Portuguese Wine Tours

Best Wine Tasting & Tours in Portugal
In Portugal, winemaking dates back to the Roman era. Known then as Lusitania, the country served as an important source of table wine for the entire Roman Empire.

From north to south, Portugal boast many diverse wine growing regions and delimited zones. The country’s wine regions benefit from both Mediterranean and Atlantic climatic influences, even though Portugal has no direct access to the Mediterranean Sea.

As with neighboring Spain as well as France and Italy, Portugal is justly proud of its Old World wine traditions, but is also at the forefront of innovation and experimentation like its European neighbors. New approaches to winemaking—from planting international grape varieties to advances in modern vinification practices—are now the watchwords among Portuguese winemakers and domain owners.

However, one native grape—Tempranillo called Tinto Roriz in the north and Aragonez in the south, is the dominant red grape variety in Portugal. Even so, winemakers are forging ahead and utilizing many indigenous varietals such as Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, Periquita, Tinta Cão in new bottlings of table wines.

Portugal produces four types of wine: red table wines, grown chiefly in the south and central parts of the country; the fortified wines, Madeira and Port; and very dry whites, grown in the far north, the home of Vinho Verde.

Of these, Port is Portugal’s greatest calling card in the world. Fortified from a selection of grape varieties grown on the steep terraces of the Douro River, Port is supremely age-worthy, gaining complexity over the years and decades. Younger Port wines, Port wines aged in wood, and white Ports are also increasingly sought after, either as tempting aperitifs or after dinner drinks.