably. A new style of Vinho Verde is emerging and it seems to be resonating with the demands of the market. These are single-variety Vinho Verdes without the spritz, and with alcohol levels more in line with dry white table wines from elsewhere.

“The single varietal approach that is increasingly being taken in Vinho Verde is exactly the right one,” says UK-based wine importer Nick Oakley, who focuses on wines from Portugal and northern Spain. “Single varietal Alvarinho has long been established as a premium dry white wine, yet is a million miles from the standard public perception of Vinho Verde.”

Oakley thinks the spritz and a touch of residual sugar were needed in the past when most of the vines, which were pergola trained and giving high yields, were only capable of ripening the grapes to around 9% alcohol. “These days all the modern plantations are on VSP [vertical shoot positioned trellises] and generating 11%-12% easily. I see an intermediate category emerging between the fizzy inexpensive blends made by the ocean-load in nondescript bottling halls, and the serious Alvarinhos of the Monçao and Melgaço area.”

IMPORTANT ROLE

Another important UK importer of Portuguese wines is Raymond Reynolds, and director Danny Cameron agrees with Oakley. “I think single variety Vinho Verde has an important role to play in simplifying the message of a highly misunderstood region,” he says. “And with Alvarinho, it attracts premium buyers who perhaps don’t realise they are buying from the Vinho Verde region until they read the smaller print. As the quality of these wines soars ever upwards, it can only then give more trust and confidence in the name of Vinho Verde overall.”

At the moment, the supply of varietally labelled bottlings of the region’s most famous variety, Alvarinho, is limited because only wines from the Monçao and Melgaço sub-region are allowed to put the name of the grape on the bottle. This is keeping prices high because of the demand/supply imbalance, but as the rules transition and other sub-regions are allowed to label their Alvarinhos varietally this should bring prices down a bit.

In the meantime, leading the single-variety charge are Loureiro, Arinto, Avesso and Azal. “Of these varieties we’re seeing a premium starting to develop for the Avesso grape, which is only planted in the south east of the region, on the Douro river, predominately in the Baião region,” says Oakley.

“It’s a bit of a shock as it is big, ripe, aromatic, fragrant, peachy and often running to 14% alcohol.” He adds: “In terms of farming and production Loureiro is probably the easiest to promote as it is a large cropper and accounts for the majority of plantings.” Oakley sees these single variety wines as competitors to the recently popular Italian single varietal whites – wines such as Fiano, Falanghina and Pecorino. “These Vinho Verde varietals are better – much more vital, yet with a profile of clean, pure, semi-fragrant wines of 12% alcohol,” he says. “As such I think they are right on the money and very exciting. The market demands this kind of wine.”

LEADING CHANGE

So who are the producers leading this change? In the Ave sub-region of the Vinho Verde, Casal de Ventozela is a dynamic producer with 25ha of vines. It grows Loureiro, Arinto and Treixadura as its main varieties, but also some Alvarinho, Espadeiro and Vinhão. Ventozela is one of the leading proponents of single-variety Vinho Verde, and winemaker Pedro Campos makes the wines, which are affordably priced, in a very clean, fruit-driven style.

Quinta de Gomariz is in the Vale do Ave sub-region, right in the heart of Vinho Verde country. Winemaker António Sousa believes in single-variety Vinho Verde. “The people want to see the varieties, and the easy way to explain this is with single varieties,” he says. “If they know the profile of the variety they can understand the blend.”

Alvarinho is one of his favourite varieties: “It’s almost impossible to have a bad wine from this,” he says. Loureiro is another: “It can make an excellent wine or a terrible wine – now we are seeing excellent wines from Loureiro.” Avesso also gets a mention. Yields are good, which helps keep the cost of the wines down. Typically Loureiro will give 10 tons/ha and Alvarinho 7 tons/ha, with the others somewhere in between. Some years Loureiro can deliver 16 tons/ha without any quality problems.

