The Setúbal Peninsula is located in the southern part of the country, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is highly regarded for its quality and unique characteristics
The Atlantic influence in the Setúbal Peninsula has a profound impact on the climate, the diversity of terroirs, with hills reaching up to 500 meters, and the character of the wines produced in the region. The Setúbal Peninsula enjoys a subtropical and Mediterranean mixed climate, influenced by the proximity of the sea and hills.
It is important to mention that Portugal has more than 250 native grape varieties. In the Setúbal Peninsula, the most distinctive grapes are: Castelão, Moscatel de Setúbal, Moscatel Roxo, and Fernão Pires.
There are two denominations of origin (DO) and one geographical indication in the Setúbal Peninsula, as follows: 1. Geographical Indication (G.I.) 'Regional Wine of Setúbal,' which encompasses the entire district of Setúbal. 2. DO Setúbal covers a wide area in the Setúbal Peninsula, including both the Setúbal and Sesimbra municipalities. It is known for the production of various types of wine, including the renowned Moscatel de Setúbal sweet wine and Setúbal Red wines. 3. DO Palmela is a designation for wine production in the Palmela region of the Setúbal Peninsula. Palmela is known for its unique wine-producing heritage and is part of the larger Setúbal Peninsula.
As mentioned above, the combination of the maritime climate, specific grape varieties, and traditional winemaking techniques contributes to the production of high-quality wines with a distinct regional identity. VINIFY was delighted to taste such wonderful wines.
]]>We have probably all heard that you drink red wine with red meat, white with fish. The job of the Sommelier is understanding the acidity, sweetness and intensity of flavour in the food and deciding whether the wine should complement or contrast the food for that ultimate culinary delight.
If you choose fine dining, then your restaurant of choice may employ a sommelier, someone who is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, to help with the selection of wine that enhance your choice of food. Like most professions, the profession of Sommelier has various associations providing education and certification of qualification.
Why not order a mixed case and experiment with pairing different wines to foods, to enhance your culinary experience at home. At vinify, we have a wide range of red, white and rosé and multiple mixed cases to meet every need.
]]>The wines – rich, voluptuous reds and elegantly balanced whites from local grape varietals – are getting better and better as attested over the years by endless global wine awards.
The winemakers have joined tradition, terroir and centuries of know-how with cutting-edge technology, turning the wineries in top touristic destinations and the wines themselves into masterpieces!
Vinify sources the wine directly and exclusively from handpicked winemakers to obtain the best quality and to reduce the end price to our customers.
The team at Vinify, get detailed information from the Winemakers, who are all independent and Family own business, who share with us their passion, decades of know-how and detailed information on the whole wine making process such as:
grape selection
terroir
sustainability
Vinification
wine maturing process
storage requirements
serving suggestions
With all of this involvement it was very easy to choose our trading name “Vinify” which simply means “convert grape juice into wine”.
Pias is a small Village in the heart of Alentejo, full of history and tradition that goes back to the Roman times.
Pias belongs to the municipally of Serpa, but in terms of wine, belongs to one of Alentejo’ s warmest wine regions – Moura. The quality of wine of this region is exceptional, producing bold, full body and very smooth vintages full of character and great partners to meat dishes and cheese.
The white wine is fruity, balanced with good minerality and acidity. The white wines and rose wine can be enjoyed on its own but are also great partners to any fish, pasta, poultry or any type of seafood dishes.
The wine from Pias is much appreciated in Portugal and mostly consumed by the Portuguese themselves, well….until now!
As a curiosity, Pias is the home town of one of the founding Partners of Vinify, who personally know the winemakers so plenty of inside info!
Reguengos de Monsaraz – is the second largest city in the district of Évora (the largest city in the suburban area of Évora), constituting one of the four municipalities that make up the suburban area of Évora, which are Arraiolos, Montemor-o-Novo, Reguengos de Monsaraz and Viana of the Alentejo.
Reguengos de Monsaraz was the European Wine Capital in 2015. The winemakers from this region have access to the humidity and abundance of water provided by the largest artificial lake in Southern Europe – The Alqueva.
The wines from this region are also exceptional. The reds are not as full bodied as the reds produced in the Pias region. They are fruitier with slightly less alcohol content.
This is a region of experiments and uniqueness as for example the Underwater wine produced by one of our winemakers that after barrel maturation it was submerged in the calm water of the Alqueva lake, 30 meters deep, where it rested for a further 8 months, creating a truly unique wine!
When it comes to the white wines, what can I say, they are simply outstanding!
Alentejo, is often linked to red wines which are bold and fully bodied. Well, let’s change the paradigm – the White wines and also Rose wines have been gaining awards after awards in global wine contests.
In fact, in 2017 the best white wine in the world was from Alentejo and as you can imagine we simply had to have it on our wine selection!
Stay safe and positive and remember the beautiful world that we have full of amazing produce and locations, which I am hoping that, very soon to be able to get out there and live it again!
They are masters in unlocking the potential of a country full of diversity. Vines are planted in all types of soils, from sand to shale, and exposed to diverse microclimates, from the influence of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the influence of Continental Europe.
