Map of Wine Regions of Portugal

Though Portugal has a long history of wine making and some of its wines are among the greatest in the world, I have the feeling that the Portuguese wine sector has progressed less in recent years than its Spanish counterpart. While the Spanish wine-making industry has made immense strides in the last two decades (and is still moving forward), I do not have the impression that the same has happened with Portuguese wine making. Now, I could well be wrong here, indeed, I must confess that I am much less familiar with Portuguese wines than with Spanish ones, so I really would appreciate any input and feedback you may care to provide.

DOCs and Other Control Boards. Like other European wine-producing countries, Portugal has a system of marketing and quality control boards, most corresponding to Denominações de Origem, though there are other labels, generally of slightly lower quality. Wineries may choose to sell their products under these Denominações de Origem or not, so the lack of a DO or DOC name on a wine bottle does not necessarily indicate an inferior product, but its presence is usually an indication of a certain minimum quality. Names like Port or Madeira have centuries of noble history of wine making, while other DOs are newer or at least newly constituted as such, which does not make them less interesting.

The Douro, Oporto and the North. As in Spain, the most remarkable Portuguese wine is made in the north of the country and, as in Spain, the Douro is Portugal's great wine river. So let's begin with the best: Port wine is made from the grapes grown in the vineyards in the upper reaches of the Douro as it flows into Portugal from Spain (where it is the Duero). Port is a distinctive, fortified wine, made in a number of styles - Tawny, Ruby, White, Colheita, Garrafeira, and Reserve. Port wine used to be transported by boat - the famous rabelos which you will still see when you visit Oporto - downstream to Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Oporto. Unfortunately, the Douro is not continuously navigable any more - there are dams in the way - and the rabelos have been replaced by tanker lorries. More conventional wine (good wine, of course) is made in the same region: in fact, though DOCs Port and Douro are different on the wine bottle label and quite different to drink, they are made in the same place - even by the same wineries - and controlled by the same regulatory board.

In the very north of Portugal near or next to the Spanish border are two more DOCs of interest. In the north-east, I know Trás-os-Montes is a great place to visit, but I am afraid I do not have much to say about it as a wine region. West of there, in contrast, the wine made in the Vinho Verde region in the Minho, however, is a pleasure to discover. Vinhos Verdes are made from grapes with a low sugar content, so aging is not required to finish them. They are, therefore, necessarily young wines (there are exceptions), relatively low in alcohol, and are so slightly sparkling that calling them petillant seems like an exaggeration. Most Vinhos Verdes are white, though reds and rosés are made, and are eminently sociable brews, perfect for sharing with friends.

Centro. South of the Douro and inland, the mountainous Beira Alta region includes a number of DOCs. Távora-Varosa is the most northerly of them and is, in fact, so close to the Port/Douro region that I suspect it must share characteristics with it. South-west of there is Lafões, an IPR rather than DOC (none the worse for that), while east of Lafões and south of Távora-Varos, DOC Dão is one of the most fashionable names in Portuguese wine, its products winning all kinds of prizes and the barely stinted praise of wine critics - fortunately, you are only likely to notice the effect of this on the prices of Dão wine in comparison to other Portuguese wine. South-east of Dão, north and south of Guarda, is the Transmontana region with its harsh climate - freezing winters and baking summers, like Old Castile in Spain. This corresponds to DOC Beira Interior, where (I believe) relatively light red, white and rosé wines are made.

West of Guarda, just inland from Aveiro, is a large coastal plain - this is DOC Bairrada, one of the most important quality wine-producing regions of Portugal. White and rosé wine is made, but the typical wine of Bairrada is a smooth, robust red wine, and if you visit the area, the done thing is to drink it while eating leitao assado a Bairrada, roast suckling-pig.

Extremadura, Ribatejo and the Lisbon Area. There is a kind of wine-making vacuum south of Beiras. This ends at Encostas de Aire, around the historic town of Batalha. The historic region of Extremadura spreads south from here, and includes a number of DOCs: Óbidos, Lourinhã, Torres Vedras, Alenquer and Arruda.

Inland from Extramadura is the Ribatejo region, crossed by the Tagus (as its name says), one of the most productive agricultural regions of Portugal. Its wines are high quality and phenomenal value for money.

Around Lisbon, Carcavelos, Bucelas and Colares are three DOCs which are quite different in nature, in spite of their proximity.

South-east of Lisbon, Setúbal and the Setúbal Peninsula produce idiosyncratic wines, the most famous of which is the dessert wine Moscatel de Setúbal. DO Palmela occupies the north-east of the peninsula (its wines are said to be terrific value for money, I have little first-hand experience) and wine is also made under the Regional Wine label Terras do Sado - theoretically, Vinhos Regionais like this are more generic and less strictly controlled than Denominações de Origem, but Terras do Sado seems to be something of an exception.

Alentejo. The huge agricultural region of Alentejo is also a DOC which, like La Mancha in Spain (which it resembles), tends not to produce wines much better than ordinary. It is so big, however, that there are many exceptions and it would not be fair to dismiss the region out of hand.

Algarve. In the Algarve, wine making nearly ceased altogether as tourism took over land use from agriculture. There is something of a revival of interest nowadays (and, more importantly, investment), and it now has four DOCs: Lagos, Portimão, and Lagoa in the west and Tavira in the east (most of its wine is sold as Vinho Regional do Algarve, however).

Portuguese Islands. The Azores and Madeira. Out in the middle of the Atlantic at a less-than-southerly latitude the Portuguese Azores islands are somewhat improbable wine-making areas, but vines have been grown there since they were settled in the 15th and 16th centuries. Light, dry white wines are made in Terceira (Biscoitos), but the best Azores wines are the traditional, fortified wines of Pico and Graciosa.

Madeira is one of most famous wine names in the world. Madeira is a fortified wine (fortification is a method of conservation, remember, especially for wine which is going to be transported by sea). Madeira wine, particularly the now-rare Malmsey variety, is well known since at least the time of Shakespeare, who included a story related with it in his Richard III. According to this, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, condemned for treason, was executed (at his own choice in the Shakespearean version) by drowining in a butt of Madeira Malmsey. It was thought for centuries that this was just a kind of urban legend or even a joke (a laddish, backslapping kind of joke, you know, "That's the way to go"), but Wikipedia points out that a butt contains more than enough liquid to drown a man and that Clarence's exhumed body showed no signs of beheading, the more conventional execution procedure for aristocrats of the time.

This map of Portugal comes courtesy of those nice young people over at Google, bless their little cotton socks. It will centre where you double click, you can pan over it using the arrows (or dragging the rectangle in the overview map in the corner), and you can zoom in and out using the '+' and '-' buttons. Neat, ain't it? I have pre-selected the "Hybrid" view, just because I happen to like the look of it — if you are looking for a road map or a street map, just click "Map" (or "Mapa" or whatever it says in your language). Or select the "Satellite" view to remove the place names and other map elements.

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