Do you believe these things about Vinho Verdes? 🤓
#1: All Vinho Verde is Young
While this is true in a lot of cases - traditional Vinho Verdes are meant to be drunk young - however, it is a misconception that ALL Vinho Verdes have to.
#2: Vinho Verde is Poor Quality Wine
Like a lot of wine regions, each household grows vines & produce their own family-owned wine. Some good, some not so good.
Unfortunately, a lot of Portuguese people have experienced this wine type growing up & the stigma has stuck, in Portugal & abroad
#3: Vinho Verde is a Sweet Wine
Vinho Verde wines are dry. Period. Unfortunately, a lot of mass-produced Vinho Verde wines made for the international market have sugar added to them, often so they can use unripe grapes to meet their demand & also as they believe that sweeter wines is what that market wants
#4: Vinho Verde is...Green?
The direct translation of Vinho Verde is ‘green wine’. However, the wine is not green in color. The name refers to the region & the wines of the region but shouldn’t really be directly translated. A better translation would be ‘green, lush wine-growing region’.
#5: Vinho Verde is Low Alcohol Wine
Traditionally, this was the case. Vinho Verde wines were made from vines grown on ramadas (pergolas) & that meant that the vines were extremely long, with multiple branches, providing less nutrients to the grapes.
The grapes also grew down, under the cover of the vines & received little sun. Less sun, meant less sugar, & therefore less alcohol. Nowadays, the vines are grown in modern line systems, producing wines with fairly high alcohol
