The Vinhos Verdes Wine Route

Synthesis Route Partners Web Site

The current area demarcated as Vinho Verde stretches across the North of Portugal, covering 34,000 ha. Of rich and fertile land. It is the area traditionally known as Entre Douro-e-Minho and is situated at an altitude of less than 700 m. constituting a region full of natural areas and abundant water, rich soil for agriculture and livestock, which resulted in  a great settlement of the area. The region is dotted with major cities, combined with a significant dispersal of the population. The latter is one aspect that creates a visual continuity at the border of the Euro-region Galicia-Northern Portugal.

Framed to the North by the Minho, which forms a natural border with neighbouring Galicia, and to the south by the Douro, which separates it from the rest of the country, its territorial structure has been marked by aspects of a cultural nature, but fundamentally of landscape. This has been determined largely by the natural means of communication that descend from the river valleys of the Minho, Lima, Cávado Hail, Sousa, Tamega and Douro, and run throughout the north od the country from  east to west, ending many of them in large plains nearer the coastline. It is here that the greatest concentrations of population lie.

The large demographic concentration contrasts with the spread of production facilities and small farms where intensive agriculture has always been practiced. It is the largest wine growing region in Portugal and one of the largest in Europe. Foreign trade gained a great importance, at the same time as the increase in agriculture, fuelled mainly by the predominance of the English colony that settled in Viana do Castelo.

Vinho Verde is unique in the world. A naturally light and fresh wine that achieves excellence among white wines. Travellers can visit the vineyards and wineries, discover the production processes and meet its people and its rich gastronomy. Everyone who visits the northwest of Portugal will discover where the freshness, character and uniqueness of Vinho Verde comes from.