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What is Vinho Verde? 5 things I didn’t know about this perfect summer wine #WinePW

Aug 7, 2020

I thought I knew Vinho Verde. I was excited when I saw the group at Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) were going to be focusing on this wine for August.

I picked up 2 bottles, a white and a rosé and started to plan my pairings. Then I read the invitation post from Cindy at Grape Experiences which was full of so much great information!

My plan is to share with you some of the things I learned about this region and the wide variety of wines they make. Then we will return to those wines that are most easily available and talk about some great pairings.

#1 VEE-noh VAIR-day? Nope, I’ve been pronouncing it wrong.

I have been pronouncing Vinho Verde wrong for ages. See, this is a Portuguese wine, not a Spanish wine. I had been pronouncing it “VEE-noh VAIR-day”. In Portuguese, this wine is pronounced “VEE-gnoh VAIRD”. You add that little bit of a “g” in there and there is no pronunciation of the “e” on the end. So now I will pronounce it correctly, and I hope you will join me in that.

#2 Vinho Verde is NOT A WINE it is a REGION

I spoke of Vinho Verde as a wine. Imagine my surprise, when upon researching I discovered that Vinho Verde is a DOC. It is not a wine, it is a region, and this region, while it does produce those spritzy summer wines that we love, also produces much more, but they can be more difficult to find.

#3 There is more than just spritzy white wine coming out of the Vinho Verde DOC

While the region is known for the spritzy white wines that we adore in summer and the rosé versions that you have probably seen also, there is more. They produce still wines that have that mineral quality and great acidity without any bubbles. You will find Red Vinho Verde that can sometimes have a bright pink foam that is a great food wine. There is also Sparkling Vinho Verde which, as its name indicates, is beyond spritzy and is actually sparkling. Lastly, you can find Brandy of Vinho Verde.

#4 You can track the history of your wine

Vinho Verde Bottle History search form on the Vinho Verde site — Vinho Verde Seal of Guarantee

Yes! Right from the Vinho Verde label on the bottle. Each Vinho Verde bottle with a guarantee label has a number. You can insert that number on the Vinho Verde Bottle History page and find out the history of your bottle of wine.

#5 The spritz was a happy accident

These wines, freshly fermented were bottled and shipped out. Sometimes, they continued to ferment in the bottle giving it that spritz. That wasn’t on purpose. But…consumers loved it, so now, rather than hope that it does a little extra fermenting in the bottle, wineries producing this style, control this by adding a little CO2 to the finished wine when it’s bottled.

There is so much more!

I really need to dig further into this region. There is so much more to learn. You can find loads of information at the Vinho Verde site. Of course, below, you will find all the pieces written by my fellow wine writers in the Wine Pairing Weekend Group who are bound to have all sorts of additional information on the region. They are a brilliant bunch of people and I can’t wait to read their pieces and learn more myself.

But for now…I have two bottles that are dying to be opened, and I promised you a pairing right?

Caiu a Noite

So I tried to look up information on this wine to no avail. The website listed on the back label, would not come up. The distributor listed on the bottle evidently no longer carries this wine in its portfolio. The information I found online was pretty vague, with no details on the varieties used. We know the white grapes typically used are loureiro, trajadur, avesso, alvarinho, arinto, and azal.

The 2010 evidently was a blend of loureiro, trajadura, and arioto at least the one available in 2013, (thanks to Dezel Quillen of My Vine Spot for that tidbit). It did have that Vinho Verde Guarantee label so I tried tracking my bottle. It came up with another winery. So I went back to do a Brand Search which told me that the Producer was Quinta Lixa – Soc Agricola LDA. I went back to check the bottle history again and it came up with this same winery. This is listed as a Vinho Verde Branco. My assumption is that the wine was private labeled for the distributor? (If anybody out there has more info I would love it!) It is a stunning label, that looked great with my couch as a backdrop!

This was a Total Wine pickup for $8.99 and there was no vintage listed on the bottle. If the information is correct with the guarantee label, then the wine was bottled on 12/17/19.