In the east of the region lies the sub-region of Baião, the most inland and warmest part of Vinho Verde, just before you enter the Baixo Corgo of the Douro. Located in Santa Marinha do Zezere, the Quinta de Guimarães is home to a relatively new project, Cazas Novas. This brand is based on the grapes from this 25ha vineyard. Established in 2004, Cazas Novas is run by the owner, Carlos Coutinho, whose family have had the property for seven generations; winemaker Diogo Fonseca Lopes, who has worked closely with Vinho Verde legend Anselmo Mendes; and Vasco Magalhães, son of Sogrape’s Vasco Magalhães, who is the sales guy. The slightly warmer climate here helps make wines with a bit more richness, but this is still very much Vinho Verde, with a freshness and brightness, in part contributed by the decomposed granitic soils. Rather than being Alvarinho territory, this is where Avesso shines.

Also grown here, and doing well, are Arinto and Loureiro. These are wines without spritz, with a bit more presence in the mouth. “A lot of us are working in this direction of Vinho Verde with no carbon dioxide,” says Diogo Lopes. He’s keen on Avesso. “I like it mainly because of the mouthfeel; it is not just aromatic interest.”

RESURRECTION

Quinta do Covela is an interesting estate that’s situated on the border of the Minho and Douro. The previous owner, Nuno Araujo, went bust with a badly timed property development on the estate, so the bank auctioned it in 2009. At the time, current owners Tony Smith and Marcelo Lima bid for it and won, but in a strange twist, the bank made its own bid for Covela and acquired it, then went bust itself, being absorbed into a state-owned bank. Two years later this bank called Smith and Lima and asked if they were still interested.

So, when Tony Smith arrived here in 2011, Covela had been abandoned for two years. Because of this some replanting was necessary – half the existing vineyard was pulled out and portions were replanted and regrafted. Under the previous regime Covela’s wines had been 50:50 white and red. One of the changes Smith and Lima have made is to shift the balance more in favour of the whites, reducing the proportion of international varieties and focusing more on the Portuguese ones. Ultimately, the goal is for the estate to be 80% white, with Avesso the main grape. Covela’s intention is to make serious white Vinho Verde. “We have to know how to take the concept of Vinho Verde,” says Smith, “because this is what we should be promoting, but on the other hand we are different from the mass-produced Vinho Verde.”

COVELA REVOLUTION

Originally, Covela had been planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and international varieties by Joao Nicolau d’Almeida in the 1980s for Nuno Araujo. “At the time it was a revolution and it belongs to the DNA of Covela,” says Smith. “We have always been iconoclastic. It planted 25 varieties initially, did microvinifications, and then chose the varieties it wanted.”

Winemaking is in the hands of Rui Cunha. In the first year of the new regime, 2012, there was bad weather and hail, taking out half the Chardonnay, so suddenly there was more Avesso than it could use in the trademark Covela blend (which pairs Avesso with Chardonnay), so this single variety Avesso was made and sold out in just three months. In addition to making Avesso as a single variety, Smith and Lima have rented some Arinto vineyards and produce this as a single variety. On the right side of the river, more Avesso is grown, while on the left, more Arinto.

The Lima sub-district is where Loureiro seems to do best. It’s also home to one of the most interesting wine projects of Vinho Verde, the biodynamic Aphros. Owner Vasco Croft, a Lisbon architect, took a career change some years ago when he began this project, then called Afros, at his own family quinta. As well as working biodynamically and making some impressive still and sparkling Loureiros, Croft has also begun working with large amphorae that he purchased from the Alentejo, and makes these wines without electricity. Projects such as this are important for boosting interest in Vinho Verde at the high end.

This is a region in transition. “I envisage a day when the old 9% fizzy demi-sec style is a distant memory,” says Oakley. The only speed bump on the road seems to be one of perception. “The new wines are unlike Vinho Verde as the international market understands them,” he adds. “But change is all around us. Single varietal Vinho Verde is the future.”