This is a blend of trincadeira, aragonês and alicante bouschet. It has good, vibrant red fruits on the nose. On the palate, it’s clean, fresh and vibrant, but with good character.

The colour is a deepish reddy pink. It has an interesting red fruit nose. Light and fresh on the palate with nice character. Very clean. Very Good.

It has sweet black fruit on the nose with a hint of cassis. There’s clean, sweet fruit on the palate and a fair freshness, but overall it strikes me as very dull.

It has a powerful leathery nose with deep black fruit. Rich and full on the palate with nice concentration. Very long indeed. Very Good Indeed.

An elegant, perfumed red fruit nose is followed up by a very blackberry-dominated palate. Rich, juicy, fairly ripe fruit. Mouthfilling and impressive. Very Good Indeed.

This blend of trincadeira, aragonês and alicante bouschet has an elegant, perfumed red fruit nose. This is a fairly simple wine trying to be serious by adding oak and not entirely pulling it off. It’s competent, pleasant, but very dull.

This has a weird confected nose: spirity and plasticky, and very unappealing. Odd on the palate too. Spirity (without the fire) and high tones. Very strange and not entirely pleasant. The representative on the stand poured herself a glass along with me and tasted it too, without any indication that there was anything unusual about this. Poor.

It has a lovely fragrant, floral nose and is equally lovely on the palate. This is actually quite impressive, with a nice floral character balanced by a bit of weight. Lovely finish, with an interesting acidity. Very Good Indeed.

This has lots of raspberry juice on the nose, along with some leather. There’s good character on the palate: nice clean fruit, but with a good, fruity big structure. Big tannins appear towards the finish, but then fade away rapidly, leaving a nice fruity, very long finish.

There are big, ripe, perfumed black fruits on the very concentrated nose. Very good on the palate. Ripe and juicy, but not too much either way. Very impressive stuff.

The nose is remarkably perfumed and minerally and fruity. The wine has a nice gentle soft attack, but is then overtaken by the tannic structure. It feels a bit overdone on the oak.

It has a nice clean, ripe blackcurrant nose. Good soft attack, but it then fills enormously. Very big and almost brutish. Decent, open fruit character. Very Good.

There are elegant perfumed red fruits on the nose, along with a bit of a roasted note and some cedar. A nice attractive palate. Fresh and open; easy, with a lovely balance. Jolly good stuff, but I wonder how Portuguese it is. Very Good Indeed.

It has light red fruits with some woody spices on the nose. Ripe and full on the palate. There’s good juicy fruit followed up by a nice structure. Nice balance and elegance. Very Good Indeed.

It has an orangey pale teak colour and a rich raisiny muscat nose. The palate is gently sweet. It’s a touch high toned, which actually gives it some elegance and character.

This 100% arinto has an open, slightly scented buttery nose. Very attractive on the palate. Clean and fresh, but with a nice weight and richness. Very attractive. Very Good.

This has a lovely round, open nose with very deep, ripe black fruits. There are interesting flavours in the mouth, and this is really a bit different with plenty of interest. But it’s really suffering from being very young indeed.

This is a blend of mainly tinta roriz, with some merlot and syrah. Very elegant, fairly concentrated berry fruit on the nose. It has an interesting palate. Quite lively: rich and spicy with big fruits and a good tannic structure. Very Good.

This has a lovely elegant nose with concentrated, forward fruit. This is very integrated and attractive, but really rather like a claret on steroids. Full and ripe, this is accomplished, but not entirely for me.

A blend of aragonez, trincadeira and alicante bouschet. There’s rich, leathery black fruit on the nose with some chocolate and tobacco. Fairly sweet, ripe fruit on the palate. Quite zingy and lively.

This is a white wine made from antão vaz, arinto and others. This has a rather curious nose with some distilled marzipan notes. Very round and open on the palate with very unusual concentrated confectionery flavours. Weird. 82/100?? Perhaps it’s worth as much as 85/100?

The nose has ripe, juicy blackberry fruit. There’s a lovely, giving palate and a nice, interesting flavour profile. An attractive wine.

The nose is very distinctive: quite pear droppy and plasticky. Very simple on the palate and also very unusual. But there’s a very odd imbalance to it.

On the nose, it has ripe, elegant, floral, almost pineapple fruits. Good palate. Fresh and fruity with lots of character. This really works. A very interesting wine. Very Good Indeed+.

There’s a lovely ripe red fruits nose with a hint eucalyptus. Soft and gentle on the palate, with a lovely soft fruity character without the over-juiciness of many Portuguese reds. This is just a very nice, easy wine that’s really very attractive. Very Good Indeed.

A nice fleshy, meaty red fruits nose. Full, yet elegant palate. Concentrated, yet un-jammy. This is a very attractive pleasing wine. Very Good Indeed.

This has a lovely nose with perfumed plummy fruit. There’s lovely balance on the palate: this is a very nice wine indeed. Impressive palate: elegant, perfumed and with super balance. The oak is totally integrated and not at all noticeable. Excellent.

This has a really lovely nose, though quite undefinable. Beautiful on the palate with clean, very attractive fruit. Great balance.

