ポルトガルのヴィーニョ・ヴェルデの白ワイン

Vinho Verde is a widely consumed white wine from Northern Portugal. The wine tends to be made from local grapes such as Alvarinho (Albarino), Loureiro, Arinto, and Azal. Vinho Verde is a light, refreshing wine with lots of floral and green fruit notes. The wine often has a slight carbonation to it, though not enough that it could be referred to as a sparkling wine. A Vinho Verde region was established in 1908, though the area didn't receive its Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) until 1984. The wine is thought to have originated in the Minho province in the far north of Portugal. The carbonation in the bottle occurs from a process called malolactic fermentation, and while this is typically considered to be a defect in the wine the Vinho Verde producers found that the consumers rather liked it. Because of the wine's bracing acidity and oceanic minerality it should be considered to be the ultimate partner to raw shellfish.