Let’s talk about what’s inside the bottle. The wine poured spritzy and was clear and a light lemon color. It smelled first of minerals, a sea spray aroma, with a bit of grapefruit pith and lime. Floral notes drifted around in the background, white flowers, perhaps orange blossom. I did get a bit of something like lanoline mixed in, something like what I get on the nose of a Semillon. It was dry, medium-bodied, high acid, with pronounced flavors of Grapefruit, lime zest, unripe peach, citrus and lime with a lengthy finish. I always feel a bit like I’m drinking grown-up Fresca when I have a Vinho Verde. The alcohol on this is low at 9.5% abv, and while it might seem like the perfect quaffer, I found it tart enough that I needed to sip it rather than swig it.

Espiral Vinho Rosé

If you pop into Trader Joe’s then you probably know this wine. The Espiral line is a great inexpensive go-to for a summer party wine. This one does not have a Vinho Verde guarantee label. Finding details and information? Again, pretty tough. It’s a $5.99 bottle, so I suppose I can’t complain. The boys at “About Beverages” on YouTube tried back in 2019. They claim it is a blend of vinhao, azal, and borraçal. (I’d love to know how they tracked down that info!).

Okay, into the bottle. It’s fizzy again, but the majority of bubbles dissipate quickly. It is a rich deep rose color. It sits a little higher in alcohol than the other at 10%. This wine is not complex, but due to the skin contact (richer color), it feels fuller in flavor.

Pairing Wines from Vinho Verde with food

As I mentioned, our wines were simple. We paired them with Fish Tacos. These were simple flour tortillas, with baked tilapia that was coated in crushed tortilla chips and spices. We added an Asian style cabbage slaw with a dressing of white vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, olive oil, sesame oil, salt, pepper, lime zest, and sesame seeds. We finished it off with a salsa of corn and mango. (I cheated here, this was diced frozen mango and Corn & Chili Salsa, both of which I picked up at Trader Joe’s).

We also paired with a tomato poached cod dish, inspired by Sarah at The Lush Life, I deviated from her recipe to make do with what was in the pantry. This is really simple. I used a can of crushed tomatoes, plus some pre-made sauce and then added herbs and spices. Once this is warm, toss in the cod. I used smaller pieces of cod and let it cook until the fish is done. I also fried up some potatoes with rosemary and made a fresh salad to finish the meal.

Fish Taco to pair with asian slaw & mango corn salsa
Tomato poached cod
Fried potatoes with rosemary
Vinho Verde pairing of tomato poach cod, rosemary potatoes and salad

#WinePW – the Wine Pairing Weekend Crew

Led this month by Cindy of Grape Experiences and Liz Barrett of What’s In That Bottle? Do you love Vinho Verde? Or do you want to learn more about it? Join us on Saturday, August 8th (wait…is it really August already?) at 11 am Eastern Time or 8 am Pacific time. Just pop on to Twitter and follow #WinePW.

In the meantime, you can dive into these wonderful articles below. I am learning so much about this region. There are so many wines of this region I have yet to explore, I’m excited to read what everyone else found.

Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam shares Foods from Around the World Paired with Pink Wines from Portugal
Liz Barrett of What’s In That Bottle? is thrilled to present Va Va Va Vinho Verde: the Portuguese White That Wows
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm savors Tomato Poached Cod with Vinho Verde Wine
Linda of My Full Wine Glass realizes that Distinctively ‘laurel” Vinho Verde Delivers with Seafood and Salad
Nicole at SommsTable is loving Vinho Verde and Simple Seafood Feast
Payal at Keep the Peas is pairing Sem Igual Vinho Verde with Peixe Caldine
Gwendolyn from Wine Predator says Vinho Verde: A Green Wine That’s White from Portugal Paired with Tuna, Tomato, Basil, Orzo #WinePW
Martin Enofylz is Pairing Maria Papoila Vinho Verde with Summer Pizza
Susannah from 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 #WinePW
Cindy at Grape Experiences has been reminiscing upon last fall’s work trip where she spent A Beautiful Morning at Quinta da Aveleda in Vinho Verde

We’ve written about Vinho Verde before

We keep learning about new wines, but we do have some go-to wines. In the summer simple easy to find wines from Vinho Verde, just help to keep us cool in the desert heat. So yeah, I’ve written about these wines before, but now I know so much more. Still, there are some tasty pairings here.