A fresh, floral, easy nose. Light and frangrant and easy, with a nice zing. Very Good+.

13%
Normally only alvarinho based Vinhos Verdes reach higher alcohol levels, but this is a blend of pedernã, avesso and trajadura. The reason for the alcohol level lies in the nature of the 2005 vintage that produced unusually super ripe grapes with unusually high potential alcohol levels. This produced difficulties for winemakers who struggled to keep the alcohol levels down to the normal 9%-10% abv levels, and the authorities had to allow higher alcohol levels than normal. Vinhos Borges’s winemaker decided to leave one batch to continue fermenting: apparently it reached 19% before they decided they had to stop it.
So what’s a supercharged vinho verde like? It has a fragrant, rounded nose. The palate’s good; fragrant yet very full. This isn’t vinho verde, but it’s really quite nice. Very interesting.

Made from a blend of alvarelhão, tinta carvalha and touriga nacional. A light salmon pink, this looks almost fizzy. It has a light, talcy strawberry nose. Very pétillant, almost sparkling on the palate. Very light, fresh and almost watery.

This is a blend of touriga nacional, alfrocheira, tinta roriz. It has a deep, ripe blackberry nose with some sandalwood. Very clean and quite attractive. Good balance and a nice character. Very Good.

A light young Douro nose, mainly with plummy fruit. Fairly austere. Very simple. OK.

A blend of touriga nacional, tinta roriz and trincadeira. Ripe plums and cherries on the nose. This has a nice ripe, full character, but it very much falls away and is really quite hollow, though it comes back with some decent spice on the finish. Very Good.

The nose feels very integrated: nice and rich, gently perfumed, with gently chocolatey black fruit. Very rich on the palate. Sweet and ripe fruit on the palate, but with a very firm structure. The oak is very much in control and really barely shows. Very Good Indeed.

Tinta roriz, touriga franca and tinta barroca. This had only just (within the last week) been bottled. There’s a decent, fairly rich nose with some gently portlike scents. Decent, fairly simple palate. Absolutely fine, but a bit uninteresting. Though there’s an interesting tartness on the finish and after. Very good length.

There are racy red fruits on the nose, with a bit of stink. Good, easy palate. Quite refreshing. Good balance. Very Good.

This has a fairly dull nose with some straightforward black fruit. Decent enough on the palate, but rather wild and spicy, though the spice would seem not to come from oak, as there are only quite delicate tannins on the finish. Very Good.

This has a fairly complex nose with raspberry and black fruit. Really good palate, with big fruit and some interesting character. Very Good.

The nose is rather wild with a spirity portlike note. There is very ripe and sweet fruit on the palate, but with balance and structure to back it up. Quite interesting. Very Good.

There are ripe, complex black fruits on the nose, along with some cedary notes. On the palate, there’s good, giving fruit, followed by some grip on the finish from some decent tannins.

A blend of merlot and baga in equal proportions. Quite a perfumed nose with ripe black fruits. Very interesting palate, with good fruit character. Nice finish with some decent tannins. Very Good.

There’s good, ripe, chocolatey fruit on the nose. The palate has some big, ripe fruit. Overall, this feels a touch simple, though it’s very palatable.

A light, very fresh, fragrant nose. Very good palate: there’s lovely balance and a nice weight, with a chocolatey richness. But it still remains fresh and balanced. Very Good Indeed.

The nose is sweet and concentrated with crème de mûre overtones. There’s a really nice richness on the palate, combeined with a lovely juiciness. Very Good Indeed.

It has rich concentrated blackberry fruit on the nose. There’s a nice weight and balance on the palate, with good fruit character. Very long and very fine finish. Very Good Indeed.

There’s ripe and very sweet black fruits on the nose. Good even fruit on the palate. Fairly straightforward stuff.

There are ripe, fairly concentrated red and black fruits on the nose. Very good palate: velvey and inviting. A bit fiery hot on the finish. Good.

A lightish raspberry red appearance. There are fresh red fruits on the nose, followed up by a good light palate. Fresh and clean. Very Good.

The nose is deep and plummy with sweet blackberry fruit. Glorious attack. There’s a delicate silkiness, but it’s also very mouthfilling. Elegant and restrained until the finish, when the tannins don’t so much grip as grab. A bit overdone. Good/Very Good.

This has a fairly serious nose with good, ripe black fruit and some fresh leather. Very silky attack. There’s restrained fruit on the palate – ripe, yet restrained. Quite grippy on the finish. Very Good Indeed.

A very young, clear, lightweight looking mauve appearance. There’s bright young, plummy fruit with a touch of tobacco on the nose. On the palate, there’s lots of vibrant, almost zingy fruit. This is really very young, which makes it feel very simple. Fairly simple and very easy. Very Good.

It has a curious cheesy, perfumed nose. Silky palate with fairly refined fruit, starting to verge on the austere. Soft tannins appear on the finish and linger after. A bit unusual with its own character. Very Good.

This is made from 70% fernão pires with the rest made up from antão vaz and chardonnay. It has a big perfumed nose, but with a rich butteriness too. Very good palate: smooth, rich and fairly mouthfilling with very good balance. There are some interesting flavours in this. Very Good Indeed.