Green Wine

Filed in archive Wine Tasting on March 17, 2007

Happy St. Patrick's Day! As an old Catholic School girl from way back, this is one of my favorite holidays! On this day, you'll see a lot slurping down green beer while eating corn beef and cabbage. But what about us winos...ur...I mean wine aficionados? Well, we can have our green wine instead of green beer. That's right. There really is such a thing as green wine. Of course, it's not actually green in color.

Basic Juice explains it to us:

'Green Wine,' known as Vinho verde is a unique Portuguese wine. It comes from Portugal's Northwest. A straightforward example is Quinta da Aveleda's Vinho Verde. No, the wine isn't green. It's referred to as green (verde) because it is a young wine - as in green, not-quite-ripe fruit. Of course, this is a simple wine. But on a day like today with the thermometer shimmering at 96F when you're exhausted after a long day, it hits the spot.

I also found this from Portugal Info:

Vinho Verde
These wines which are aptly named Vinho Verde (Green Wine) as they are picked early and drunk very young. The Portuguese home market consumes more red than white Vinho Verde, whilst the white is exported. It is mainly yellow in colour but some have a suggestion of slight green. They classify as a semi-sparkling wine and have a slightly biting or prickling quality and a refreshing twang. The vines are kept clear of the ground by being draped on trees or specially constructed trellises. This serves a double purpose, firstly by freeing the land beneath for cultivation, and secondly, protecting the vine against damp and parasitic rot. These wines have a lower alcohol content. The appellation region of Vinho Verde is from south of Porto up to the Spanish boarder.