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Renken CSW (photo credit RuBen Permel)

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Vinho Verde and Arroz de Bacalhau (Rice with cod)

Jul 29, 2018

A simple dinner inspired by a simple Vinho Verde from Portugal.

Espiral Vinho Verde white wine.

I love Vinho Verde. I don’t typically drink soft drinks, soda, pop, coke…what ever you might refer to it as in your neck of the woods, but bubbles in my wine…well, I’m a sucker for that. Vinho Verde, takes me back to the fresca of my youth. I didn’t like it at the time, but now, it’s a flavor I crave in the heat of summer and Vinho Verde gets it for me. It’s not typically an expensive wine, this one was under $5 at Trader Joes. The bubbles?…yeah, not naturally occuring, but I’ll live with that.

At some point a Vinho Verde producer had a little natural effervescence sneak into his wine and people loved it so much that most producers adopted the practice of adding it.

While I was looking for something cool, I also needed something authentic and good for my soul. Michael had been working and I wanted a nice curl up dinner to fill him up without being too fancy, and I wanted a good traditional pairing for my Vinho Verde. I came across a recipe for Arroz de Tamboril, which is a Portuguese dish “rice with monkfish”. Sadly the butcher told me they had no monkfish, but…they had some cod loins. So I adapted. The cod loins would be meaty and delicious and the fact that they were frozen, only helped me in cutting them into the perfect bites for in the dish.

Arroz

The French have risotto, the Spanish paella and the Portuguese have arroz. These are those comforting creamy rice dishes that are meant to be eaten (IMHO) out of a bowl with a spoon, and they are great for date night (big bowl, two spoons). You need a rice with starch here to get that creaminess, so don’t look for long grain. The long grain rice is meant to keep from getting sticky and sticky is what you want here. I found a bag of arborio rice that worked perfectly, but you can use a medium or short grained rice.

The recipe

I riffed on a recipe from Sorted “Arroz de Tamboril – Monkfish Rice”

Ingredients for my Arroz with Cod loins

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As I mentioned, I riffed on the recipe, so here is my version

Ingredients

2 cod loins
1/4 cup cilantro
1 onion (Michael doesn’t like onion, so I used a little less
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup parsley
1 green pepper
3 roma tomatoes
paprika
1 carrot
Olive oil
1/2 cup white wine (I used the vinho verde)
400 g arborio rice (almost a small bag)
salt
pepper

You will notice the bay leaf in my ingredient shot. I actually bailed on using that. It was the last I had and I wasn’t feelin’ it.

So here’s what I did.

I cut the partially frozen cod loin into good size chunks. Something you wouldn’t mind spooning out of your bowl to eat. Then tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Then set this aside to marinate while I worked on everything else.

Now time to make the broth. I finely chopped 1/2 of the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, parsley and carrot. They get braised until they are golden. Ideally you would throw in fish bones here, but I didn’t have any, so I moved on to adding some water. 500 ml is about 2 cups. Bring it to a boil, then turn it down to simmer for about 10 minutes, then set aside off the heat.

Chop the rest of the onion the last of the garlic and the green pepper. The tomatoes need to be peeled and diced, so here’s the trick. Boil a little water, and toss each in for a couple minutes. I actually cheated and filled my 2 cup measuring cup with hot tap water and tossed them in one at a time. After a couple minutes or so in the hot water, make an “X” through the skin on the bottom and peel the skin off. Then you can quarter them and clean out the seeds and chop them.

Sweat the onions, garlic and green pepper over a low heat with olive oil (3 to 4 tbs, so more than you think). You want to get most of the moisture out. Then turn the heat up and braise them a bit. Now you can toss in your rice and stir it around to coat it in the oil. Stir it around for a couple minutes then add the wine and cook until it has completely evaporated.