Portugal also welcomed to its land many foreign grapes such as Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz to marry to its native grapes. The result is an exciting range of wines that is as diverse as it is unique.
Challenge your senses and enjoy the unique!
This is one of the rare grape varieties to be prized on both sides of the border. Tempranillo to the Spanish, the Portuguese call it by two different names depending on the region: Aragonês and Tinta Roriz. It can make rich, lively red wines that combine elegance and robustness, copious berry fruit and spicy flavour. The vines are very vigorous and productive and adapt well to different climates and soils, although it prefers hot, dry climates on sandy or clay-limestone soils. It tends to be blended with other varieties, typically Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, and also with Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet in the Alentejo.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Invisivel
Conde D’Ervideira Espumante Reserva Rose
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
Perhaps the most Portuguese amongst foreign grapes, Alicante Bouschet produces intense, deeply colored wines. It is native of France but found it’s home true in Alentejo where it was planted in the late 1800’s. Commonly mixed with other grapes, Alicante adds volume, structure and resistance to the test of time.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
This is a Dão grape by origin, but it has spread successfully southwards into the Alentejo, Ribatejo/Tejo and Palmela regions because of its ability to retain good acidity even in hot climates. The wines are rich in colour with firm but ripe tannins and a good balance of tannins, alcohol, acidity and attractive, berry fruit, reminiscent in particular of blackberries and ripe strawberries.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Espumante Reserva Rose
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
The Touriga Franca makes richly-coloured, dense yet elegant wines with copious blackberry fruit and floral notes and firm but velvety tannins that contribute to the ageing potential of blends – it is often blended with Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional. Apart from the quality of its wines, it is popular in the vineyard for its resistance to pests and diseases and its reliably good crops of healthy grapes.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
As Pias
Igreja Velha DOC Reserva
Rich in colour, with good acidity and rarely an excess of alcohol, Trincadeira (as it’s known in the Alentejo) or Tinta Amarela (if you are speaking to a Douro producer) makes wines of serious quality when ripe. Properly ripened, it has vibrant raspberry fruit tempered by herby, peppery, spicy, floral complexity, and it can age well. It does better in hot, dry places, and is therefore particularly at home in the Alentejo and Ribatejo/Tejo areas and in the regions, it really shines!
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection (red)
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Monte da Capela DOC Reserva
S de Sol
Few would dispute that the Touriga Nacional is Portugal’s finest red grape variety, deserving a place right up at the top of the world league of grapes, along with the likes of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo.
Though Northern in origin, it has spread right across the country – you will find it down south in the Algarve and the Alentejo, out west in the Ribatejo/Tejo and Setúbal regions, successfully competing with the local Baga grape in Bairrada, and way out mid-Atlantic in the Azores. Touriga Nacional is a thick-skinned grape, and those skins are rich in colour and tannins, giving excellent structure and ageing capacity. But it also has wonderful, intense flavours, at the same time floral and fruity – ripe blackcurrants, raspberries – with complex hints also of herbs and liquorice. Yields are never high. The Dão and Douro regions both claim to be the origin of this fine grape, and the rest of the winemaking world is beginning to wake up to its quality.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Encostas do Enxoé
Monte da Capela – Grande Reserva 2016 Limited Edition
Villa Pias
This grape variety is the most well-known in the world. It has been welcomed to Alentejo to blend with Portuguese grape varieties such as Trincadeira, Aragonez and Alfrocheiro and in its warm climate it performs extremely well. The wines are concentrated with a good tannin structure and age very well. It has notes of cherries, blackberries, dark spices and cedar wood.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Adega de Pias Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
This is one of those Portuguese grapes that you find mostly in mixed old vineyards in the Alentejo. Its wines are intensely coloured, with good acidity and pleasant aromas of ripe fruit with vegetative notes. It requires a really hot climate to ripen properly and therefore shines in Alentejo!
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Conde D’Ervideira Water Wine
Petit Verdot is a red grape that was traditionally reserved as a minor blending grape in the world famous Bordeaux wine blend. However, the grape has spread to warmer climates as it performs a lot better.
In the warm plains of Alentejo, Petit Verdot can make intensely bold, fruity-yet-floral with hints of black cherries, plums, violets lilac and sage with also some licorice notes.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Villa Pias
Once again, this is a grape variety that adapted very well in Portugal, especially in the Alentejo region due to the poor soil and warm climate.
It provides powerful yet soft wines with notes of spices, mint and blackberries. Due to its concentrated flavours and high tannin content the wines using these grapes age very well and are therefore an excellent cellar addition.
Wines where you will find these grapes:-
Monte da Capela – Grande Reserva 2016 Limited Edition
Alentejo is often associated with red wine, however, it has been producing for years, amazing white wines. As a curiosity, in 2017 the best white wine in the world was from Alentejo!
Here are some white wine grapes used by our winemakers in the Alentejo region.
Peach, Lemon, passion fruit, lynches, orange zest, jasmine
Alvarinho is linked to the famous Vinho Verde which is produced in the most Northen region of Portugal. It was one of the first Portuguese grape varieties to be bottled as a single variety, but can be also used as a blend to complement southern Portuguese grapes.
