Reading a label
Label terms
The Portuguese words you will meet on bottles and in vineyards.
- DOCDenominação de Origem Controlada
- Portugal’s top tier of protected origin, with rules on grapes, yields and ageing. Equivalent to the EU’s DOP.
- DOPDenominação de Origem Protegida
- The EU term for a protected designation of origin. DOC wines are DOP wines.
- Vinho RegionalIGP
- Regional wine with looser rules than DOC, allowing more grape varieties and blends. Equivalent to the EU’s IGP.
- Castagrape variety
- The Portuguese word for a grape variety. Portugal has more than 250 native castas.
- Tintored
- Red wine.
- Brancowhite
- White wine.
- Rosadorosé
- Rosé wine.
- Espumantesparkling
- Sparkling wine. Quality examples are made by the traditional method, with a second fermentation in the bottle.
- Licorosofortified
- Fortified wine, such as Port, Madeira or Moscatel.
- Reservareserve
- A wine from a single harvest with notable quality, held to higher standards than the basic wine.
- Garrafeirabottle-aged
- A top selection with extended ageing: for reds at least 30 months, including 12 in bottle; for whites at least 12 months, including 6 in bottle.
- Colheitaharvest
- The vintage year. On Port and Madeira it means a single-harvest wine aged in wood.
- Colheita Tardialate harvest
- Sweet wine from late-picked grapes, often affected by noble rot.
- Quintaestate
- A wine estate, especially in the north and the Douro.
- Herdadeestate
- A large estate, especially in the Alentejo.
- Adegawinery
- A winery or cellar. Adega Cooperativa means a cooperative winery.
- Engarrafado na origemestate bottled
- Bottled by the producer at the place where the wine was made.
- Seco · Meio Seco · Docedry · off-dry · sweet
- Sweetness levels on the label.
- Lagartreading tank
- A shallow stone tank, often granite, where grapes are trodden by foot. Still used for top Port and some reds.
- Socalcosterraces
- Narrow, stone-walled terraces cut into the Douro’s slopes, many built by hand centuries ago.
- Patamareswide terraces
- Broader terraces bulldozed into Douro slopes from the 1970s, without walls.
- Vinha ao altovertical planting
- Vines planted in rows running straight up the slope, without terraces.
- Pé francoungrafted
- Vines on their own roots, not grafted onto American rootstock. Rare, because of phylloxera.
- Vinha velhaold vines
- Old vines, usually giving lower yields and more concentrated wine. Not legally defined everywhere.
- Aguardentegrape spirit
- Neutral grape spirit used to fortify Port and other fortified wines.
- BenefícioPort authorisation
- The yearly allowance telling each Douro vineyard how much of its crop may become Port.
- Talhaclay amphora
- A large clay pot used to ferment and age wine in the Alentejo.
- Curralstone enclosure
- A small plot walled with lava stone that protects Pico’s vines from wind and sea spray. Plural: currais.
- Estufagemheated ageing
- Madeira ageing in heated tanks, usually for younger wines.
- Canteirocask ageing
- Slow Madeira ageing in casks in warm lofts, for the finest wines.
- Frasqueiravintage Madeira
- Single-harvest Madeira aged at least 20 years in cask.
- Field blendvinha misturada
- A vineyard where many grape varieties grow mixed together and are harvested and fermented together. Common in old Douro vineyards.