Now you can strain the broth (I saved the veggies to add to other dishes). Measure out 4 cups of broth adding water if needed. The idea is twice as much broth as rice and you added 2 cups of rice. Now you can season with salt, pepper, paprika and even cayenne if you want it spicier. Get this to a boil and then add the tomatoes and fish, cover and cook 10 minutes. Add the cilantro and take it off the heat. Leave it covered for5 to 10 minutes DON’T TOUCH IT!

Now toss it in a bowl, curl up and enjoy!

Arroz de Bacalhau

Other pairings

I had picked up a cheese to pair with this. Goat cheese is a definite go to and in addition I picked up a truffled goats milk cheese in a bloomy rind. Some strawberries for a little sweetness and some anchovies to pair with that seaspray in the wine.

Vinho Verde with goats milk cheeses and anchovies

In Portugal this would be a simple dinner. It is wholesome and delicious and made for a perfect pairing.

I mentioned that I like Vinho Verde, didn’t I? We have written about it before, here are a couple links.

Summer Heat with a refreshing Vinho Verde

Pairings at the Keyboard! Vinho Verde.

Guilty pleasures

Check back here at Crushed Grape Chronicles for more great recipes, wine pairings and great stories on wine travel and the people behind the wines! Or visit us on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Summer Heat with a refreshing Vinho Verde

Jul 8, 2017

It’s hot. I mean, Vegas Hot, which is like someone opened the oven in your face when you walk out the door. A little breeze? Yeah, that feels like they turned on the blow dryer. We acclimate, but often you just need something refreshing. So you sit in the air conditioning pour a glass of Vinho Verde and ask Alexa to play ocean waves. If the fan is on in the living room you can pretend it’s an ocean breeze. Here, I pulled up a bit of sunset from off the Pacific Coast highway to put you in the mood.

Well tonight is the night for that getaway. The Vinho Verde is chilling in the fridge and I have put together a menu to compliment it.

Vinho Verde. It means “green wine” or rather “young wine” by intent. This wine is meant to drink in the first year. And while the name indicates that it is a young wine, the name actually stands for a region in Northern Portugal, where these wines are made.

Espiral Vinho Verde

Vinho What?

Vinho Verde. It means “green wine” or rather “young wine” by intent. This wine is meant to drink in the first year. And while the name indicates that it is a young wine, the name actually stands for a region in Northern Portugal, where these wines are made. You can learn more about this region on the Wines of Portugal site.

What grape do they use?

Most often Alvarinho and Loureiro, but also Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso, and Azal, among others. So, as you see, the variety and range can be wide. Still these wines are typically made in a similar style.

What’s that fizziness?

Yeah, it’s kinda effervescent. At least sometimes. Originally this was because the bottles would still be fermenting a little after they were capped and that locked in some of the CO2. Now…well honestly, it’s often added. But regardless, it does make it refreshing.

So what are you eating it with?

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Seafood is always a good bet. A meatier white fish or something fried. We are having fried Calamari and Mahi Mahi burgers. It goes well with green vegetables, so I’m going to have a salad with some avocado (a little fat that the acid in the wine will cut through). Creamy rice dishes and potato dishes also pair well, so we will be doing a brown rice and quinoa blend with onions, butter, lemon juice and zest and some parmesan cheese, and latkes. I think arancini balls would be great with this too. We will taste it with Salmon, smoked trout, goat cheese and a parm/gouda blend also.

Now…about the wine.

This Vinho Verde is from Espiral. The wine is bright and when I close my eyes I can feel sea spray flying up from where it is crashing on the wet rocks (there’s my mini vacation). In my mouth it fizzes and opens with a bright tangy citrus. It’s lemon pop without the sweetness or the tartness of “Fresca” (who remembers Fresca?) without the bitterness. It’s joyful as well as thoughtful. The initial sip brings a smile that almost erupts to a giggle and then melts into a quiet moment of savoring, like closing your eyes to capture a moment at sunset on the beach. That…that is what is here in this glass, that balance of euphoric joy and a content sense of peace.

What did it bring to the food?

