Vinho Verde is one of my absolute favorite summer wines.

I cannot think of a more perfect beverage for the season. Here are just a few reasons I think it should be in everyone’s summer bottle rotation:

• It’s super refreshing.

• Most tickle your tongue with a hint of fizz.

• It pairs beautifully with fresh summer fare.

• It tends to be low in alcohol, which makes it perfect for sipping in the afternoon sun without gonking you out.

• It’s usually very easy on the wallet, so you can crack open bottles freely and keep the wine flowing.

Map courtesy of Wines of Portugal.

Vinho Verde is a wine region in northwestern corner of Portugal in the province of Minho. The name Vinho Verde means “green wine,” but it's a reference to the wine's youth, not its color, thanks to the fact that wines are bottled pretty quickly after harvest – within 3 to 6 months. The wines often have a characteristic hint of fizz – not so much to be considered full-on sparkling, but just enough that you can feel it. Originally, this fizz was the result of the wine being bottled so quickly after fermentation that there was still a bit of C02 left in the wine, but nowadays winemakers typically add a bit to the wine as it’s being bottled.

The other likely possible origin of the name is that it could be referring to the color of the region itself, as it is quite verdant indeed. (However, the youthfulness of the wine is the more consistently cited origin of the name Vinho Verde that I've seen.) It’s right on the Atlantic coast and is boarded by the River Minho to the north, on the country's border with Spain, and stretches past the River Douro to the south. It has a cool, maritime climate that is quite rainy, which results in a lush green landscape. 

Despite the beautiful, fertile look of the land, it can actually be tricky to grow grapes well here. Grape vines don't really like a lot of moisture – it can make them over-productive and causes a lot of problems like mold, mildew, rot, and other diseases. Vines in Vinho Verde are often trained upward on Pergola systems, which help guard against the problems all the moisture brings, by allowing the vines to catch the breezes. It also helps farmers make the most of their land, which tends toward small plots, by increasing the density of the vines. Alternatively, many modern vineyards, particularly those with bigger estates, will instead train their vines along wires that help the grapes ripen by soaking in as much sun as possible whenever it makes an appearance.

Here are a few more basics for getting to know the region:

• The region is best known for its white wines, however, they also make rosé and red wines, although they tend to be harder to find. Full-on sparkling wines are also permitted as of 1999. The region also makes brandy.
  

• Vinho Verde wines are typically blends. There are recommended grapes, as well as a wider set of permitted white and red grapes. Each grape brings a different aspect to the blend. For example, Alvarinho, which is highly prized brings minerality, finesse, and fragrance. Loureiro is known for being quite aromatic. The recommended grapes are as follows: 
• White: Alvarinho, Arinto, Avesso, Azal, Batoca, Loureiro, and Trajadura. Varietal Alvarinho wines are also made in the subregions Melgaço and Monção 
• Red: Amaral, Azal Tinto, Borraçal, Brancelho, Espadeiro, Padeiro, Pedral, Rabo de Ovelha and Vinhão
  

• The region is divided into nine subregions within the DOC of Vinho Verde, which are named after rivers or towns. They are: Monção, Melgaço, Lima, Basto, Cávado, Ave, Amarante, Baião, Sousa and Paiva. Different subregions have particular characteristics and might focus on different grapes depending on their particular climatic variations.

Greg and I spent a brief but wonderful few days in Portugal in 2013, along with one of my besties, Antonella. We didn’t make it to Vinho Verde, but we certainly drank some bottles. Here’s one bottle from Quinta da Aveleda with a seafood spread.

Scenes from a lunch in Lisbon.

 

While these wines are quite versatile, they are particularly wonderful with seafood. This trip to Portugal and Spain also showed us the possibilities of what good tinned fish can be, and we’ve sought out the good versions ever since. These can be particularly nice to have around during the summer when you don’t really feel like slaving away in front of a hot stove.

 

THE FOOD

We’ve recently made our way down to San Diego to see Greg’s parents and we decided to share an easy seafood spread with them combining one dish using tinned fish, and another involving very light cooking, with a line-up of Vinho Verde wines for a little comparative tasting. 


I took inspiration from Chef George Mendes’ My Portugal cookbook for the dishes. The first was a very easy tomato and onion salad with good tinned tuna and herbs. (Adapted below.) You could just as easily swap in another favorite tinned fish option. The next dish involved clams simply cooked in a mixture of garlic, cilantro, and Vinho Verde. (How perfect is that?!) I found it reprinted here. The only change I made was to add shallots in alon. Altogether, everything took these dishes took less than an hour to put together. 

THE WINES

We opened three bottles to compare. We enjoyed all three, all were very refreshing, and they all went very well with the food. However, we definitely had a favorite – and on this occasion, we were all in agreement! The best part is that the prices for these wines topped out at about $13, so it’s pretty hard to go wrong. 

Quinta de Raza ‘Raza’ Vinho Verde 2019

Aveleda Fonte Vinho Verde 2019

This is one of the more easily available and reliable brands around. They’re actually the biggest exporter of Vinho Verde in Portugal. The company has been owned by the Guedes family for 5 generations, since its founding in 1870. Today, the company is run by António Azevedo Guedes and Martim Guedes. In addition to Vinho Verde, the company also produces wines in the Douro and Bairrada.

This was the stoniest of the three wines. It showed white flowers on the nose, along with notes of green apple and lime. All notes continued on the palate, along with hints of herbs on the finish. It was light and crisp and worked like a squeeze of lemon with the food.