Its full-bodied, subtly fragrant white wines are easy to recognise, their complex but delicate aromas reminiscent of peach, lemon, passion fruit, lychee, orange zest, jasmin, orange blossom and lemon balm. The wines are delicious young, but they can also age well, often for ten years or more.
Tasting notes: Papaya, pineapple, Tangerine peal
This is one of the most prized varieties of the Alentejo, Well suited to the warm and sunny climate on the great plains of the Alentejo, it is reliable and productive, consistent in its ripening. It produces firm, full-bodied, well-structured wines. Made as a single variety, it has lively aromas, with hints of ripe tropical fruits, tangerine peel and something mineral, along with good structure and body. If picked early, it gives wines with vibrant aroma and crisp acidity. Left to ripen longer, it can reach high levels of alcohol, making it a good candidate for barrel maturation. It blends often with Roupeiro, Arinto and Verdelho which contribute refreshing acidity.
Tasting notes: Green apples, Lemon, Lime
This is a versatile grape, grown in most of Portugal’s wine regions. It makes vibrant wines with lively, refreshing acidity, often with a mineral quality, along with gentle flavours reminiscent of apple, lime and lemon. Arinto-based wines can keep well but are also delicious young. Because it keeps its acidity even in hot climates, Arinto is often added to other lower-acid white grapes to improve blends – especially in the hot Alentejo region.
Lemon, papaya, mango
Verdelho came to fame on Portugal’s islands – Madeira and the Azores- as a base wine for fortified wines. From there it made its way to Australia, where it makes rich, aromatic dry whites. The base wines have high acidity but in the warm Alentejo climate it produces very interesting tropical notes of mango and Papaya coupled with a balanced lemony acidity.
Floral
This north-eastern grape survives for the most part scattered here and there in the old mixed white vineyards of the Douro. Traditionally, Viosinho has been an unpopular variety with growers because of its very low yields. It’s only recently that winemakers have realised what a treasure it is, as a component both in port and in unfortified Douro white blends. It makes full-bodied but fresh, fragrant, well-balanced wines, performing best in hot, sunny climates bringing its floral notes to live!
Orange, Lemon, Peach, Melon, bay leaves
This land-locked grape grows in a long north-south strip over by the border with Spain. It has various alternative regional names. Síria is the name used in the Beiras, but it is best known by its southern Alentejo name, Roupeiro – this is the most-planted white grape in the Alentejo. When youth it is exuberantly aromatic, citrus and floral, with hints of peach and melon.
White Wines and the Grapes they are made from
As Pias | Arinto |
Villa Pias | Antao Vaz, Arinto, Verdelho |
Conde D’Ervideira – Winter White Wine | Antao Vaz, Viosinho |
Conde D’Ervideira – Invisivel | Aragonez |
Conde D’Ervideira Reserva | Antao Vaz |
S De Sol | Antao Vaz, Roupeiro, Perrum |
Monte Da Capela Premium | Antao Vaz, Arinto |
Vinha D’Ervideira Selected Harvest | Antao Vaz, Arinto, Verdelho, Alvarinho |
Monte Da Capela Grande Reserva | Antao Vaz, Arinto, Verdelho |
Conde D’Ervideira Private Selection | Antao Vaz, Arinto |
Encostas Do Enxoe | Antao Vaz, Arinto, Verdelho |
Vinha D’Ervindeira Vindima Tardia | Antao Vaz |
Cork comes from the Quercus Suber tree, an evergreen oak which is mostly found primarily in Portugal and also in other Mediterranean countries. The cork is the bark of the Quercus Suber tree, a picture of the cross-section is attached. It has ideal characteristics because it is waterproof and can be compressed when being placed into the bottle and will after that return to its standard size, creating that all-important watertight seal
]]>If you are interested in finding out more about Vinify then why not check out the Podcast.
This Podcast is available on the following platforms:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/OQ5skPdc8mo
iTunes: https://apple.co/2UJYIvo
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2UMzNau
Google: https://bit.ly/33TBhUQ
Buzzsprout: https://bit.ly/39rpk9I
]]>Depending on my mood, I will probably be spending hours (Covid-19 permitting) in a wine shop or browsing the supermarket aisles to try and find a “nice looking” label or a cracking promotion.
Let’s not mistake ourselves - buying wine can be daunting. Normally the objective is to find a well-known brand or something a bit more exclusive to take to that dinner party at your posh friend’s house!
As you are about to arrive to that dinner party you think to yourself: “Right, I really cannot go wrong with this nice looking bottle of Rioja that cost me a fortune! “ ……and as you walk through the door, you start smelling a delicate aroma of shellfish bisque and lay your eyes on a very large seafood plateau!
The moral of the story is, without being too intrusive, try and find out what is on the menu J !
The general rules are:
These are generally the rules. However, as you develop your wine knowledge, you can start mixing as bit and finding the perfect wine & food pairing.
Also try not to leave it to the last minute to rush to a shop to buy that special wine. Plan in advance. You can either go to your wine shop every so often or order it on-line to have a selection that are not only day-to-day wines but also a few special ones and exclusive ones and have them ready for that special moment.
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