The calamari was fine. This is such a typically pairing that it was good without sending off any bells and whistles. The Latkes, now that was another story. The potato and onion had such richness and the lemon and acid in the wine cleaned your palate for the next bite. I could have continued eating this combination all night. Our salad of greens would have been fine alone with the wine, but add the avocado to give it some creaminess and fat to cut through, a little goat cheese for some tang and a vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil and thyme and the pairing had real depth in each bite. The Mahi Mahi had a lemon butter sauce of lemon juice, melted butter salt, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and fresh thyme. The weight of the fish and the lemon butter were perfect and the fresh thyme added this bit of unexpected depth that all played very nicely with the wine. Our grain was brown rice with quinoa to which I added butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and grated Parmesan cheese. Again, the creaminess and the lemon were perfect with the wine, the creaminess balanced the acid and the lemon popped back in to match. So like contrasting and complementary colors, these flavors pulled from different sides of the flavor wheel to make for a happy mouth.

We also tried it with a smoke salmon and a smoked trout. The salmon was fine (kinda like the calamari). I did notice that the flavor disappeared at first and then slowly returned to fill my mouth. The trout on the other hand was really wonderful with the wine. Being smokier it felt richer than the salmon and complimented the lemon and mineral nature of the wine. This was an unexpected happy mix, inland creeks longing to return to the sea.

What I learned about pairing with Vinho Verde

Lemon, lemon, lemon

….that punch of lemon in your dish will reach out for the wine and want to dance.

Something richer and creamy

Then add a little creaminess, some fat to cut through, like the butter and cheese in the rice or the goat cheese and avocado in the salad. Or the richness of the potato and onion in the Latkes.

Fried is good

This wine is great with things that are fried, the salt and fat coat your palate and the acid and fizziness of the wine leave you with a clean slate for the next bite. (like the calamari and most definitely the Latkes)

Seafood is a really good bet

The Mahi Mahi paired nicely because of the weight and the sauce. A lighter fish I think would have disappeared. Any fish that is not too delicate should go nicely. I would like to try it with Swordfish or monkfish. Shrimp is also supposed to be a good bet. With the minerality…I am also wondering about shell-fish, clams or fresh oysters. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

Thyme, the unexpected harmony

Most recipes called for basil or parsley and while I can see that, I didn’t have any in the fridge. I was left with Rosemary and Thyme as my options. I went with Thyme. As I added it I was wishing it was a lemon thyme to accent those fragrances, but in the end, I think it was better as it was. The depth of fragrance really was an unexpected harmony to the meal. This earthiness, a bit of forest, maybe again it’s that “land meets the sea” creating a balance.

I wrote about Vinho Verde once before and had a different pairing then. You can check it out here: Pairings at the Keyboard! Vinho Verde

Stop back here at Crushed Grape Chronicles for more on wines and pairings and for stories of winemakers in winecountry. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

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Wines of Portugal

What is Vinho Verde? 5 things I didn’t know about this perfect summer wine #WinePW

#1 VEE-noh VAIR-day? Nope, I’ve been pronouncing it wrong.

#2 Vinho Verde is NOT A WINE it is a REGION

#3 There is more than just spritzy white wine coming out of the Vinho Verde DOC

#4 You can track the history of your wine

#5 The spritz was a happy accident

There is so much more!

Caiu a Noite

Espiral Vinho Rosé

Pairing Wines from Vinho Verde with food

#WinePW – the Wine Pairing Weekend Crew

We’ve written about Vinho Verde before

Share this:

Like this:

Vinho Verde and Arroz de Bacalhau (Rice with cod)

Arroz

The recipe

Ingredients

So here’s what I did.

Other pairings

Share this:

Like this:

Summer Heat with a refreshing Vinho Verde

Vinho What?

What grape do they use?

What’s that fizziness?

So what are you eating it with?

Now…about the wine.

What did it bring to the food?

What I learned about pairing with Vinho Verde

Lemon, lemon, lemon

Something richer and creamy

Fried is good

Seafood is a really good bet

Thyme, the unexpected harmony

Share this:

Like this:

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