Blend: Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura and Aza
Alc: 9.5%
Soils: Granite and sand.
Farming: Sustainable.
Average Price: $9 (Can’t quite recall where I bought this one.)
Additional details here. 

Broadbent Vinho Verde NV

 

For a dish like this it really pays to use a really good quality tinned fish. On this occasion, I used this version from Olasagasti, which I admit is a little pricey. Typically, I would probably use something along the lines of this one by Tonnino.

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares Foods from Around the World Paired with Pink Wines from Portugal. 
• Liz of What’s In That Bottle? is thrilled with Va Va Va Vinho Verde: the Portuguese White That Wows. 
• Robin of Crushed Grape Chronicles answers What is Vinho Verde? 5 things I didn’t know about this perfect summer wine. 
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm savors Tomato Poached Cod with Vinho Verde Wine. 
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass realizes that Distinctively ‘Laurel' Vinho Verde Delivers with Seafood and Salad. 
• Payal at Keep the Peas is pairing Sem Igual Vinho Verde with Peixe Caldine. 
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator says Vinho Verde: A Green Wine That’s White from Portugal Paired with Tuna, Tomato, Basil, Orzo.
• Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog is Pairing Maria Papoila Vinho Verde with Summer Pizza. 
• Susannah at Avvinare explains how Vinho Verde Meets Homemade Sushi. 
• Terri at Our Good Life savors Scallops, Smashed Peas and a Great Vinho Verde. 
• Pinny at Chinese Food and Wine Pairing achieves A Successful Hunt Down of a Red Vinhao Escolha from Vinho Verde DOC. 
• Cindy at Grape Experiences has been reminiscing upon last fall’s work trip where she spent A Morning Visit to Quinta da Aveleda in Vinho Verde.

• Wines of Portugal
• Vinho Verde 
• Wine-searcher.com 
• The Oxford Companion via Jancisrobinson.com 
• Guildsomm.com 
• VinePair: 7 Things You Need To Know About Vinho Verde 
•  Winefolly.com: 101 Guide To Vinho Verde Wine from Portugal

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Once a month I get together with other wine geeks as part of a bottle share–we pick a theme for the month and everyone brings a bottle on the theme to taste and discuss. It’s a great way to keep learning and it’s always a lot of fun. For a recent meeting we decided to tackle the idea of “Bargain Burgundy,” to find out if such a thing even exists. We actually turned up quite a few gems, but Chablis particularly stood out as an area where one can still find bang for the buck in a region that generally tends to be pretty pricey.

Chablis stands apart from the rest of Burgundy both in terms of geography and style. It’s further north than the rest of Burgundy’s wine growing areas and their winemaking style tends to reflect the more austere conditions. It gets pretty steely with lots of crisp, lip-puckering citrus notes and tons of minerality.

My answer to those who don’t like Chardonnay for the oak and butter notes it’s often associated with is usually, ‘But have you tried Chablis?”

On the evening of this bottle share, the 2014 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Sainte Claire especially grabbed my attention. We happened to have two bottles from Jean-Marc Brocard in the lineup–the Saint Claire that retails in the low $20’s range, as well as a pricier Premier Cru cuvée. The Premier Cru showed more complexity, as might be expected, but I was really charmed by the Saint Claire and even more impressed by the degree of complexity it delivered at such a reasonable price point.

THE PAIRING

I soon got my hands on another bottle – this time 2015 – to cook to. I sat down with Greg (my husband and the photographer for these pics) to taste the wine and plan our dinner. The wine had bright lemon notes, gold and green apples, a hint of cream, light herbs, and salty sea minerals. It had a round mouthfeel with a sense of richness, but with a clean, chalky finish.

I knew I wanted seafood with this wine, which is pretty classic for Chablis. (Oysters and Chablis are a famous pairing duo.) However, that richness made us crave something a little more opulent than a simple, clean seafood dish. There was a hint of Parmesan rind on the palate that was leading us to want to add some cheese to the mix. Greg thought back to the famous clam apizzas we had on a trip to New Haven and gave us the inspiration for this dish.

A little luxuriousness seemed in order, but I also wanted to keep the prep simple. The clams are cooked in a pretty classic style, with lots of lemon and some shallots and garlic, and then they’re chopped up to top the pizza.  I know handling clams can initially seem a little intimidating, but they're actually pretty easy to work with. If you've never cleaned clams, the.kitchn.com has a good guide to lead you through it. (Next time I think I’ll make a double-batch and have half with bread or pasta the first night, and save the leftovers to make this pizza the next night.)

To save time, I made use of store-bought pizza dough–I was really happy with Whole Food’s version. That said, if you have a favorite recipe, certainly feel free to use it. I gave the dough a short blast in the oven on its own to crisp it up and help it stand up to all the liquid in the rest of the ingredients.

Burrata’s silky creaminess added that luxurious note I was looking for. Buffalo mozzarella would definitely work here as well, and even standard mozzarella will do in a pinch. Given the herbal notes in the wine, I thought there was room for a little something green as well, so I added some marinated artichokes and finished it off with some parsley and a couple handfuls of arugula just before serving.

We have been dreaming of this pizza since that night. It absolutely sung with the wine and vice versa. As we’d hoped, the wine held up to the creamy cheese really well. The minerality in the wine was reflected in the food and the citrus in both really came out and kept everything refreshing.